8 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE, 
reducing uae consuming the oon surplus, and deepening 
agricultural gloom and serene Still it continues. . One-third 
of the wheat crop of last year was exported. More than half of the 
wheat and flour imports into Great Britain are still from this coun- — 
try, and last year the proportion from America was increased, while 
that from India was diminished. Whether profitable or not, the 
exportation stil! continues, and is likely to continue while virgin r 
areas of wheat lands are annually broken as emigration extends — 
westward. The comparative prominence of this country in its wheat 
surplus may not be UE realized. Where our exports have 
exceeded 136,000,000 busheis per annum for ten years, those of mes. ny 
were about 66,009,000 bushels and those of India 24,000,000 bushels, — 
in round numbers, for the last decade. Other lands contribute Onin 
a very small surplus—Australia, Chili, the Argentine Republic, and 
others only a few millions each—and the combined surplus of all 
nations does not equal that of this country. 
It is an important question, in view of the rapid increase of availa- 
ble rural labor, tending to overproduction of the fruits of the soiland 
the cheapening of their values, what can be done to give greater vari- 
ety to the products of agriculture? What can this Department do 
towards the introduction of new plants and the development of new | 
rural industries? The sugar problem is one of the largest, but there 
may bea thousand minor products of cultivation, fruits, fibers, medic- 
inal plants,dyes, and many others, which togethermay make anagere- — 
gate surpassing that of the largest single product. 
In the established industry of meat fete tn which is as old as _ 
agriculture, there is ample opportunity for economy and for success 
snatched from narrower margins of profit. The wastes of the past 
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have been enormous. Neglect of improvement in blood, irregular » 
feeding, exposure with semi-starvation, and waste of rough material 
in the fields, have increased the cost of meat and reduced its quality 
and intrinsic value. The successful feeder realizes the necessity of 
continuous and liberal feeding, and understands well the loss in 
flesh and its reduction in quality in alternate stuffing and starving. 
There are multitudes, however, who do not understand. or who fail 
to heed it. As the cost of corn and other material increases, the 
margin for profit is hable to be narrowed, rendering necessary the 
practice of all possible economies and the use of all available ma- 
terial in meat-making. It should be understood, however; that 
meat here, as elsewhere, now, as ever, promises to pay the farmer 
better than grain. The tendency has been to comparative advan- 
tage in price. The grass lands in times of agricultural depression 
yield the better profit. Their proportion is increasing to-day in 
Great Britain, where agricultural lands are dearest, from this eause. 
There is a branch of meat-making that has been neglected in this 
country. Sheep husbandry has Boe followed for the production of 
