238. AVERAGE PRODUCE OF OHIO. 



gan — as they are at present cultivated — and the com- 

 parative productiveness of each crop in these States, will 

 be seen by the following table, representing the average 

 yield in each per imperial acre : — 



In w^heat it does not much exceed the State of Neiw 

 York, but it greatly surpasses it in the produce of 

 Indian corn ; while, from possessing a drier summer 

 climate, it is inferior in the growth of potatoes. 



Thus rich in Indian corn, an early question with the 

 farmer was, how to dispose of his surplus growth. Until 

 the famine years of 1847 and 1848, the quantity of this 

 grain which was exported from the whole United States 

 was exceedingly small. From 1820 to 1845, it averaged 

 only about 60,000 quarters (half a million of bushels) 

 a-year ; but from 100,000 quarters in 1845, it rose to 

 230,000 in 1846, and to 2,125,000 quarters in 1847, 

 after which it fell to half a million in 1848, and has 

 since continued to decline. 



A home outlet, therefore, was sought for, and the 

 distilling of whisky and the fattening of hogs are the 

 means of consumption which have been found most easily 

 available, and most generally profitable. The extent to 

 which the packing business^ as the latter is called, is 

 carried on, and the States in which the two conditions 

 — the faculty of growing Indian corn and of producing 

 abundant acorns — coexist most extensively, will be seen 

 by the following table, which represents the number of 

 hogs killed in each of the packing States of the west in 

 1846 :— 



