292 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



large, to be sare, when compared witli the immeuse exportation of this 

 grain at the present (^.ay, but they serve to show that, even before the 

 Kevohition, Indian corn had come to .be regarded as an important 

 money crop, as well as a prime necessity for home consumption. They 

 show a surplus beyond the wants of the population at that time. 



Xothing will more clearly demonstrate the exceedingly slow progress 

 of our agriculture after the Eevolution than the fact that in 1791 the ex- 

 port of corn, including 351,695 bushels of meal, amounted to only 2,064,- 

 936 bushels ; in 1800, to only 2,032,435 bushels, including 338,108 bush- 

 els of meal, while in 1810 it fell down to 140,996 bushels, of which 

 86,744 bushels were in the form of Indian meal. That was before the 

 avenues to the great West were opened. It was at a time when the 

 inland farmer had no available market, the cost of transportation of so 

 bulky a product making it impracticable to team it to any great dis- 

 tance. It was before its real value as an article of human food was ap- 

 preciated in Europe, and when its consumption as such was very small. 

 It was before our cattle had been much improved, and when their num- 

 ber was much smaller than it is now, when it has come to be realized 

 that it makes our beef, our mutton, our pork, and our poultry. 



Nor did the production materially increase till within the last forty 

 years. The Erie Canal was not opened till the year 1825 ; nor were 

 there any railroads to facilitate the transportation of merchandise ; but 

 the gradual extension of settlements westward after that date, and the 

 increase of population, led to an increase of production, till, in 1840, 

 when this crop first appears in the census, the yield had risen to 

 377,531,875 bushels; and from that time its increase has been quite 

 marvelous, for in 1850 it had reached to within a small fraction of 

 600,000,000 bushels, or, more nearly, 592,071,104, occupying 31,000,000 

 acres of land. Its value was reported at that date as $296,034,552. It 

 was a gain of 57 per cent., or 214,539,229 bushels in ten years, while the 

 increase of population in the same time was but 35 per cent. It formed 

 about three-sixteenths of the whole agricultural production of the coun- 

 try, occupied more than three-tenths of the improved land, and amounted 

 to more than 25 J bushels for each inhabitant. The export of this grain 

 rose in value in 1856 to nearly $9,000,000. 



This wonderful rapidity of increase continued, partly on account of 

 the vast improvement in agricultural implements and the means of rais- 

 ing the crop, partly on account of the multiplicity of railroads and mar- 

 ket facilities, till, in 1860, it amounted to 838,792,742 bushels ; but it had 

 fallen off somewhat in 1870, for it is reported then as 760,944,549 bushels, 

 a portion of the land evidently having been devoted to wheat, which 

 had very largely iu creased in the same time. When it is considered that 

 our agricultural resources are still but partially developed, the product 

 of this cereal appears to be truly amazing. 



Nor is the growth of wheat in this country less important than that 

 of Indian corn. In some respects it is even more so. It is the brain- 

 food of the world. It has been said that the progress of civilization and 

 intellectual culture can be traced from one degree to another by the extent 

 of its growth and consumption. It is gratifying, therefore, to find that 

 our present annual production of this cereal amounts to about200,000,000 

 bushels, and that our ability to increase it is capable of an almost un- 

 limited expansion. It has always entered into our exports to an extent 

 dependent chiefly upon the foreign demand, and experience has proved 

 that the surplus of this grain, the amount we could spare from home con- 

 sumption, is as elastic as India-rubber. If Europe needs our wheat, or 

 our flour, and is ready to pay us good prices, either from a short crop, a 



