No. 199.] 415 



Gen. T. sairl be had st-en an extract from a Delaware pnper, stating, 

 " That a Delaware farmer had taken one yard of cotton cloth, manu- 

 factured with sizing, called " Ohio exira sheeting" and weiglied it. 

 The weight was four ounces. He then carefully extracted the starch 

 from it by washing, and on drying and weighing the cloth again, he 

 found it had lost 184 grains. Taking this fact as a basis, it establishes 

 statistics, important to the wheat and cotton crops of the United States. 



The cotton crop of the United States in 1848 was over two and a 

 half millions of bales. Allowing the bales to average four hundred 

 pounds each, and the whole crop to be manufactured like the yarn 

 above specified, it would require for sizing, two millions and a half 

 barrels of flour, or over twelve million bushels of wheat. It was his 

 impression that something like one half the cotton crop is manufac- 

 tured with sizing. It is said that mor^ barrels of flour are used in a 

 year for the sizing of cotton manufactures at Lowell than were usually 

 exported in a year to Great Britain before the recent famine. It is 

 also said, fiftee,! million yards of calico are annually manufactured in 

 this country, which alone would require over tw'o hundred thousand 

 barrels of flour for sizing <i.\. the rate found in the yard above mention- 

 ed. These calculations, necessarily loose and imperfect, still show in 

 a striking light, the benefit farmers will derive from^the estabhshment 

 and encouragement of home manufactures. In these calculations no 

 account is taken of the large amount of wheat, corn, and other agri- 

 cultural productions, required for the support of the manufacturers 

 themselves. If the farmer is desirous for the employment of his labor, 

 and of a sure and profitable market for his produce, let him earnestly 

 and efficiently encourage the manufactures of the country. 



The present consumption of Cotton in the United States is estimated 

 at 500,000 bales per annum, which is more than the entire Crop in 

 1824. This does not include a vast quantity, which goes up the 

 Mississippi, Ohio, and also out from the Tennesee and Cumberland 

 rivers, for the supply of the mills in Indiana, Ohio, Western Virginia, 

 and Pennsylvania. There are said to be icpwards of two hundred and 

 ffty Cotton mills to the south of Mason and JDixori's line: in these 

 points and sources of consumption, it is believed 150,000 bales are 

 used, making a total, not less than 650,000 bales worked up, at home. 



