128 THE CEREALS IN AMERICA 



more than ten million bushels annually, held the following rank .. 

 New York, New Orleans, Baltimore, Galveston, Boston, San 

 Francisco, Willamette (Ore.). New York was the only port 

 sending out as much as twenty millions annually, and her aver- 

 age annual shipment for the five years given was 29.3 million 

 bushels. Other important ports were, respectively, Puget Sound 

 (Wash.), Philadelphia, Portland and Falmouth (Me.), Superior 

 (Wis.), Chicago and Duluth.^ 



190. Imports of Wheat. — All the countries which consume 

 more wheat than they produce are situated in Europe, with the 

 exception of the Oriental countries, which have recently begun 

 to take supplies of wheat from North America. The larger 

 part of the export of wheat and flour from the United States 

 is taken by Great Britain and Ireland, the Netherlands, Ger- 

 many, France and Belgium. Great Britain, as the principal 

 importer of wheat, is the arbiter of its price throughout the 

 world. The demand for wheat by Great Britain has increased 

 rapidly during the past fifty years, through decrease in wheat 

 production, through increase in population and in per capita 

 consumption. 



191. Commercial Grades. — Every important wheat market 

 maintains a system of inspection of wheat and other grains. 

 Wheat is bought and sold by grades and all wheat coming into 

 a market is inspected and the grade determined by the inspector 

 and when leaving this market may be inspected again. A spec- 

 ified charge is made for this service. The weight per bushel is 

 determined in every sample, but other considerations help to 

 fix the grade, as plumpness, soundness, freedom from foreign 

 seeds or mixture with a different type of wheat. Aside from the 

 weight per bushel, fixing the grade is largely a matter of judg- 

 ment and expertness upon the part of the inspector. The 

 information concerning these grades cannot satisfactorily be 



I U. S. Treas. Dept., Bu. Stat. Statistical Abst., 1902, p. ji». 



