Commercial Geography Part 8

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WHEAT INDUSTRY--GRAIN ELEVATORS AT BUFFALO, NEW YORK]

In the United States the acreage may be somewhat increased by the irrigation of arid lands now uncultivated, and by the reclamation of overflowed and swamp lands. There are far greater possibilities, however, in the employment of methods of cultivation which will double the rate of present yield. It is doubtful if there can be much increase of acreage in the States of the Mississippi Valley, where the acreage will of necessity be lessened rather than increased.

In western Europe there can be no material increase of the acreage or the rate of yield; in Russia both are possible. The plains of Argentina now yield a notable quant.i.ty--about one hundred million bushels--and the amount may be increased. Moreover, a large product may be obtained from both Uruguay and Paraguay, and southern Brazil, neither one of which produces a considerable quant.i.ty. At the present rate of the increase in consumption, all of the available land, yielding its maximum, will not produce a sufficient crop at the end of the twentieth century.

=Corn.=--Maize or Indian corn is the seed of a plant, _Zea mays_, a member of the gra.s.s family. It is not known to exist in a wild state. The species now cultivated are undoubtedly derived from the American continent, but evidence is not wanting to show that it was known in China and the islands of Asia before the discovery of America.[29] The commercial history of corn begins with the discovery of America. Next to meat it was the chief food of the native American; next to wheat it is the chief food-stuff in the American continent to-day.

Corn requires a rich soil and is not so hardy as wheat. It thrives best in regions having long summers and warm nights. The growing crop is easily injured by too much rain. It is an abundant crop in the central Mississippi Valley, but not near the coast; it is very prolific in Nebraska, but not in Dakota; it thrives in Italy, Austria, and the Balkan Peninsula, but not in the British Isles and Germany. It is a very important crop in Australia, and is the staple grain of Mexico. It is the crop of fourteen-hour days and warm nights.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CORN]

The United States is the chief producer of corn, and from an area of 80,000,000 acres--about that of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois combined--more than two billion bushels, or four-fifths of the world's crop, are produced. In the past few years the area planted with corn has not materially increased, and it is likely to be lessened rather than increased in the future. From the same acreage, however, the annual yield, now about twenty-five or thirty bushels per acre, can be more than doubled by the use of more skilful methods of cultivation.

Corn contains more fatty substance, or natural oil, than wheat, and therefore has a greater heating power. For this reason it is better than wheat for out-of-door workers, and it is almost the only cereal food-stuff consumed in Spanish America. It is also a staple food-stuff in Egypt. Corn has been used as a bread-stuff in the United States, Italy, and Rumania[30] for a long time. In recent years, however, its use has become very popular in Europe.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CORN PRODUCTION]

In the United States by far the greater part of the crop is consumed where it is grown, being used to fatten swine and cattle. The market value of a pound of corn is about one-third of a cent; converted into pork or beef, however, it is worth five or six times as much. By feeding the corn to stock, therefore, a farmer may turn an unmarketable product into one for which there is a steady demand.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CORN]

Although corn is not so essential a staple as wheat, it has a much wider range of usefulness. The starch made from it is considered a delicacy and is used very largely in America and Europe as an article of food.

Glucose, a cheap but wholesome subst.i.tute for sugar, is made from it; from the oil a subst.i.tute for rubber is prepared; smokeless powder and other explosives are made from the pith of the stalk; while a very large part of the product is used in the manufacture of liquor.

=Rye.=--Rye is the seed of a cereal gra.s.s, _Secale cereale_, a plant closely resembling wheat in external appearance. Rye will grow in soils that are too poor for wheat; its northern limit is in lat.i.tudes somewhat greater than that of wheat, also. It is an ideal crop for the sandy plain stretching from the Netherlands into central Russia, and this locality produces almost the whole yield. The world's crop is about one and a half billion bushels, of which Russia produces nearly two-thirds.

Germany, Austria-Hungary, and j.a.pan grow nearly all the rest. It is consumed where it is grown. In the United States the yearly product is about twenty-five million bushels, about one-tenth of which is exported to Europe. Rye-bread is almost always sour, and this fact is its chief disadvantage.

=Barley.=--Barley is the seed of several species of cereal gra.s.s, mainly _Hordeum distichum_ and _Hordeum vulgare_. It is one of the oldest-used of bread-stuffs. It can be cultivated farther north than wheat, and about as far within the tropics as corn; it has, therefore, very wide limits. Formerly it was much used in northwestern Europe as a bread-stuff, but in recent years it has been in part supplanted by wheat and corn. Barley is a most excellent food for horses, and in California is grown mainly for this purpose. Its chief use is for the manufacture of the malt used in brewing.

The world's crop of barley is not far from one billion bushels, of which the United States produces about sixty million bushels. Most of the crop is grown in the Germanic states of Europe, and in Russia.

