GEOGRAPHIC NOTES 



AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS 



THE distribution of the agricultural 

 exports of the United States for 

 the years 1896 to 1900 are given in a 

 recent report of Frank H. Hitchcock, 

 Chief of the Division of Foreign Markets 

 of the Department of Agriculture. The 

 figures show that during the year 1900 

 there were twelve countries to each of 

 which the United States exported over 

 ^10,000,000 worth of domestic farm 

 produce. A total of $408,000,000 was 

 purchased by the United Kingdom, while 

 Germany bought $134,000,000 worth. 

 The agricultural exports of the country 

 to the United Kingdom during the year 

 were the greatest on record, excepting 

 those of the year 1898, when a total value 

 of $439,000,000 was reached . In regard 

 to Germany, the exports show an in- 

 crease of about 100 per cent in the five- 

 year period. Following the countries 

 above named come others in the posi- 

 tions indicated : 



The Netherlands, $52,000,000 ; these 

 figures being exceeded only in 1899 by 

 less than $1,000,000; France, $45,000, 

 000; Belgium, $33,000,000,^ as against 

 $31,000,000 in 1896 to France and $18, 

 000,000 to Belgium during the same 

 year; Italy, $24,000,000; Canada, $21, 

 000,000; Japan, over $15,000,000; Den- 

 mark, nearly $15,000,000; Cuba, $14, 

 000,000, as against $4,000,000 in 1896; 

 Spain, $10,500,000, as against a trifle 

 less than $10,000,000 in 1896; British 

 Africa, $10,300,000. Exports ranging 

 in value from $5,515,000 down went to 

 more than a dozen different countries. 



The total exports of domestic farm 

 products to Cuba, Porto Rico, Hawaii, 

 and the Philippines in the year 1900 

 attained an aggregate value of over 

 $20,000,000, an increase of some 300 

 per cent over the year 1 896. In the case 

 of South America, however, the total 

 showed a decline. A very striking gain 

 was made on the Asiatic Continent, 

 where the exports in value rose from 

 $5,735,000 in 1896 to $9,452,000 in 1900. 



Traffic on the Suez Canal. — Only two 

 of the nations having any commercial 

 marine had a lower record than the 

 United States in the amount of shipping 

 passing through the Suez Canal last 

 year. The United States stood twelfth 

 on the list of nations, with only .6 of 

 I per cent of the shipping passing 

 through the canal, and the two nations 

 below that were Turkey, with .3 of i 

 per cent, and Belgium, at .1 of i per 

 cent. Even nations like Japan, Italy, 

 Spain, Denmark, and Norway exceeded 

 our record, while Great Britain had 56.7 

 per cent, and German}^ 15 per cent. 



No News of Captain Sverdrup and the 

 Frani is brought back by the Peary re- 

 lief ship Erik. At Disco Inspector Jan- 

 sen and Governor Neilson reported that 

 in March, 1901, a steamer was seen far 

 off the shore, in Davis Straits, heading- 

 northward, which might have been the 

 Fram. Peary's failure to meet her or 

 discover any trace of her work in his 

 Greenland coast journeys lends color to 

 the generall}' accepted theory that, find- 

 ing a high northern latitude impracti- 

 cable, she has attempted the upper 

 Jones Sound and the little known lands 

 and waters to the westward. 



The Expedition sent out by the Duke 

 of Abruzzi to search for the three lost 

 members of his Polar expedition has re- 

 turned without finding any traces of the 

 missing men. The southern coast of 

 Franz Josef Uand having been explored 

 without avail, the memorial to the three 

 men arranged for by the Duke was 

 erected on Cape Flora. 



Dr. Robert Stein, who embarked at Etah 

 in the IVindzcard about the time of the " 

 sailing of the Peary party, has reported 

 the safe arrival of that vessel at Brigus, 

 Newfoundland. 



Erratum. — -Page 326, first column, line 

 10, instead of Gerhard " Kaufmann " 

 read Gerhard Kremer. 



