The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Part 39

The increase of production, from 1840 to 1850, was 214,000,000 bushels, equal to 56 per cent.

The production of New England advanced from 6,993,000 to 10,377,000 bushels, showing an increase of 3,384,000 bushels, nearly fifty per cent. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, increased 20,812,000 bushels, more than fifty per cent. In the production of this crop no State has retrograded. Ohio, which in 1840 occupied the fourth place as a corn-producing State, now ranks as the first. Kentucky is second, Illinois third, Tennessee fourth. The crop of Illinois has increased from 2,000,000 to 5,500,000 bushels, or at the rate of 160 per cent. in ten years.

Of the numerous varieties some are best adapted to the Southern States, while others are better suited for the Northern and Eastern.

Those generally cultivated in the former are the Southern big and small yellow, the Southern big and small white flint, the yellow Peruvian, and the Virginian white gourd seed. In the more Northerly and Easterly States they cultivate the golden sioux, or Northern yellow flint, the King Philip, or eight-rowed yellow, the Canadian early white, the Tuscarora, the white flour, and the Rhode Island white flint.

The extended cultivation of this grain is chiefly confined to the Eastern, Middle, and Western States, though much more successfully grown in the latter. The amount exported from South Carolina, in 1748, was 39,308 bushels; from North Carolina, in 1753, 61,580 bushels; from Georgia, in 1755, 600 bushels; from Virginia, for several years preceding the revolution, annually 600,000 bushels; from Philadelphia, in 1765-66, 54,205 bushels; in 1771, 259,441 bushels.

The total amount exported from America in 1770, was 573,349 bushels; in 1791, 2,064,936 bushels, 351,695 of which were Indian meal; in 1800, 2,032,435 bushels, 338,108 of which were in meal; in 1810, 1,140,960 bushels, 86,744 of which were meal. In 1820-21, there were exported 607,277 bushels of corn, and 131,669 barrels of Indian meal; in 1830-31, 571,312 bushels of corn, and 207,604 barrels of meal; in 1840-41,535,727 bushels of corn, and 232,284 barrels of meal; in 1845-46, 1,286,068 bushels of corn, and 298,790 barrels of meal; in 1846-47 16,326,050 bushels of corn, and 948,060 barrels of meal; in 1850-51, 3,426,811 bushels of corn, and 203,622 barrels of meal. More than eleven millions of bushels of Indian corn were consumed in 1850, in the manufacture of spirituous liquors.

According to the census of 1840, the corn crop of the United States was 377,531,875 bushels; in 1850, 592,326,612 bushels.

The increase in the production of corn in Ohio has been (in ten years) 66 per cent. I have also before me the auditor's returns for the crop of 1850, as taken by a.s.sessors, and the number of acres planted. The auditor's returns are:--

Seventy-three counties 55,079,374 Darke county 524,484 Twelve counties, average 8,400,000 ---------- Total 64,003,858

This is an advance of 15 per cent. on the crop of 1840, and it is known that the crop of 1850 was better than that of 1849. The number of acres planted, and the average production was:--

Acres planted 1,810,947 Bushels produced 64,003,858 Average per acre 35-3/8 bush.

Considering how large a portion of hill land is planted, and how many fields are ill cultivated, the average is high. Many persons have believed that taking all years and all lands into view, the average of corn lands was not more than thirty bushels. But the immense fertility of _bottom_ lands on the rivers and creeks of Ohio make up for bad cultivation and inferior soil. We may see something of the differences in the production of corn, by taking the averages of different counties, thus:--

Acres. Crop. Average.

Butler 62,031 2,646,353 42 Warren 42,322 1,757,409 42 Pickaway 65,860 2,627,727 40 Ross 69,520 2,918,958 42

Compare the average of these counties, which embrace some of the best lands in the State, with the following:--

Acres. Crop. Average.

Carroll 10,107 316,999 32 Jackson 15,680 439,850 30 Monroe 23,375 728,242 31 Portage 10,426 329,529 32 Vinton 11,413 345,470 30

The last counties contain but little bottom land, and hence the average of corn is reduced one-fourth in amount. Of these counties, two are full of coal and iron. The resources of the last are more slow to develop, but in the end will be equally valuable.

