Variation in the Price and Supply of Wheat. 
253 
Tlic main trunk of the Erie Railway, along which by far the greater por- 
tion of its traffic flows, has its Western terminus at Dunkirk. A branch 
line, starting:; from Horniingsville, connects it with Buffalo, and is commonly 
kncwn as the Buffalo, New York, and Erie division of this important 
railway. 
The total length of the Lake Shore, Erie, and New York Central Railways 
is 1244 miles. Buffalo is essentially a port of importation, above all for the 
article of grain which forms by far the largest item on the list of Canadian 
produce. The Reciprocity Treaty was equivalent, as far as it went, to the 
commercial " annexation " of Canada. The argument, therefore, of the " balance 
of trade," whatever it may be worth, would have no more application to the 
preponderance of grain importations from Canada than it has to a similar pre- 
ponderance from Chicago. 
Canadian Produce imported free under the Reciprocity Treaty. 
1861. 
1862, 
1863. 
1865. 
cwt. 
291,582 
183 
435 
241,308 
233,644 
Grain (all kinds) . 
bus. 
950,787 
912 
304 
977,228 
1 ,.301,409 
PHILADELPHIA, for the same reason (the war and diverting of traffic) 
rose from very trifling exports in the previous four years to 250,000 quarters 
of wheat in 1861 : flour, 336,000 barrels. 
Mk. Heman's Consular Report for 1865. — The deficient wheat crops of 
the last two years on this side of the Atlantic, and the abixndant harvests on 
the other side, account for the falling off in the wheat and flour trade ; which, 
however, is nearly counterbalanced by the increase in Indian corn (of which 
the crop of 1865 was the largest on record, viz., 88,000,000 quarters, irre- 
spective of the Southern States), barley, and rye. 
The deficit of the wheat crop, as compared with that of 1864, has been 
estimated at 3,280,000 quarters. 
Probable average product of wheat is 15 bushels per acre, at 60 lbs. weight 
per bushel : on the best farms 50 bushels an acre is a common yield. Maize 
averages 50 bushels an acre : best farms 80 bushels. 
1865. — " Owing to the fatal destruction of human life caused by the four 
years' war, the price of labour has ruled very high in all branches of industry ; 
nevertheless, with the sole exception of wheat, the staple products of the State 
have been amply remunerative." 
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, June 7, 1867.— Besides its vast 
mineral wealth this is a prominent agricultural State; the character of the 
£^ricultural products is seen in the folowing Table for the year 1866 : — 
Crops. 
Indian com quarters 4,480,000 
Wheat „ 1,315,000 
Rye „ 821,000 
Oats „ 6,870,000 
Barley „ 77,000 
Buckwheat „ 1,210,000 
Potatoes bushels 15,636,000 
Tobacco pounds 4,960,000 
Hay tons 1,642,000 
Quantity of land in cultivation, 6,437,396 acres. The Gulf States, in 
view of a possible deficiency in the cotton crop, are making great efforts to 
bring into cultivation a fibrous plant called "ramie" (Bsehmeria tenacis- 
