The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Part 31

1847 57,970,356 1848 25,185,647 1849 25,642,362 1850 15,822,273

To this has to be added nine or ten million dollars more for tobacco, 72 million dollars for cotton, and 180,000 dollars for hops and other minor agricultural staples--making the value of the raw vegetable exports about 98 million dollars. There is further the value of the products of the forest, timber, ashes and bark, tar, &c., which are equal to nearly seven millions more, as shown by the following figures:--

Dollars.

1847 5,248,928 1848 6,415,297 1849 5,261,766 1850 6,590,037

It appears from an official doc.u.ment of the American Treasury Department, that the average value of the breadstuffs and provisions annually exported from the United States from 1821 to 1836 inclusive, was 12,792,000 dolls.; in 1837 and 1838, about 9,600,000 dolls.; from 1839 to 1846, 16,176,000 dolls.; and for the last seven years as follows:--

Dollars.

1846 27,701,121 1847 68,701,921 1848 37,472,751 1849 38,155,507 1850 26,051,373 1851 21,948,651 1852 25,857,027

Out of the wheat crop in the United States in 1846 of 110 million bushels raised, 10 millions were used for seed, starch, &c.; 72 consumed for food, and 28 million exported. The 460 million bushels of Indian corn raised, were thus disposed of; exported to foreign countries 22 million bushels; sold to and consumed by non-producers, 100 million; consumed on the farms and plantations of the producers for human and animal food, seed, &c., 338 million bushels.

The United States now produce about 120 million bushels of wheat, and nearly 600 million bushels of corn. Their surplus of wheat, for export, may be taken at 20 million bushels, and of Indian corn an almost unlimited quant.i.ty. They export about one and a quarter million barrels of flour, and about one million of bushels of wheat to other markets besides those of Great Britain or her North American colonies, viz., to Europe, Asia, Africa, the West Indies and South America, California and Australia, manufactured flour being the article required for these latter markets. Nearly four million bushels of Indian corn, and 300,000 barrels of corn meal, are exported from the United States to the West Indies and other foreign markets.

From the abstracts of statistical returns prepared at the American Census office, it appears that Pennsylvania, in 1850, was the largest wheat producing State of the Union. I have had the curiosity to compare the most prominent States in respect to this crop, and give them below, with the crop of each, as shown by the returns:--

Bushels.

Pennsylvania 15,482,191 Ohio 14,967,056 Virginia 14,516,900 New York 13,073,000 Michigan 4,918,000 Maryland 4,494,680

That the United States could export 6,000,000 bushels of wheat, and its equivalent in flour in 1845; 13,000,000 in 1846, 26,000,000 in 1847, and then fell back to 13,000,000 in 1848, and 6,000,000 in 1849, with their production of wheat constantly increasing throughout this period, shows a wonderful elasticity, and extensive home market. If the price of wheat is higher in proportion than for corn, the Americans export the former and consume the latter; if the demand for corn be also great, they kill their hogs and export corn, for the pork will keep. If there be no great demand for either, they eat their surplus wheat, feed their hogs with the corn, and export pork as having the greatest value in the least bulk.

DESTINATION OF FLOUR s.h.i.+PPED FROM THE UNITED STATES.

-------------------------+---------+---------+---------+--------- WHERE TO. | 1847 | 1849 | 1850 | 1851 -------------------------+---------+---------+---------+--------- Swedish West Indies | 7,366| 7,573| 8,757| 5,315 Danish ditto | 52,150| 49,568| 44,802| 60,102 Dutch East Indies | 1,150| 4,625| 1,600| 1,873 Dutch West Indies | 11,387| 17,221| 18,354| 19,217 Holland and Belgium | 73,871| 727| 1,177| 594 England |2,475,076| 953,815| 369,777|1,004,783 Gibraltar | 23,974| 6,265| 2,543| 195 British East Indies | 3,034| 791| 1,646| 1,600 British West Indies | 320,363| 303,551| 250,776| 294,731 British American Colonies| 272,299| 294,891| 244,072| 252,380 France | 612,641| -- | -- | -- French West Indies | 28,966| 5,554| 5,480| 7,902 Hayti | 40,257| 10,903| 31,504| 43,867 Cuba | 50,046| 7,154| 5,584| 5,611 Spanish West Indies | 17,780| 6,429| 7,074| 2,285 Madeira | 4,856| 4,358| 6,321| 7,006 Cape de Verds | 1,634| 501| 455| 838 Mexico | 5,928| 11,633| 9,736| 14,964 Honduras | 10,686| 4,125| 4,725| 5,912 Central America | 550| 4,180| 746| 2,573 Columbia | 39,403| 32,251| 41,072| 47,477 Brazil | 270,473| 328,129| 295,415| 374,711 Argentine Republic | 10,684| 6,599| 4,901| 22,612 Chili | 5,977| 5,129| 2,848| 4,327 South America | 2,128| -- | 40| 200 West Indies | 4,902| 3,984| 1,702| 4,079 Africa | 25,728| 4,617| 5,524| 5,430 North-west Coast | 764| 1,180| 858| 2,593 Other ports | 29,866| 35,017| 18,949| 19,158 |---------|---------|---------|--------- Total--Barrels |4,382,496|2,108,013|1,385,448|2,202,335 |---------|---------|---------|--------- Average price | 5.95| 5.35| 5.00| 4.77 -------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------

