cxliv INTRODUCTION. 



Compared with that of Russia, the grain trade of the United States is but in its infancy, and yet 

 in wheat, flour, meal, and Indian corn, the exports of the United States, during the six years ending 

 1862, compare favorably with those of Russia, as the following table shows: 



Total exports of wheat, corn, flour, and meal from the United States and from Russia, from 1857 to 1862 inclusive. 



From United States. From Russia. 



Wheat, bushels 99, 181, 325 119, 383, 752 



Corn, bushels 38,888,758 13,271,592 



Flour and meal, bushels 116, fiS9, 519 5, 766, 780 



Total 254, 759, 602 1 38, 422, 124 



Deducting the linseed and rape-seed, which do not properly come under the classification, the 

 total exports of all kinds of grain, flour, and meal from Russia, as furnished in the previous table, for six 

 years ending 18G2, amount to 261,694,520 bushels, while the exports of wheat, corn, flour, and meal 

 alone from the United States amount to 254,759,602 bushels, as demonstrated in detail in the foregoing 

 exhibit. 



THE INTERNAL GRAIN TRADE. 



The exportation of grain to foreign countries, however, does not by any means indicate, the full 

 extent of the grain trade of any country. The progress of the arts and manufactures, and the entire 

 devotion of a large portion of some of the southern States to the cultivation of cotton, tobacco, sugar 

 and rice, have created very attractive home markets in the eastern, middle, and southern States ; and, 

 although the export demand is always of great advantage to the agriculturist, it is the certain home 

 market upon which he has mainly to depend. Without this, whenever the export demand falls off 

 materially, as it sometimes does when Europe has extraordinary crops, the agricultural interest would 

 be so uncertain in its character that but few would be willing to engage extensively in the production 

 of the various cereals. This feature of the trade has for many years engaged the attention of leading 

 statesmen, and legislation has been shaped more or less for the last quarter of a century, towards fos 

 tering and encouraging the establishment of manufactories of all kinds on this continent, so as to attract 

 labor and capital from the manufacturing populations of the old world, and render us more independent 

 of foreign countries. 



That great progress has been made in this direction, the present position of the grain trade fully 

 demonstrates. For instance, in 1860 the single State of Illinois (according to the census returns) pro 

 duced 23,837,023 bushels of wheat, and the whole amount exported from the United States to foreign 

 countries during the same year (including flour reduced to wheat) was only 17,213,133 bushels. With 

 regard to Indian corn, the value of a home market is even more apparent. In 1860 Illinois produced 

 115,174,777 bushels, and there was exported during that year altogether only 15,448,507 bushels, a 

 mere fraction of the product of one State. 



The following table shows the comparison between the production and the exportation of grain in 

 the United States : 



WHEAT. 



Production. &quot;Wheat and flour exported. 



Bushels. Bushels. 



1850 100,485,944 7,535,901 



I860 173, 104, 924 17, 213, 133 



INDIAN CORN. 



Production. Exported. 



Bushels. Jlushels. 



1850 592, 071, 104 6, 595, 092 



I860 838, 792, 740 15, 448, 507 



