WHEAT. 



WHEAT. 



ordinary quality may therefore be presumed to 

 yield about 26 cwt. 



The use to which the grain is applied is al- 

 most exclusively that of food in its various pre- 

 parations, and chiefly in that of bread, though 

 a considerable quantity but generally of an 

 inferior or damaged kind is employed in the 

 manufacture of starch. This preference is due, 

 not only to the superiority of its nutritive pro- 

 perties, but also to their peculiar nature ; for 

 "more water is consolidated in bread made 

 from barley, and still more in that from oats ; 

 but the gluten in wheat being in a much larger 

 quantity than in any other grain, seems to form 

 a combination with the starch and water which 

 renders it more digestible than any other." 

 (Lectures on Jlgr. Chem. p. 121.) 



Since the Western States have become 

 thickly settled, and so much of their rich lands 

 been brought under tillage, especially since the 

 completion of numerous canals and rail-roads 

 have opened ready markets in the commercial 

 cities, they have poured into these such vast 

 quantities of wheat as have reduced the price 

 and tended greatly to lessen the profits of hus- 

 bandry in the old Atlantic States. At present, 

 more than a third of the whole wheat crop in 

 the Union is produced west of the mountains, 

 and the proportion is every year rapidly in- 

 creasing. By reference to the tabular state- 

 ments of crops (art. AGRICULTURE) it appears 

 that Ohio stands at the head of the wheat-grow- 

 ing states ; her product in 1839 having been es- 

 timated at over 16,500,000 bushels. Pennsyl- 

 vania stands next, having furnished that year 

 upwards of 13,000,000. The produce of New 

 York is estimated at over 12,000,000; and of 

 Virginia, 10,000,000 for the same time. These 

 four large states raised upwards of 52,000,000 

 of the total amount of 84,823,272 bushels 

 produced that year in the whole United States. 

 The aggregate of the wheat crop of the United 

 States for 1842, has been estimated at 102,317,540 

 bushels. (Ellsworth's Report to Congress.') The 



Governor of Ohio, in his message, computes 

 the wheat crop of that state in 1842, at no less 

 than 24,000,000 bushels, of which, he thinks, 

 14,000,000 may be allowed for exportation, after 

 deducting 10,000,000 for domestic consump- 

 tion. Some idea of the rapidity with which 

 the wheat crop increases in the Western States, 

 may be formed from the fact, that, in 1840, the 

 amount of wheat shipped from Chicago to Buf- 

 falo amounted to only 20,000 bushels, whilst, 

 in the following year, 1841, it amounted in the 

 same period to no less than 200,000 bushels. 



The United States present almost boundless 

 facilities over an immense extent of fertile 

 territory for raising wheat. But, great as the 

 aggregate crop at present appears from the 

 preceding statements, it scarcely exceeds 

 that of the comparatively insignificant li- 

 mits comprehended by the United Kingdom, 

 of Great Britain. Notwithstanding her im- 

 mense domestic product of wheat, England is 

 compelled to import annually many millions 

 of bushels from other countries, for only a 

 small portion of which is she indebted to the 

 American farmers, who have for so long a pe- 

 riod worn her cloths and tilled their ground 

 with implements of British manufacture. la 

 1841, when the imports of foreign wheat into 

 the kingdom amounted to 21,604,840 bushels, 

 the proportion received from her great cus- 

 tomer the United States, only amounted to 

 2,528,600 bushels. 



In June, 1840, Lord Palmerston, the British 

 prime minister, caused letters to be addressed 

 to the British consuls in various parts of North- 

 ern and Southern Europe, from which wheat is 

 extensively exported. These letters contained 

 certain queries relating to points connected 

 with the grain-growing countries and their 

 markets. A great many highly interesting 

 facts were elicited in the answers to these cir- 

 culars, many of which have been condensed in 

 the following tabular form. 



Other facts elicited by these inquiries with 

 respect to other countries competing with the 

 agricultural interests of the United States, may 

 be interesting. Among these are the following": 



It appears that in the grain-growing districts 

 in Europe, the soil contiguous to seaports has 

 142 



already been extensively tilled, and cannot be 

 pushed further without the aid of artificial ma- 

 nures, while the bad roads from the interior 

 shut them out from a competition with this 

 and other countries more favourably situated. 

 Thus in Russia : The corn districts are too 

 5C 1129 