=Oats.=--The oat is the seed of a cereal gra.s.s, _Avena sativa_ being the species almost always cultivated. It is not known where the cultivated species originated, but the earliest known locality is central Europe, where it was certainly a domestic plant during the Bronze Age. It seems probable that the species now cultivated in Scotland at one time grew wild in western Europe; certain it is that wild species are found in North America.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OATS PRODUCTION]

The oat grows within rather wider limits of lat.i.tude, and thrives in a greater variety of soils than does wheat. Grown in a moist climate, however, the grain is at its best. The oat-crop of the world aggregates more than three billion bushels, surpa.s.sing that of wheat or corn in measurement, but not in weight. A small portion of this is used as a bread-stuff, but the greater part is used as horse-food, for which it is remarkably adapted.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OATS]

In Europe, Russia is the greatest producer, and its yearly oat harvest is about one-quarter of the world's crop. The states of northwestern Europe yield about half the entire crop; the wheat-growing area of the United States produces the remaining one-fourth. Russia and the United States are both exporters, the grain going to western Europe. By far the greater part of the grain is consumed where it is grown.

=Rice.=--Rice is the seed of a cereal gra.s.s, _Oryza sativa_. It is claimed to be native to India, but it is known to have been cultivated in China for more than five thousand years. It grows wild in Australia and Malaysia.

Rice requires plenty of warmth and moisture. It is cultivated in the warmer parts of the temperate zone, but it thrives best in the tropical regions. In China a considerable upland rice is grown, but for the greater part it is grown in level lowlands that may be flooded with water. The preparation of the fields is a matter of great expense, for they may require flooding and draining at a moment's notice. The crop matures in from three to six months. After thres.h.i.+ng, the seed is still covered with a husk, and in this form it is known as "paddy."

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Why is not wheat-growing a profitable industry in the New England States?--in the plains at the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains?--in the southern part of the United States?

What are meant by the following terms: No. 1 spring, a corner, a disk harrow, a cradle, a flail, a separator, futures, warehouse certificates?

In 1855 the price of a barrel of flour in New York or Boston was about twelve dollars; at the close of the century it was less than five.

Explain how the lessened price came about.

From a census or other report make a list of the ten leading wheat-producing States; the ten that produce the most corn.

Why are the foreign s.h.i.+pments of oats less than those of wheat?

What are the prices current of wheat, corn, oats, and barley to-day?

FOR STUDY AND REFERENCE

Obtain samples of the different kinds of wheat, oats, barley, corn, millet, and rice. Put the grain in small, closely stoppered vials; attach the heads of the small grains to sheets of cardboard of the proper size.

Read "The Wheat Problem"--Chapter I.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PICKING COTTON, ALABAMA]

[Ill.u.s.tration: TRANSPORTING COTTON FROM WHARF, CHARLESTON, S.C.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: COTTON PRESS YARD, NEW ORLEANS, LA.]

CHAPTER IX

TEXTILE FIBRES

Under the term "textile" are included the fibrous substances that can be spun into threads, and woven or felted into cloth. Some of these, like the covering of the sheep, goat, and llama, or the coc.o.o.n of the silk-worm, are of animal origin; others, like cotton furze, the husk of the cocoanut, and the bast of the flax-plant are vegetable products.

Their use in the manufacture of cloth antedates the period at which written history begins; it probably begins with the time when primitive man gradually ceased to have the hairy covering necessary to protect him from the conditions of climate and weather.

As body coverings all these substances are dependent on a single principle, namely--they are poor conductors of heat; that is, they do not permit the natural heat of the body to pa.s.s away quickly, nor do they allow sudden changes of the temperature to reach the body quickly.

In other words, because of the artificial covering which mankind alone requires, bodily heat is not dissipated more rapidly than it is created; if it were, the covering would be worthless. A suit of clothes made of steel wire, for instance, because it conducts heat so rapidly, might chill, or perhaps heat the body more quickly than the open air.

With respect to warming qualities wool surpa.s.ses all other textiles. It is employed for clothing in every part of the world and by nearly all peoples. Cotton is used mainly also for body coverings, but it is inferior to wool for protection against cold. It is used by practically all peoples, savage and civilized, outside of the frigid zones. Linen is inferior both to cotton and wool for clothing; its use is also restricted by its great cost. Silk is used mainly for ornamental cloths.

Hemp is used mainly for cordage, and the use of ramie, jute, and sisal hemp is confined mainly to the manufacture of very coa.r.s.e cloths and rugs.

=Cotton.=--The cotton fibre of commerce is the lint surrounding the seeds of several species of _Gossypium_, plants belonging to the same natural order as the marshmallow and the hollyhock. The cultivated species have been carried from India to different parts of the world, but cotton-bearing plants are also native to the American. A native tree-cotton, known as Barbados cotton, occurs in the West Indies; a herbaceous cotton-plant is known to have been cultivated in Peru long before the discovery of Columbus.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COTTON-PRODUCING REGIONS]

More than four hundred years before the Christian era Herodotus describes it and mentions a gin for separating the lint from the seed.

Nearchus, an admiral serving under Alexander the Great, brought to Europe specimens of cotton cloth, and in the course of time it became an article of commerce among Greek and Roman merchants.