Wheat, where the soil and the climate are adapted to its growth, and the requisite progress has been made in its culture, is decidedly preferred to all other grains, and, next to maize, is the most important crop in the United States, not only on account of its general use for bread, but for its safety and convenience for exportation. It is not known to what country it is indigenous, any more than any other cultivated cereals, all of which, no doubt, have been essentially improved by man. By some, wheat is considered to have been coeval with the creation, as it is known that upwards of a thousand years before our era it was cultivated, and a superior variety had been attained. It has steadily followed the progress of civilisation from the earliest times, in all countries where it would grow. In 1776 there was entailed upon America an enduring calamity, in consequence of the introduction of the Hessian or wheat fly, which was supposed to have been brought from Germany in some straw, employed in the debarkation of Howe's troops on the west end of Long Island. From that point the insect gradually spread in various directions, at the rate of twenty or thirty miles a year, and the wheat of the entire regions east of the Alleghanies is now more or less infested with the larva, as well as in large portions of the States bordering on the Ohio and Mississippi, and on the great Lakes; and so great have been the ravages of these insects that the cultivation of this grain has in many places been abandoned.

The geographical range of the wheat region in the Eastern Continent and Australia, lies princ.i.p.ally between the 30th and 60th parallels of north lat.i.tude, and the 30th and 40th degrees south, being chiefly confined to France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Sicily, Greece, Turkey, Russia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Prussia, Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain, Ireland, Northern and Southern Africa, Tartary, India, China, Australia, Van Diemen's Land, and j.a.pan. Along the Atlantic portions of the Western Continent, it embraces the tract lying between the 30th and 50th parallels, and in the country westward of the Rocky Mountains, one or two more degrees further north. Along the west coast of South America, as well as in situations within the torrid zone, sufficiently elevated above the level of the sea, and properly irrigated by natural or artificial means, abundant crops are often produced.

The princ.i.p.al districts of the United States in which this important grain is produced in the greatest abundance, and where it forms a leading article of commerce, embrace the States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Iowa. The chief varieties cultivated in the Northern and Eastern States are the white flint, tea, Siberian, bald, Black Sea, and the Italian spring wheat.

In the middle and Western States, the Mediterranean, the Virginia white May, the blue stem, the Indiana, the Kentucky white bearded, the old red chafet, and the Talavera. The yield varies from ten to forty bushels and upwards per acre, weighing, per bushel, from fifty-eight to sixty-seven pounds.

It appears that on the whole crop of the United States there was a gain during the ten years ending 1850, of 15,645,373 bushels. The crop of New England decreased from 2,014,000 to 1,078,000 bushels, exhibiting a decline of 936,000 bushels, and indicating the attention of farmers has been much withdrawn from the culture of wheat. Grouping the States from the Hudson to the Potomac, including the district of Columbia, it appears that they produced, in 1849, 35,085,000 bushels, against 29,936,000 in 1839. In Virginia there was an increase of 1,123,000 bushels. These States embrace the oldest wheat-growing region of the country, and that in which the soil and climate seem to be adapted to promote the permanent culture of the grain. The increase of production in the ten years has been 6,272,000 bushels, equal to 15.6 per cent. The area tilled in these States is 36,000,000 acres, only thirty per cent. of the whole amount returned, while the proportion of wheat produced is forty-six per cent. In North Carolina there has been an increase of 170,000 bushels, but in the Southern States generally there was a considerable decrease. Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin contributed to the general aggregate under the sixth census only 9,800,000 bushels; under the last they are shown to have produced upwards of 25,000,000 bushels, an amount equal to the whole increase in the United States for the period.