But a small quant.i.ty of the corn of Ohio is exported _as grain_. It is first manufactured into other articles, and then exported in another form. The princ.i.p.al part of these are hogs, cattle, and whiskey. It is difficult to say exactly how much corn is _in this way exported_, but the following is an approximation--

Bushels.

In Fat Cattle 4,000,000 In Fat Hogs 10,000,000 In Whiskey 2,500,000 ---------- Total 16,500,000

Taking into view the export of corn meal--about twenty millions of bushels--the residue goes to the support of the stock animals on hand, of which there are near three millions, exclusive of those fatted for market.

The exported corn in the shape of cattle, hogs, and whiskey, is worth about thirty cents cash, while on the farm it is not worth twenty--thus proving that it is more profitable to consume corn on the farm, than to export it in bulk. This fact is well known to good farmers, who seldom attempt to sell corn as a merchantable article.

No mining in the world has ever been equal to mining in a fertile soil, and no treasury is so reliable as a granary of surplus products.

Indian corn and meal generally find a market in the West Indies, Newfoundland, Spain, and Portugal. It commands a good price, and finds a ready sale in the ports which are open to its reception.

Deducting one-sixteenth for the amount exported, and one-tenth for seed, the quant.i.ty of maize annually consumed for food in the United States by a family of five persons is 85 bushels.

Maize may be considered as the great staple of the agricultural products of the States. It is exported in large quant.i.ties, in a raw state, or when manufactured into meal. Before it is manufactured into meal it is dried by a fire, in a kiln prepared for that purpose. By this process the meal is much less liable to become sour on the voyage, and can be preserved much longer in a warm climate. No inconsiderable quant.i.ties have likewise been consumed in distillation; and the article of kiln-dried meal for exportation is destined to be of no small account to the corn-growing sections of that country.

The improvement continually making in the quality of the seed augurs well for the productiveness of this indigenous crop, as it has been found that new varieties are susceptible of being used to great advantage.

The following was the produce of the different States in the years named, as given in the Official Census Returns:--

-----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- | 1840 | 1841 | 1843 | 1850 | Bushels. | Bushels. | Bushels. | Bushels.

-----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Maine | 950,528 | 988,549 | 1,390,799 | New Hamps.h.i.+re | 1,162,572 | 191,275 | 330,925 | Ma.s.sachusetts | 1,809,192 | 1,905,273 | 2,347,451 | Rhode Island | 450,498 | 471,022 | 578,720 | Connecticut | 1,500,441 | 1,521,191 | 1,926,458 | Vermont | 1,119,678 | 1,167,219 | 1,252,853 | New York | 10,972,286 | 11,441,256 | 15,574,590 | New Jersey | 4,361,975 | 5,134,366 | 5,805,121 | Pennsylvania | 14,240,022 | 14,969,472 | 15,857,431 | Delaware | 2,099,359 | 2,164,507 | 2,739,982 | Maryland | 8,233,086 | 6,998,124 | 6,205,282 | Virginia | 34,577,591 | 33,987,255 | 45,836,788 | N. Carolina | 23,893,763 | 24,116,253 | 27,916,077 | S. Carolina | 14,722,805 | 14,987,474 | 18,190,913 | Georgia | 20,905,122 | 21,749,227 | 26,960,687 | Alabama | 20,947,004 | 21,594,354 | 24,817,089 | Mississippi | 13,161,237 | 5,985,724 | 9,386,399 | Louisiana | 5,952,912 | 6,224,147 | 8,957,392 | Tennessee | 44,986,188 | 46,285,359 | 67,838,477 | 52,000,000 Kentucky | 39,847,120 | 40,787,120 | 59,355,156 | 58,000,000 Ohio | 33,668,144 | 35,552,161 | 38,651,128 | 59,788,750 Indiana | 28,155,887 | 33,195,108 | 36,677,171 | 53,000,004 Illinois | 22,634,211 | 23,424,474 | 32,760,434 | 57,000,000 Missouri | 17,332,524 | 19,725,146 | 27,148,608 | Arkansas | 4,846,632 | 6,039,450 | 8,754,204 | Michigan | 2,277,039 | 3,058,090 | 3,592,482 | Florida Territory| 898,074 | 694,205 | 838,667 | Wisconsin | 379,359 | 521,244 | 750,775 | Iowa T. | 1,406,241 | 1,547,215 | 2,128,416 | D. of Columbia | 39,485 | 43,725 | 47,837 | +-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Total | 377,531,875 | 387,380,185 | 494,618,306 | 500,000,000 -----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------

The Indian corn crop of 1850, for the whole of the United States, is returned as over 500 million bushels, a gain of about 40 millions on that of 1840.

