STATISTICS OF WHEAT CULTURE. 245 



nitrogen, in the form, of ammonia, or nitric acid, (aqua fortis), and the 

 incombustible part of plants are the elements which least abound in soils, and 

 should be husbanded with the greatest care. 



The Hon. 0. P. Holcomb, of Delaware, furnishes some interest- 

 ing remarks on the wheat crop of the United States : 



A short wheat crop in England, Mr. Webster says, affects the exchanges of 

 the civilized world. In the vast increase of population in the absence of long 

 wars and famines, the importance of this staple is constantly increasing. Its 

 cultivation is the most attractive and pleasant of all descriptions of husbandry ; 

 and its rewards are generally remunerating, when the soil and climate are fa- 

 vorable, and the markets are not too distant. 



It is important to know what our relation is to this staple of the world, and 

 what is, and what is likely to be, our contribution to the great aggregate of 

 production. Beyond feeding our own great and rapidly increasing population, 

 it probably will not soon, if ever, be very great. It is a mistake, I apprehend, to 

 suppose our country is naturally a great wheat-producing country. The wheat 

 district at present, in comparison to the whole extent of our territory, is limited. 

 It is confined, so far as any appreciable amount is grown, to about ten degrees 

 of latitude and twenty degrees of longitude, and embracing about one half the 

 number of the States. The crop of 1848 is estimated by the Commissioner of 

 Patents at one hundred and twenty-six millions, and our population at twenty- 

 two millions. This gives a less number of bushels, per head, to our population 

 than the consumption of Great Britain, which is generally set down at one 

 hundred and sixty millions, or six bushels to each inhabitant. But with us 

 Indian corn is a great substitute ; so are potatoes and oats in Ireland and Scot- 

 land. Still our consumption of wheat, including the black population, is un- 

 doubtedly less, per head, than theirs. But in the absence of any certain data, 

 to ascertain either the actual production, or our consumption, our only safe 

 course is to take the actual excess, or the amount exported, after supplying our 

 own wants. This, for the fiscal year 1818, being the crop of 1847, amounted, 

 in flour and wheat, to twelve millions two hundred and ninety-four thousand 

 one hundred and seventy-five bushels, although Mr. Burke's figures would 

 show a surplus of some forty millions ! That there was not, and never has 

 been any such surplus in the country is very evident, for the foreign demand 

 was all the time good, and drew away all we had to part with. 



The crop of 1848 was, undoubtedly, one of the best and largest we have ever 

 grown; yet I have ascertained, by applicationat the registrar's office, that the 

 exports for the fiscal year 1842, amounted in wheat to but 1,527,534 bushels, 

 and in flour to 2,108,013 barrels, or less by 226,676 bushels than the exports of 

 1848. Twelve millions is comparatively a small surplus in a favorable season, 

 for a country with a population of twenty-two millions of inhabitants. The loss 

 of a small per cent, in an unfavorable season would at once sink this excess. 



Let us now notice more in detail the different sections of our country as 

 adapted to the growth of wheat. 



The New England States, some of them aided in their recent enterprises by 

 bounties offered by the state governments, have failed to insure such success as 

 is likely to encourage them to continue the culture of wheat ; or. at all events , 

 to induce them to aim at increasing their product to any considerable extent, 

 since, as one of their own farmers candidly states, " the attempt to grow a crop 

 of wheat is an experiment." 



The States south of North Carolina, and inclusive of apart of Delaware, have 

 never heretofore succeeded in growing wheat to any considerable extent, though 

 there were periods in their history before the general introduction of the cul- 

 ture of cotton when, if it had been practicable to make the cereal one of their 

 staples, they would certainly have done so. Besides the common dangers from 

 rust and blight, the fly, and sometimes the frost as the past season they have 

 a most formidable enemy in the weevil. In Upper Georgia, in the Cherokee 

 country in particular, wheat will probably be cultivated to some extent, and 

 a limited cultivation of it by the planters for their own use will probably con- 

 tinue in several of the southern states. But the cotton, rice, and sugar states, 

 like the manufacturing states of New England, will not soon, if ever, add much 



