INTRODUCTION. cxh 



Notwithstanding the great increase in the production of grain, the increased population has been 

 gradually diverted from agricultural pursuits to those of manufactures, and the result is that those 

 very States which half a century ago were exporting grain, are now almost entirely dependent on the 

 west for their supply of breadstuffs. The following extract from the message of Governor Andrew to 

 the legislature of Massachusetts at its last session, supplies a clear illustration of this point : 



&quot;Foreign statistical writers differ considerably in their estimates of the cereal consumption of nations. McCulloch states 

 the yearly consumption of England at one quarter of wheat, or eight bushels, to each inhabitant. France, feeding more 

 on bread and less on meat, is estimated as high as ten bushels. But New England, consuming largely of fish and other animal 

 food, possibly may not exceed seven bushels to each person. At seven bushels each, her 3,135,293 inhabitants would consume 

 21,947,601 bushels. 



The census of 1860 shows that her own product of cereals was : 



Of wheat, only 1, 077, 285 bushels. 



Of rye, only 1, 617, 560 &quot; 



Of Indian corn, only 9, 099, 570 &quot; 



Total yield of cereals grown in New England 11, 594, 445 



&quot; But Massachusetts, with a population of 1,231,066, produced less breadstuffs in proportion than either of the other New 

 England States. While her population would, at seven bushels each, call for 8,617,462 bushels, her actual production of 

 cereals was : 



Of wheat, only 119, 783 bushels. 



Of rye, only 383, 085 



Of Indian corn, only 2, 157, 063 &quot; 



Her total being only 2, 659, 931 



&quot; Her residue of breadstuffs, purchased of the region to the north and west, allowing seven bushels for each inhabitant in 

 the year 1860, was 5,952,531 bushels; or, if she consumed at the rate of eight bushels, the computation of English consump 

 tion by McCulloch, her purchase must have been 7,183,597 bushels. More than seven-eighths of the whole cereal yield of 

 Massachusetts was Indian corn, of which a very large portion must have been fed to animals. Her proportional purchase, there 

 fore, must have been much larger than the average purchase of New England. The annual consumption of purchased flour 

 by New England, at an estimate which is sustained by the computation which I have already made, is something near 3,500,000 

 barrels, or more than one barrel to each inhabitant. In the year 1862, more than 800,000 barrels of western and northern flour 



were sold in Boston for domestic consumption, or three-fourths of a barrel for each person in Massachusetts. 



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&quot; I venture to affirm that the consumption of western agricultural products within the six States of New England, includ 

 ing flour, grain and animal food, used for the support of man and the forage of cattle, swine, and horses, during the year 1863, 

 reached the value of $50,000,000, the proportion of which taken by Massachusetts exceeded $20,000,600.&quot; 



The opening of the Erie canal to Lake Erie, on the 25th October, 1825, was the commencement 

 of a new era in the internal grain trade of the United States, as it connected the waters of the great 

 lakes with those of the Atlantic, affording a navigable water-course through the entire State of New 

 York. To the pioneer, the agriculturist, and the merchant, this grand avenue developed a new world, 

 and instituted what is now the commerce of the lakes. 



The following table shows the total receipts of flour and wheat at tide-water by the Erie and 

 Champlain canals for a period of twenty-nine years : 



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