I give below the quant.i.ties of Indian corn and meal which were exported from the United States in the following years:--

Corn, Bushels. Meal, Bushels. Value. Dolls.

1790 1,713,241 1794 1,505,977 241,570 1798 1,218,231 211,694 1802 1,633,283 566,816 1806 1,064,263 108,342 1,286,000 1810 1,054,252 86,744 1,138,000 1814 61,284 26,438 170,000 1818 1,075,190 120,029 2,335,405 1822 509,098 148,288 900,656 1826 505,381 158,652 1,007,321 1829 897,656 173,775 974,535 1833 437,174 146,678 871,814

--(_Pitkin's Statistics of the United Stales, and Seybert's Statistical Annals_.)

_System of culture pursued in the United States_.--Maize, the _corn, par excellence_, of America, is grown in every State in the Union.

Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, and Indiana, are in their order the greatest producers of this grain. In Illinois, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, New York, Maryland, Arkansas, and the New England States, it appears to be a very favorite crop. In Ma.s.sachusetts, the most Northern and least favorable State on that account, being cold, a fair proportion is grown, the aggregate produce being greater there than in any of the grains, except oats; more, indeed, than might be expected, were not labor somewhat cheaper than in more Southern States, where the climate is more congenial. The ordinary produce is twenty-five bushels per acre; forty bushels is often raised, and in prize crops the weight has come up to 100 bushels per acre. In Ohio the average is fifty-five bushels to the acre. The eight and twelve-rowed varieties of Indian corn are those most usually grown in New York, and the average produce of a good field in that State is from forty to sixty bushels; on ordinary ground twenty-five to thirty is a fair crop. The same returns appeared to be derived from ground in New Jersey. Mr. Doubleday, of Binghampton, New York, estimates the produce of that neighbourhood at forty bushels, and the expense of raising the crop as follows, estimating the worth of the land at twenty-five dollars (say 5) per acre:--

Dollars. Cents.

The interest of which is 1 16 One ploughing with double team, and harrowing 3 50 Seed and planting 1 00 Plaster or gypsum, and putting on the hill 0 37 Ploughing and hoeing twice, cutting or stalking the corn 2 75 Husking or thras.h.i.+ng 2 50 ----------------- 11 62

Average yield, forty bushels; cost of produce, twenty-nine cents. (1s.

4d.) per bushel.

Nothing is here put down for manure or cartage, because the fodder, cut up and saved, as usually adopted, is equal to the manure required.

It is looked upon that the preparation of ground for corn costs less than wheat; the approved plan is to plant on sward ground, ploughing at once, and turning the ground completely over, then harrowing longitudinally until, a good tilth is obtained. Should the soil not be rich enough, stable manure is first spread on the land.

Now suppose the corn to sell at seventy-five cents the bushel, the account would stand thus:--

Dollars. Cents.

Forty bushels, at seventy-five cents. 30 00 Cost 11 62 --------------- Gain per acre 18 38

or 3 13s. 6d. British money profit per acre.

In Lichfield, Connecticut, the cost of produce has been, for the items as stated above, eighteen dollars twenty-five cents, or the cost of each bushel thirty-six and one-half cents. The acre produce was fifty bushels, so that it stood thus:--

Dollars. Cents.

Fifty bushels, at seventy-five cents 37 50 Cost 18 25 ----------------- Gain 19 5

or 3 12s. per acre.

The cost of producing maize varies somewhat in the other States, thus:--

Per bushel.

Cents.

New Hamps.h.i.+re (Unity) the cost was 50 Fayette county, Pennsylvania 16 Donesville, Michigan, only 17 Plymouth, Ma.s.sachusetts 17 7/10