is said to contain 40,000 square miles area of workable coal. Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri are full of coal. The marvellous PETROLEUM springs were discovered in 1859, in Pennsylvania: they are now found in Ohio and other States also. Lead is plentiful in several States: that of Illinois and Wisconsin being accounted the richest in the world. There is copper on the borders of Lake Superior; zinc in New Jersey and Pennsylvania; tin in Maine. Silver is found in great abundance in California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah; gold abounds on the Pacific slope, and also in the old States of Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and elsewhere. But AGRICULTURE is the great gold mine of the United States. The average area under cereal crops during the ten years extending from 1868 to 1877 was about 77,000,000 acres; the average production over one-and-ahalf billion bushels; while the average annual value of cereals produced during that decade was $100,000,000. The following table gives the extent and value of the principal crops of the United States in 1879: GENERAL SUMMARY SHOWING THE ESTIMATED QUANTITIES, NUMBER OF ACRES, AND AGGREGATE VALUE OF THE PRINCIPAL CROPS OF THE FARM IN 1879. TABLE SHOWING THE AVERAGE YIELD AND CASH VALUE PER ACRE, AND PRICE PER BUSHEL, POUND, OR TON, OF FARM PRODUCTS FOR THE YEAR 1879. The Indian corn crop of the year 1879 was the largest ever produced in the United States. The price realised by the producer throughout the country averaged 37.5 cents. per bushel, against 31.8 cents. in 1878. The aggregate value of the 1879 crop was $580,000,000, against $441,000,000 in 1878. The cotton crop of 1879 was the largest ever produced in the United States, exceeding that of the preceding year by 437,832 bales. Further particulars concerning the farm crops will be found in the chapters devoted to the several States. Twenty years ago, petroleum was discovered in the State of Pennsylvania, and the production of this illuminating and lubricating liquid has gone on increasing from 10,542,000 gallons, in 1860, to 710,538,452 gallons, in 1879-the latter being the largest quantity, by over one hundred million gallons, ever produced. The wool products of the country for 1879 were 232,500,000 pounds. The wheat crop of 1879 shows an increase of nearly 30,000,000 bushels over 1878; while the price received by the farmer-in consequence of the failure of European crops was considerably in advance of that realised in 1878. The average for 1879 gives $1.11 per bushel against $0.78 in the preceding year. The value of the crop of 1879 was $497,000,000, against $326,000,000 the year before. About thirty years ago, grain was imported to the United States from the Black Sea. At present Russian corn is being driven out of European markets by the superior quality of that grown in the West. America is the greatest wheat-producing country in the world, as will be seen by the following table: THE FOLLOWING TABLE GIVES THE YIELD OF WHEAT IN THE PRINCIPAL WHEAT-PRODUCING COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD DURING 1879. On the 1st of January, 1880, the number of live stock During the year 1879 there were exported from the country, chiefly to the United Kingdom, 25,898 hogs, 73,169 horned cattle, 2,949 horses, 3,349 mules, 112,903 sheep. Bacon and hams, 749,316,601 lbs.; fresh beef, 66,448,174 lbs.; salted beef, 40,547,622 lbs.; butter, 38,248,016 lbs.; cheese, 141,654,474 lbs.; lard, 345,296,532 lbs.; pork, 92,071,988 lbs.; tallow, 101,646,707 lbs.; cotton, 1,628,372,833 lbs.; petroleum, 378,310,010 gallons. Total import and export trade in 1879, $1,278,897,480. The following table shows the agricultural products exported from America during 1878 and 1879:— The great increase in this trade during the last twenty years is represented by the following figures:-Value of exports in 1859, $254,297,969; value in 1879, $604,276,667. The provision trade of the United Kingdom is occasionally thrown into panic by reports from the Continent of disease discovered in American meat. It is therefore interesting to know to what extent each country is a buyer, and what would be the natural effect upon price and demand should some of these customers close their account. DISTRIBUTION OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS |