No. 199.] 361 



■which gas is applicable, and is applied to When if is cjeap.' 'tnlsr^ 

 hotels and eating houses meat is cooked by gas. And much of the 

 iron of fine cutlery in Sheffield is steeled by subjecting it to the gas 



flam 



I shall now pass from the objects exhibited, to some reflections 

 which arise out of this exhibition. 



When we look back upon the history of the country, we find that 

 so long as it was a colony it prospered little in art and trade ; and 

 the date of the assertion of independence found the agriculture and 

 the manufactures in a very backward condition. From that time the 

 agricultural interest has progressed at a rate with which manufactures 

 have not all kept pace. 



The first export of cotton to Liverpool took place in the year 1785, 

 when the Diana, of Charleston, landed one bag ; a vessel from this 

 port landed another, and that year there was a total of fourteen bags 

 exported in four vessels. In the year ending lise 30th of Juiie, ]848, 

 the value of the export was $61,995,294, and the qurj^tity expt'rted 

 ending the 1st of August, 1849 was of much greater value, being 

 2,227,844 bales. 



The vastness of the cotton trade, and the suddenness of its growth, 

 naturally astonishes us. It is the agricultural wealth of the Southern 

 States. It would be well to recollect that it is England's manufactur- 

 ing wealth. We export nearly five-sixths of all we grow; in exact 

 numbers, in the year 1848, 



The total cotton crop was 2,726,596 bales. 



The export of 1S49, as above, 2,227,854 " 



which with a small stock on hand, left 518,039 bales for 



home consumption 



England is the chief buyer of the raw cotton, and the chief manu- 

 facturer of cotton prints, and this country is at present dependent on 

 that island for the chief supply of cotton piece goods. The British 

 export of cotton goods of all kinds, in the six months ending June, 



