PRODUCTION OF WHEAT IN THE STATES. 331 



and that we must have a large importation of foreign 

 wheat to make np the deficiency. Had the inhabitants 

 of the United States the same wheaten-bread-loving 

 inclinations and tastes as our English people, they 

 would not now be producing enough for their own 

 consumption, but would be importing wheat from Europe. 

 It is the Indian corn crop, however, which modifies 

 their habits, and has lessened the quantity of wheat 

 consumed by them, as the use of oatmeal has done that 

 by the Scottish peasantry. Again, the free States, with 

 12,000,000 of free men, (now 14,000,000) are said to 

 produce 82,000,000 of bushels of wheat, which is some 

 thing less than 7 bushels for each individual. The 

 slave States, on the other hand, with 6,000,000 of free 

 men and 3,000,000 of slaves, produce 45,000,000 of 

 bushels, or 7-J bushels for every free man. If we 

 allow all the slaves to be fed on Indian corn, there would 

 remain these 7-J- bushels for each free man, which, with 

 the superior habits of living adopted by the whites in 

 these States, do not appear to be too much. 



Taking, therefore, the white people only in the Union 

 as eaters of wheat, there are produced on an average, if 

 the estimate for 1848 be near the truth, about 7 bushels 

 of this grain for every individual, or seven-ninths of an 

 imperial quarter. 



When speaking, in a previous chapter (VII.), of the 

 quantity of wheat produced by the State of New York, 

 I expressed the opinion that, notwithstanding the rich 

 western lands it possesses, this State as a whole does not 

 grow more than is necessary for its own consumption. The 

 average produce of that State is estimated at five bushels 

 for each inhabitant. And supposing, as is usually done 

 by English statists, that eight imperial bushels, or a 

 quarter of wheat, are necessary for each individual, then 

 New York, which produces five, cannot feed its population 

 as the English population is fed. It cannot, that is, unless 