When we see the growth of wheat keeping pace with the progress of population in the oldest States of the Union, we need have no apprehension of a decline in the cultivation of this important crop.

The amount of flour exported from New Jersey in 1751, was 6,424 barrels. From Philadelphia in 1752,125,960 barrels, besides 85,500 bushels of wheat; in 1767, 198,816 barrels, besides 367,500 bushels of wheat; in 1771, 252,744 barrels. From Savannah, in 1771, 7,200 lbs.

From Virginia, for some years annually preceding the revolution, 800,000 bushels of wheat. The total exports of flour from the United States:

in 1791 were 619,681 barrels, besides 1,018,339 bushels of wheat; in 1800, 653,052 barrels, besides 26,853 bushels of wheat; in 1810, 798,431 barrels, besides 325,924 bushels of wheat; in 1820-21, 1,056,119 barrels, besides 25,821 bushels of wheat; in 1830-31, 1,806,529 barrels, besides 408,910 bushels of wheat; in 1840-41, 1,515,817 barrels, besides 868,585 bushels of wheat; in 1845-46, 2,289,476 barrels, besides 1,613,795 bushels of wheat; in 1846-47, 4,382,496 barrels, besides 4,399,951 bushels of wheat; in 1850-51, 2,202,335 barrels, besides 1,026,725 bushels of wheat.

In the London Exhibition very little wheat was exhibited equal to that from the United States, especially that from Genessee county, in the State of New York--a soft white variety, to the exhibitor of which a prize medal was awarded by the Royal Commissioners. The red Mediterranean wheat exhibited from the United States attracted much attention. The wheat from South Australia was probably superior to any exhibited, while much from the United States fell but little behind, and was unquestionably next in quality.

From the Second Report on the Breadstuffs of the United States, made to the Commissioner of Patents, by Lewis C. Beck, M.D., I am induced to make some extracts. He states:--

The a.n.a.lyses of several samples, the growth of various foreign countries, have afforded me an opportunity of comparing the American and foreign wheats and flours. With a few exceptions of peculiar varieties, it will be seen from the results that with ordinary care the wheat of this country will compare advantageously with that of any other. Indeed, on reviewing my a.n.a.lyses, I question whether there is any part of the world where this grain is generally of a finer quality than it is in the United States. But all the advantages which we possess in this respect will be of little avail so long as inferior and damaged breadstuffs are s.h.i.+pped from our ports.

In addition to the a.n.a.lyses which I have executed of the various samples of wheat and wheat flour according to the mode heretofore pursued, I have performed a series of experiments for the purpose of settling the important question in regard to the relative value of the fine flour of wheat, and the "whole meal." I have also consulted every work within my reach which could throw any light upon the different points that have presented themselves during the progress of the investigation.

The large number of samples of wheat and wheat flour which have been placed in my hands for examination, have left me no time for the a.n.a.lysis of our other breadstuffs.

It cannot be denied that the amount s.h.i.+pped to foreign ports during 1849 is considerably less than for the two preceding years. In the meantime, however, a new and important market has been opened in our territories on the Pacific. It may also be safely affirmed that the causes for foreign demand, and which must hereafter operate, still remain. These are the cheapness of land in this country, and the peculiar adaptation of our soil and climate to the growth of the two important cereals, wheat and maize.

Another fact, it seems to me, is of sufficient interest in connection with this subject, to be here noticed. The failure of the potato crop in various parts of the world for several years past has engaged the attention of scientific and practical men.

Unfortunately, the nature of the blight which has seized upon this tuber has eluded the most careful inquiries; but it has been shown by well-conducted a.n.a.lyses that potatoes at their late prices are the most expensive kind of farinaceous food. This will be evident from the following statement:--

"Potatoes contain from about seventy to seventy-nine per cent. of water, while the proportion in wheat flour is from twelve to fourteen per cent; and while the gluten and alb.u.men in potatoes scarcely rise to one per cent., in wheat flour the range may be set down at from nine to thirteen per cent. Again, the non-nitrogenous principles are as about seventy-five per cent. in wheat flour against fifteen or sixteen in potatoes. In short, whilst potatoes supply only twenty per cent. of heat-forming and nutritious principles, taken together, wheat supplies more than seventy per cent. of the former, and more than tea of the latter. The value of wheat to potatoes, therefore, is at least four to one; or, if wheat sells at fifteen s.h.i.+llings sterling per cwt., potatoes to be equally cheap, ought to sell at between three and four s.h.i.+llings."

