

24 BULLETIN 296, L T . S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



to 1,442 million pounds in 1914. The exports to France in 1895 

 exceeded 395 million pounds, which increased to 570 million pounds 

 in 1914. Other countries receiving large quantities of cotton during 

 the last fire years were Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Italy, Russia, 

 Spain, Canada, Mexico, and Japan. The value of the cotton exported 

 in 1851 was 112 million dollars; in 1866, 281 million dollars; in 1911, 

 585 million dollars; and in 1914, 611 million dollars, or one-half the 

 value of all products of the farm and forest exported. Imports of 

 cotton came chiefly from Egypt, China, and Peru, some being for- 

 warded by way of Europe. In 1910-1914 the annual imports were 

 nearly 111 million pounds. 



GRAIN AND GRAIN PRODUCTS. 



The grain and grain products exported in 1851 were valued at 

 $14,556,000. This increased to $160,568,000 in 1874, $269,570,000 in 

 1881, $334,200,000 in 1898, and decreased to $164,815,000 in 1914. 

 Compared with other agricultural products sent abroad during the 

 last 10 years, grain and grain products held third place, being ex- 

 ceeded by cotton and packing-house products. 



The imports of grain and grain products were valued at $1,879,000 

 in 1851, increased to $10,883,000 in 1856, and again increased to more 

 than $16,000,000 in 1866 ; decreased to $7,500,000 in 1867, remaining 

 practically at that value until 1891, when the value decreased to 

 $4,567,000, and again decreased to about $2,500,000 for the period 

 1893-1899. During the last 15 years this product gradually increased 

 from $1,397,000 in 1900 to $27,442,000 in 1914. 



Wheat and wheat flour.— For the fiscal years 1911-1914 the value 

 of our exports in wheat and wheat flour, as compared with the total 

 value of our domestic exports, amounted to about 4.1 per cent. 

 During the three fiscal years 1900-1902, inclusive, our exports of 

 wheat, including wheat flour, exceeded 200,000,000 bushels; but silch 

 was the decrease in the succeeding years that on an average for the 

 decade 1901-1910 our exports of domestic wheat and wheat flour 

 contributed 7.8 per cent of the total value of our domestic exports. 

 After falling to an average of 4.1 per cent for the last four fiscal 

 years the percentage of our domestic exports formed by wheat and 

 flour rose during the last half of the calendar year 1914 to 18.8, a 

 percentage exactly equal to that for the decade 1871-1880. 



Wheat and wheat flour began to make their appearance among 

 our articles of export early in colonial times. It was first sown on 

 the Elizabeth Islands, off the coast of Massachusetts, as early as 

 1602, and from there was naturally introduced in the various British 

 colonies, where its production increased to such considerable quan- 

 tities that a surplus was being exported prior to 1723. The first 



