324 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 



Germany close. Other formidable competitors were now 

 arising, and by 1901 the chief importing countries were^ : 



Cwt. 

 Argentina . . .... 8,309,706 



Russia 2 2,580,805 



United States of America .... 66,855,025 



Australia . 6,197,019 



Canada 8,577,960 



India 3.34i,50o 



Since then the imports of wheat and flour from the United 

 States have decreased, and in 1904 India took the first place, 

 Russia the second, Argentina the third, and the United States 

 the fourth. However, in 1907 the United States sent more 

 than any other country, followed by Argentina, India, Canada, 

 Russia, and Australia, in the order named. 



It is probable in the near future that the imports from the 

 United States will decline considerably, for in the last quarter 

 of a century its population has increased 68 per cent, and its 

 wheat area only 25 per cent. On the other hand, the popu- 

 lation of Canada increased ^'3, per cent, and her wheat area 

 158 per cent, in the same time; while in Argentina an addition 

 of 70 per cent, to the population has been accompanied by an 

 increase of the wheat area from half a million to fourteen 

 million acres. It is probable also that India and Australia 

 will continue to send large supplies, and there are said to be 

 vast wheat-growing tracts opened up by the Siberian Railway, 

 so that there seems little chance of wheat rising very much in 

 price for many years to come, apart from exceptional causes 

 such as bad seasons and ' corners '. 



M^Culloch, writing in 1843,^ says that, except Denmark and 

 Ireland, no country of Western Europe ' has been in the habit 

 of exporting cattle '. Danish cattle, however, could rarely be 



^ See Returns of the Board of Agriculture. 



" The imports from Russia were that year exceptionally small. 



' M«=Culloch, Commercial Dictionary (1852), p. 274. 



