INTRODUCTION. xli 



most extensively grown in New York and Pennsylvania since the advent of the midge is the Mediter 

 ranean. It is a red wheat, originally of inferior quality, but much improved of late years by sowing in 

 good early-wheat soil. Of white wheat the Soules is most extensively grown. It is, with the exception 

 of the Boughton wheat, one of the earliest white varieties yet generally introduced. The Boughton 

 wheat is extensively grown in Maryland and Virginia. It is from two to three weeks earlier than the 

 Soules, and has been introduced into New York in the hope that its early maturity will protect it 

 from the midge. This subject of getting an early variety of white wheat is attracting much attention, 

 and there can be little doubt we shall be able to obtain a variety that will be early enough to escape 

 the midge. 



Wlieat- growing in tlie west. The increased production of wheat in the western States in propor 

 tion to population has been most gratifying. Greatly as the means of transportation have increased, 

 they have not kept pace with the increase in production. The navigation of the Mississippi becoming 

 closed as a result of the present civil war, it was impossible to transport the large crops of the west 

 to the Atlantic markets. Freight rose to such an extent that it cost more than Jive times as much to 

 transport a bushel of wheat from Iowa to New York as the farmer received for it. The crops were 

 sold at prices ruinous to the producer. 



As the war continued, however, and as our western army advanced south, a demand for agricul 

 tural produce was created which gave buoyancy to prices, and at the present time (1864) the western 

 farmer obtains nearly as much for his produce as the farmers of the middle States. 



The effect on wheat, however, has been less marked than on oats, corn, hay, and other articles 

 largely consumed by the army. The price of wheat is relatively lower than that of any other produce 

 So long as we continue to export wheat to Europe, the price will be regulated by the foreign markets, 

 and the cost of sending it there. The bountiful wheat-harvest of 1863 in Great Britain and France, 

 reduced prices so low that English farmers found wheat one of the cheapest grains they could feed to 

 their stock. Had it not been for the high premium on gold, the price of wheat in this country, and espe 

 cially at the west, would have been less than the cost of production; as it is, the advance in gold has 

 served to increase prices in the west much more in proportion than in the eastern and middle States 

 For instance, if a bushel of American wheat sells at Si 25 in London, and the cost of sending it from 

 Iowa is $1, the Iowa farmer, with gold at par, receives only twenty-five cents a bushel for the wheat. 



Should gold continue at 82 50, (the price at the present writing,) though the wheat still brings 

 only 81 25 per bushel in London, and the cost of sending it there should be 81 a bushel, as before, the 

 Iowa farmer would receive 82 12 per bushel for his wheat, instead of twenty-five cents, as would be 

 the case if gold was at par. The wheat is sold for gold, and 81 25 in gold sells for 83 12 in legal 

 money. Deduct 81 as the expense of sending it to London, and we have 82 12 as the price which 

 wheat should bring in Iowa. In other words, the premium on gold increases the price of wheat in 

 Iowa eight-fold. 



On the same basis, the farmer in New York, whose wheat costs only twenty-five cents a bushel to 

 ship to London, would receive, with gold at par, 81 a bushel; and with gold at 82 50, as before, he 

 would receive 82 87. 



The premium on gold, which advances the price of wheat eight-fold in Iowa, increases it less than 

 three-fold in New York. In other words, the increase in the price of wheat caused by the premium on 

 gold is more than twice as great in the west as in the eastern and middle States. 



These figures are not intended to represent the actual cost of sending wheat to Europe, but are 

 used merely to illustrate the effect on prices of the present premium on gold. There can be no doubt 

 that the western farmer obtains a relatively higher price for his produce, owing to the premium on 

 gold, than the eastern fanner. 



Of course any conclusions based on the present anomalous condition of affairs will be unsatis 

 factory. When we return to a specie basis, it would seem that the present high prices of produce in 

 the west, being caused by the premium on gold, must rapidly fall. 



6 