The preceding results, for which I am princ.i.p.ally indebted to Dr.

Daubeny, Professor of Chemistry at Oxford,[25] show that unless a great change occurs in the culture of the potato, there must be an increased demand for other kinds of farinaceous food. And it is worthy of notice that while this blight is one of the causes which bring to our sh.o.r.es the starving population of Europe, the raising of the cereals not only furnishes profitable employment to the emigrant, but enables him to make the best return to those who are still obliged to remain.

_Adaptation of the soil and climate of the United States to the culture of the cereals_.--That the soil and climate of many portions of the United States are well adapted to the cultivation of the more important cereals, is fully shown by the results of all the researches which have thus far been prosecuted. I have indeed seen it a.s.serted that the climate of England is the best for the cultivation of wheat, and preferable to any in our country; its humidity being the peculiarity to which this superiority is ascribed.[26] But this is undoubtedly the testimony of a too partial witness. A recent statement by an English author is the result of a more correct knowledge of the facts. He acknowledges that there is no ground for the expectation which has been entertained concerning the advantageous growth of maize in England. "Nor is ours," says he, "the most favorable country for wheat, but skill in husbandry has overcome great difficulties."[27] The mistake on this subject may have originated from the occurrence of a larger and plumper grain in the more humid climate; but a.n.a.lysis shows that the small grain raised in the hotter and drier air oftentimes greatly surpa.s.ses the former in its nutritious value.

Russia is said to be the great rival of this country in the growth of wheat, but I think it doubtful whether she possesses superior natural advantages; and I am sure she will find it difficult to compete with the industry and skill which here characterize the operations of husbandry, and the manufacture and s.h.i.+pment of breadstuffs.

_Export of sophisticated and damaged flour_.--It is a matter of deep regret that circ.u.mstances have occurred which must have a most injurious influence upon the trade in breadstuffs between this country and Great Britain. I refer to the mixtures of damaged, inferior, and good kinds of flour, which it appears on authentic testimony have been largely exported during the past year. Whether this fraudulent operation, which is said to have been princ.i.p.ally confined to New York, is the result of the change in the inspection laws, as some a.s.sert, I am unable to say. But it requires no great foresight to predict that, if continued, it will create a distrust of our breadstuffs in foreign ports which it will be very difficult to remove. It cannot but excite the indignation of the many honorable dealers, that the unworthy cupidity of a few individuals should lead to such disastrous consequences.

I have as yet been unable to obtain samples of these sophisticated flours, and the only information which I have in regard to them is the general fact above stated, and concerning the truth of which there can be little doubt. No means should be left untried to devise some mode by which these frauds can be easily and certainly detected.

_Injury sustained by breadstuffs during their transport and s.h.i.+pment._--During the past year, I have had abundant means of determining the nature of the injuries which are often sustained by our breadstuffs in their transport from the particular districts in which they are grown and manufactured to our commercial depots, and in their s.h.i.+pment to foreign ports. As this is one of the most important points connected with these researches, I have devoted much time to its investigation. From the results of numerous a.n.a.lyses, I think it may be safely a.s.serted, that of the wheat flour which arrives in England from various ports of the United States, a large proportion is more or less injured during the voyage. The same remark may be made in regard to many of the samples sent from the Western States to the city of New York. Their nutritive value is considerably impaired, and without more care than is usually exercised, they are entirely unfit for export.

In my former report, I adverted to one of the great causes of the deterioration which our breadstuffs often suffer during their transport and s.h.i.+pment. This was the undue proportion of the great disorganizing substance, water, under the influence of what usually occurs, viz., an elevation of temperature above the ordinary standard. My recent investigations have served only to strengthen these views. There is no doubt that these are the conditions which cause the change of the non-nitrogenous principles into acids (the lactic or acetic), while a portion of the gluten is thus also consumed.

