It will Le seen from this taLle that three nations are competitors with the 

 United States in the sale of lolicat to England : Russia, Prussia, and Egypt; 

 and in floicr, one only: France. 



It is not, therefore, without interest to examine into the wheat production of 

 these nations. 



1. Russia. — This is one of the best countries on the globe for wheat produc- 

 tion. The lands most favorable are those of Poland and Little Russia. The 

 wheats of the first find their market ports in the cities of Stettin, Memel, and 

 Dantzic, on the Baltic, and those of the last, at Odessa, on the Black Sea. The 

 extent of the wheat district of Little Russia, according to Mr. Claxton, our consul 

 at Moscow, is about 1,200 miles in length by 400 in breadth. " The grain fields," 

 he remarks, "extend uninterruptedly for hundreds of square miles, and hour after 

 hour, though whisked along with the best speed of four horses, nothing can be 

 seen on the road from Koorsk to Khumurchuck but endless seas of rustling 

 wheat, or tall waving rye." We have no statistics of Russian production; it is, 

 however, sufficient to supply not only its own wants, but those of Europe also. 



But products, although easily and abundantly raised, must be cheaply mar- 

 keted. This is not the case with Russian wheat. The long sea voyage from 

 Odessa to England injures the grain, and in Homan's Encyclopedia of Com- 

 merce this remark is found : " When this voyage is made in summer, unless 

 the wheat be very superior, and be shipped in exceedingly good order, it is 

 almost sure to heat, and has sometimes, indeed, been injured to such a degree as 

 to require to be dug from the hold with pickaxes." The cost of shipping a 

 bushel of wheat from Odessa to London is about forty-three cents per American 

 bushel. 



But where a limited commerce exists betAveen two nations the cost of ship- 

 ment is usually much greater than where it is otherwise. An export can be 

 made cheaply as to freights, when the return cargo will be profitable. 



In all these things the United States has great advantages over Russia. The 

 Avheat of the northwest can be taken to England by a short voyage, and in a 

 climate so favorable that the grain is never injured The cost of shipment to 

 Liverpool is about fourteen cents jjer bushel from New York. 



The great trade between the two countries furnishes the best facilities for 

 cheap transportation. Hence it is that, with all its great advantages in produc- 

 tion, Russia sends directly to the English market only about one-third the wheat 

 sent by our country. 



2. Prussia. — This nation is the chief competitor with the United States. It 

 furnishes tAventy-three per cent, against thirty-five per cent, by us. But yet its 

 own production is not much greater than its consumption. It raises about 

 35,000,000 bushels of wheat, and having seventeen millioiis of population, a con- 

 sumption of only two bushels per head, would leave none for exportation. The 

 people live very extensively on rye and jjotatoes ; and what amount of wheat is 

 left for exportation cannot, in the absence of statistical knowledge, be deter- 

 mined. It cannot be much, as may be inferred from the following remarks of 

 McGregor : 



" We have no satisfactory account of the agricultural produce of the Prussian 

 states. The exportations of grain sIioav, however, that the production of good 

 harvests is greater than consumption. But it must be taken into account that a 

 greater part of the grain exported from the other states, and from Poland, passes 

 through Prussia." 



These "other states" are the German members of the Zollvcrein; and 

 hence the exports of Prussian wheat to England represent Germanic and Rus- 

 sian production more than Prussian. 



3. Egijjft. — The exports of wheat from Egypt to England present a rapid 

 increase, from six per cent, in 1861, to fifteen per cent, in 1863. This is at- 



