CHAPTER II. 



COMPETITION. 



Taking a wide survey of the subject, we can consis- 

 tently say that a severe competition from even the most 

 distant producing countries is springing up to claim the 

 farmer's serious attention. The wheat fields of the great 

 American prairies have to contend for the markets of 

 the United Kingdom, not only against India and the 

 continent of Europe, but the Argentine Republic is be- 

 coming a formidable rival. India is devoting each new 

 year more than formerly to the production of this great 

 staple. The fourteen thousand miles of railway now 

 constructed in that country tap some of the finest wheat 

 lands of the world, and with plenty of cheap labor to 

 work them. 



Competition all around, and the low rates of trans- 

 portation over the railways of America as well as in 

 other countries, have brought down the price of wheat 

 in the London market, during the last ten years, lower 

 than ever before. During the past five years the average 

 price at Mark Lane has been thirty-five shillings per 

 quarter ; during the decade 1860-70 it averaged fifty-one 

 shillings ; in 1868, sixty-three shillings. 



The cattle and meat exports are also not without 

 rivals. Australia and South America are expanding 

 this trade remarkably. Meats are now sent to the mar- 



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