I have tried a series of experiments in reference to the action of moisture upon various samples of wheat and wheat flour. The samples were placed for twelve hours in the oven of a bath with a double casing, containing a boiling saturated solution of common salt, the temperature of which was about 220 deg. Fahr. Subjected to this test,

100 grains of Milwaukie wheat lost 12.10 grains.

" " Guilderland (Holland) wheat lost 9.35 "

" " Polish Odessa red wheat " 10.55 "

" " Soft Russian wheat " 8.55 "

" " Kobanga wheat " 8.15 "

After an exposure of the dried samples to the air for two or three days, they increased in weight from one to three grains in the hundred originally employed.

Nineteen different samples of wheat flour, which lost by exposure to the above heat from ten to fourteen grains in the one hundred, when similarly exposed to the air for eighteen hours, again increased in weight from 8.40 to 11.60 in the hundred grains originally employed.

These experiments show, what might indeed have been predicted as to the general result, that wheat in grain, if not less liable to injury than flour, yet if once properly dried, suffers much less from a subsequent exposure to air and moisture.

It is now ascertained that in presence of a considerable proportion of water, wheat flour under the influence of heat undergoes a low degree at least of lactic fermentation, which will account for the _souring_ of the ordinary samples when exposed to warm or humid climates. The same result will inevitably follow from their careless exposure in the holds of vessels. That this is particularly the case with many of the cargoes of wheat flour s.h.i.+pped to Great Britain, there is little reason to doubt. This may be partly owing to the great humidity of the English climate, as the deterioration is observed as well in the flour which is the produce of that country as in that which is received from abroad.

It is stated by Mr. Edlin, quoted in an article on Baking, in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, that, "as a general rule, the London flour" is decidedly bad. The gluten generally wants the adhesiveness which characterizes the gluten of good wheat."

I have observed that, in the a.n.a.lyses of some of the samples of damaged flour, the proportions of what is set down under the head of glucose and dextrine are unusually large. This is perhaps due to the change produced in the starch by the action of diastase, and which may under certain circ.u.mstances be formed in wheat flour. It would seem, according to M. Guerin, that starch may thus be acted on even at slightly elevated temperatures. In one of his experiments, at a temperature no higher than 68 deg. Fahr., a quant.i.ty of starch, at the end of twenty-four hours, was converted into syrup, which yielded seventy-seven per cent. of saccharine matter.[28] It may be thought that I have overrated the importance of this subject, but it is believed that a careful examination of the facts will relieve me from this charge. I am now satisfied that, if the proportion of water in our exported breadstuffs could be reduced to about five or six per cent., one of the great causes of complaint in regard to them would be completely removed.

_Kiln-drying of breadstuffs, and exclusion of air_.--The injury which our breadstuffs sustain by the large proportion of water can of course be prevented only by careful drying before s.h.i.+pment, and by the employment of barrels rendered as impervious as possible to the influence of atmospheric moisture.

In my first report, I have spoken favorably of the process of drying by steam, according to the plan patented by Mr. J.R. Stafford. I still think this mode possesses great advantages over those previously followed, and which almost always injured the quality of the grain or flour: but from some trials which I have made during the past year, it is inferred that the exposure to the heat is perhaps usually not sufficiently prolonged to answer the purpose intended by the operation. I have often observed that samples of wheat flour, after being exposed to the heat of the salt water-bath oven (220 deg. Fahr.) for two or three hours, lost weight by a further continuance of the heat. An apparatus has been patented by Mr. J.H. Tower, of Clinton, N.Y., consisting of a cylinder of square apartments or tubes, into which the grain or flour is introduced, and subjected to heat while in rapid revolution. I examined samples which had been subjected to this operation, and ascertained that wheat flour, originally containing 14.80 per cent. of water, had the proportion reduced to 10.25 per cent., while in wheat the proportion of water was reduced from 14.75 to 8.55 per cent.

Now it is probable that by either of the above modes, and perhaps by many others, the various kinds of breadstuffs may be brought to that degree of dryness which, with ordinary care, shall protect them from subsequent injury; but in order to secure this advantage, the operation must be carefully performed, and experiments must be made to ascertain how long an exposure to heat is necessary to bring the sample to the proper degree of dryness, and to determine whether in any respect its quality is impaired. It has already been stated that absolute desiccation is not necessary, even were it attainable; but any process in order to be effective should reduce the proportion of water to about six, or at most seven per cent.