332 EXPORTING POWER OF NEW 



either the people of New York live less on wheaten flour, 

 or the English allowance be too high. 



As to this last point an opinion may be formed from 

 the fact that an allowance of 8 imperial bushels will 

 give a man about 19 ounces of well-baked bread every 

 day of the year, while 5 bushels will give 12, and 3^ 

 bushels only 8 ounces of bread a-day.* 



There is no doubt that a very large quantity of Indian 

 corn is consumed in the States a quantity which in 

 creases as we go south and west, and that this must lessen 

 both the demand for wheat and the amount of this grain 

 actually consumed. If we suppose that, in the State of 

 New York, as much Indian corn and buckwheat are con 

 sumed as are equivalent to four American bushels of wheat, 

 we have, then, five bushels of this latter grain required by 

 the people.f But this is the quantity which New York 

 actually produces per head of its population ; so that 

 there are really fair grounds for believing that in ordinary 

 seasons, and judging from the circumstances and habits 

 of the English people, the State of New York cannot 

 have much wheat to export of its own growth. 



Returning to the total produce of the Union, we may 

 allow that the 9,000,000 of the slave States produce 

 wheat enough for their own consumption since the 

 45,000,000 of bushels they raise are equal to 5 bushels 

 a-head for the whole population, or 7J bushels each for 

 the 6,000,000 of whites, if the 3,000,000 of slaves be fed 

 wholly on Indian corn. 



There remain, then, the 82,000,000 bushels produced 



* By our prison regulations, a man, who for punishment is put upon 

 bread and water only, is allowed a pound of bread a-day. But he can 

 not be kept in health longer than three days on this allowance, and the 

 regulations therefore order an addition at tbe end of that time. For a 

 man doing ordinary work, less than one-half more than this allowance 

 cannot be considered as sufficient. 



f There being nine such bushels in an imperial quarter, as I learn 

 from an able statistical pamphlet by Mr M Queeii. 



