IMPORTATION OF WHEAT INTO THIS STATE. 435 



chief corn crops raised in this State. It has a popula 

 tion of nearly 900,000, and it raises of 



Bushels. 



Indian corn, about . . 3,500,000 



Oats, . . . 2,000,000 



Rye, . . . 666,666 



Wheat, . . . 250,000 



Its estimated consumption of wheat, according to the 

 United States allowance of 3 bushels a-head, is 2,700,000 

 bushels. If 5 bushels be allowed, the consumption is 

 4,500,000 bushels ; so that, from the north-western States, 

 Massachusetts requires a yearly supply of 2,500,000 to 

 4,000,000 bushels of wheat. This fact serves to illus 

 trate what I have already stated as to the inability of 

 the country east and north of the Hudson and the great 

 lakes taken as a whole, and excluding Upper Canada 

 to grow wheat enough for its own consumption. Con 

 siderable attention has been paid in this State to the 

 rearing of stock, and cattle are driven by jobbers as far 

 as the borders of New Brunswick in search of a profit 

 able market. 



As in many other countries, the beautiful and impor 

 tant connection of commerce with agriculture is clearly 

 seen in this naturally infertile State. The money gained 

 at sea and in commercial Boston leaves the harbours and 

 bays of the coast, and the wharves and streets of the 

 city, to expend itself in laying dry the miry sw r amps 

 of the inner parts of the State, in clearing the crowded 

 boulders from the stony places, and in bettering, by 

 various admixtures, the sandy and unproductive wastes. 

 Thus the wealth which commerce brings is made to add 

 to the permanent productive capability of the country, 

 and, as in England and in Holland, commercial income 

 is converted into agricultural capital. 



The influence of the rapid growth of Boston in wealth 

 and population is to be observed upon the surface of the 



