3-54 APPENDIX. 



supply within their limits,) will enable them always to furnish 

 food to every other portion of the continent on more advanta- 

 geous terms than it can be elsewhere produced. Labour there 

 reaps its best reward, and harvests of a hundred fold repay its 

 exertions." 



Formerly the exports of wheat from the United States 

 were comparatively trifling ; the principal corn trade being 

 carried on in flour, not in grain. The shipments of flour 

 have been very extensive from New York, New Orleans, 

 Baltimore, and other parts. Every kind of flour, whether of 

 wheat, rye, or Indian corn, is inspected by an appointed officer 

 before it is shipped. The size and weight of each barrel are 

 regulated by government, and the inspector ascertains that 

 every barrel contains 196 Ibs. of flour, and each half barrel 

 98 Ibs. He next determines the quality of the flour; the best 

 being branded Superfine, the second Fine, the third Fine 

 Middlings, the fourth Middlings. Flour which is not market- 

 able is branded Bad, and its exportation forbidden. Maize 

 flour is branded Indian Meal, and may be exported in hogs- 

 heads of 800 Ibs. The inspection takes place at the time and 

 place of exportation, under penalty of five dollars per barrel. 

 Persons altering or counterfeiting marks or brands, forfeit one 

 hundred dollars : and persons putting fresh flour into barrels 

 already marked, or offering adulterated wheaten flour for sale, 

 forfeit in either case five dollars per barrel. Our imports of 

 corn, as well as of wheaten flour, from the United States 

 have, during the last ten years, experienced a vast increase ; 

 so that the President's addresses paint an extraordinary 

 picture of prosperity in the export trade, owing to the 

 immense quantities of food going to England; and also 

 remind the farmers that they are getting much higher prices 

 than heretofore for their produce. 



But if it has been so ordered, that abundant harvests in 

 America should in a very material degree assist England and 

 Ireland in a time of difficulty ; yet it does not appear that we 

 are at liberty to reckon on this aid as constant or lasting. An 

 acute writer on our agricultural resources has the following 

 remarks bearing on this subject : "The great source of error, 

 with regard to the United States, is in judging of it by the 

 enormous extent of its territory, instead of ty the number of 

 hands which can be applied to the raising of food. This mode 

 of judging is altogether fallacious; for the amount of labour 

 which can be applied to the soil, is the principal test of pro- 

 duction. This is proved by the fact, that we raise nearly as 



