Agricultural Exports of the United States. 501 



by the United States Bureau of Statistics. The figures show 

 that the total exports of domestic merchandise were valued 

 at ;£2 1 5,000,000. The exports of agricultural produce were 

 valued at 142, 3 go, 000, or just two-thirds of the total. In 

 only two previous years, 1881 and 1892, each marked by 

 abundant harvests in the United States, coincident with 

 meagre crops elsewhere, was there a larger exportation of 

 agricultural products than in the year under consideration ; 

 while as compared with the preceding year there was an 

 increase of ;£23,665, 000. 



Cotton, wheat, and maize were among the articles con- 

 tributing most to the augmentation of the agricultural 

 exports. The combined increase in value of the exports of 

 these three items amounted to over ;£i 5,683,000. In cotton, 

 the increase was exceptionally large, amounting to ;£8, 507,000, 

 the total shipments being worth ;^48, 102,286, in spite of the 

 fact that the average export value fell from 4d. per pound in 

 1896 to 3jd. in 1897. 



The wheat exports amounted to 79,562,00c bushels, valued 

 at 2,483,370, this representing an excess of 18,911,940 

 bushels in quantity and ^4,210,000 in value over the previous 

 year. Exports of wheat were unusually small in 1896, but 

 during 1896-7 a stronger foreign demand, occasioned by short 

 crops abroad, called for increased exportation. For some 

 years the shipments of wheat flour have exceeded in value 

 those of wheat, but in 1896-7 the order was reversed, and the 

 flour exports amounted to 14I million barrels, of the value of 

 £11,648,822, or ;^834,548 less than the value of the grain. 



The increase in the exports of maize constituted one of the 

 features of the foreign trade for the year ; the consignments 

 of this cereal exceeded by more than 76,000,000 bushels those 

 of the preceding year, and amounted to a total of 176,916,365 

 bushels, thus surpassing all previous records by a wide 

 margin. The value of the exports of maize for the year was 

 £1 1,268,000. 



The total value of the bread stuffs exported by the United 

 States during 1896-7 amounted to ;£4 1,2 2 0,000, an increase of 

 over ;£ii,77o,ooo as compared with 1895-6. 



Cattle exports showed an increase of, approximately. 



