CHAPTER IV.

09

THE produce of agriculture divided into that, 1st, which constitutes vegetable food, as wheat, flour, rice, indian corn, rye, &c.~2d, the products of animals, as beef, pork, butter, lard, cheese, and cattle, horses, &c.-3d, tobacco,-4th, cotton, and 5th, others of less importance, as flax-seed, indigo, wax, &c.—The quantity and value of each of these exported at different periods-Value of manufactures exported-A comparative view of the value of the products of the sea, of the forest, of agriculture, and manufactures exported in each year from 1803 to 1816.

THE principal employment of the inhabitants of North-America, from its first settlement, has been that of agriculture. The first emigrants soon found, that nothing promised such important advantages, and furnished such easy means of subsistence, as the cultivation of new lands. The labour bestowed in clearing them not only furnished the surest means of subsistence, but also added to the permanent value of the lands themselves. The immense tracts of vacant, uncleared lands in the United States, has always rendered it easy, for those who possessed an ordinary share of industry, to obtain more than sufficient for cultivation. The ease with which families can be supported, by this mode of employment, has induced early marriages; population has increased with the means of subsistence; and wealth and happiness have generally attended the independent cultivator of the soil.

The surplus produce of the agriculture of the United States has been exchanged for those articles, either of necessity, convenience, or luxury, which they did not manufacture, or which could only be procured from foreign nations; and the productions of agriculture, both before and since the American revolution, have constituted much the greatest portion of their domestic exports. These productions/ have been classed into those—

1st, which constitute vegetable food, such as wheat, flour, rice, indian corn, rye, peas, beans, potatoes, &c.

2d, the product of animals, as beef, tallow, hides, butter and cheese, pork and lard, or the animals themselves, as live cattle, horses, mules, sheep, &c.

3d, tobacco.

4th, cotton.

5th, others of minor importance, as indigo, flax-seed, wax, &c.

Wheat, the most valuable of all vegetables, was brought into America by the first settlers, and has been cultivated with success, from the first settlement of the country. For a long time, it has been the staple of the middle states, and was formerly produced in great abundance, in the eastern states. For some years past, however, the growth of wheat in New-England has, in a great degree, failed. The states of Maryland and Virginia have, long since, exchanged part of their tobacco lands, for wheat; and during the late war, in the more southern states, the cultivation of wheat was substituted for cotton. Wheat and flour have always constituted a large proportion of the exports of this country.

In the year 1770, the quantity of wheat exported from the NorthAmerican Colonies, now United States, was seven hundred and fiftyone thousand two hundred and forty bushels; of this eleven thousand seven hundred and thirty-nine went to England; one hundred and forty-nine thousand nine hundred and eighty-five, to Ireland; five hundred and eighty-eight thousand five hundred and sixty-one, to the south of Europe, and nine hundred and fifty-five, to the West-Indies. During the same year, forty-five thousand eight hundred and sixtyeight tons of flour and bread were also exported, of which two hundred and sixty-three tons went to England; three thousand five hundred and eighty-three, to Ireland; eighteen thousand five hundred and one, to the south of Europe; twenty-three thousand four hundred and forty-nine, to the West-Indies; and seventy-two to Africa. The official value of the wheat was estimated at £131,467 0 10 sterling, and the flour and bread at £504,553 6 1 making £636,020 6 11 or about $2,862,190. The amount exported from the United States, from the peace of 1783, to the commencement of the present government, cannot be ascertained with any degree of precision.

The quantity exported from 1791, to 1816, with the value since 1803, was as follows:

The years of greatest exportation of these articles, since 1791, were 1793, 1801, 1802, 1803, 1807, and 1811, in the last of which, the value of wheat and flour exported amounted to the sum of $14,662,000, exceeding, by nearly four millions, that of any former year. This great increase, however, was owing, principally, to the