^10 WHEAT-PEODUCING POWER OF 



But, with all the fame and natural capability of this 

 fine western region of New York, the Empire state as a 

 whole does not at present — according to the best infor- 

 mation I have been able to obtain — produce wheat 

 enough for the consumption of its own inhabitants. In 

 round numbers, the population of the State of New 

 York is about three millions, while the produce of wheat 

 in bushels is about 15 millions — or at the rate of five 

 bushels to each inhabitant. If, according to our English 

 calculations, eight imperial bushels a-head are necessary 

 to support our people, the New York people, though 

 they may consume a large quantity of Indian corn, can 

 have little surplus left out of five bushels a-head.'^ 



My impression is, therefore, that our British farmers 

 have little to fear from the competition of the wheat- 

 growers of all that part of North America which lies 

 between the Atlantic and the St Lawrence — from New- 

 foundland on the east, as far west as the head of Lake 

 Ontario. The whole of this region, as to wheat-grow- 

 ing, is more or less in sympathy with the English farmer 

 — struggling against the vigorous competition of the 

 new North-Western States. Wheat is already more 

 costly to raise than In former years, even in the least 

 exhausted portions of this north-eastern region; while 

 the North-Western States, until the rise or growth of a 

 consuming population among themselves, or till the fresh- 

 ness of the virgin soils is rubbed off, can afford to export 

 supplies of wheat at a comparatively nominal price. 



I would not be so rash as to say, or so uncharitable 

 as to hope, that the wheat-producing powers of the 

 region east of Lake Erie, and south of the St Lawrence, 

 will never be much greater than it is now ; I believe it 

 may become, and I hope the time may soon arrive, when 

 more skill and knowledge shall have forced it to become 



* This argument is stronger, if it is also recollected that an imperial 

 quarter is a little moi-e than nine American bushels. 



