sold. As expressed in packages, the falling off in imports from Liverpool to the leading ports of the United States has been some 24 per cent; but it has also been the case, the packages this year contain a more valuable class of goods, although at lower prices for the styles than usual. The long drain of specie from the interior of the country has, in connection with the diminished receipts of farm produce, influenced a great scarcity of money in the interior, and checked the facility of collections. That promptness in paying up which was last year so generally experienced, and which caused an extension of credits, is now less perceptible. The jobbing merchant buys his goods at six or eight months' credit, and some for even a shorter credit, and for cash. He sells them to almost every State in the Union for what are called open notes, or notes payable at the store of the seller at six months, but in nine cases out of ten with the understanding that the buyer need not feel absolutely bound to pay at maturity. This plan worked better during the abundance of last year than it is found to do this. Money in the cities has nevertheless been accumulating, but in view of the extraordinary state of affairs abroad there is no disposition to embark in enterprises; on the other hand, every anxiety to realize, and the discount market has been very stringent. The pressure does not arise from want of specie, of which there is great and increasing abundance, while the rates of bills are falling and the export of specie ceased; but from the disturbed state of our commercial relations with Europe and the perilous condition of credits, both public and private, pending the great political upheavings that are now on all sides manifest. These admonish merchants to hold on to money that may be wanted to meet outstanding obligations, and by this means a large proportion of the active capital of the country is being locked up. Very considerable sums are offering at rates as low as 6 per cent upon United States stock payable on demand or short notice, and even less, while the same lenders will not touch undoubted paper even at 1 a 2 per cent per month, because, in the latter case, it would be beyond their control in case of any sudden emergency, and the political horizon is by no means such as to warrant confidence. The accumulation of money in the hands of private dealers, and the diminished credits, arises in a good degree from the fact that bank loans are di minishing in amount, and their paper going out of circulation. The instalments on the new loan will probably cause some demand for specie, and it is probable that the somewhat restored confidence in the French government, which enables a new stock of 5 per cent to be negotiated at 65, at which rate it yields 7 per cent interest, may check the sale of United States stocks in London, and thus affect exchanges. The operations of the federal government have ceased to affect the market to some extent, and the prospect is that its action will henceforth be imperceptible, paying out specie quite as fast as it receives it. The following table gives the revenue and expenditure for the fiscal year 1848, according to the quarterly returns of the department: Revenue UNITED STATES REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 1848. September 30. December 31. -Quarter ending March 31. June 30. Total. Total........ $18,976,752 $8,307,790 $15,647,020 $11,347,039 $54,281,110 5,387,820 35,375 4,643,300 318,608 18,959,648 UNITED STATES REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 1848-CONTINUED. Total........ $14,700,139 $9,305,918 $15,525,922 $13,126,041 $52,668,019 This table gives the figures quarterly for the financial operations of the federal government in the last year of the Mexican war, and as compared with four annual returns, the results are as follow: UNITED STATES REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE FOR FOUR YEARS. 1845. 1846. 163,998 2,077,023 2,694,452 ............ Total........... $29,968,207 $28,031,114 $59,451,177 $52,668,019 The accounts from Europe, apart from the political state of affairs, are fraught with interest, inasmuch as that it begins now to be pretty evident that considerable supplies of food will be wanted in Great Britain. It has of late years become very apparent, that even when the harvest is of good average, the supply is insufficient to feed the population, and that, consequently, a failure of the harvest only enhances proportionably the quantity which England must have. It is now the case that she requires, in years of good harvest, as much as she formerly did in years of disaster. To this must be added the fact, that a great change has taken place in the cultivation of the potato. For a long season of years the disposition prevailed, both in England and Ireland, to put more land into potatoes and less into grain, because an acre of land would produce food enough in the former shape to feed as many persons as it would require four acres in wheat to support. In Ireland, where multitudes occupied small patches, it was incumbent on them to plant with that which would yield the most food. Arthur Young, Mr. Newenham, Mr. M'Culloch, and other great authorities in England, as well as an able statement of Messrs. Berry and Herring, in the Report of the Commissioner of Patents at Washington, state that, as food, 4 lbs. of potatoes are equal to 1 lb. of wheat and 1 lbs. of oatmeal. The general average production in England is 9 tons of potatoes per acre, and 28 bushels of wheat at 60 lbs., and of oats 64 bushels, 40 lbs. to the bushel; consequently, the product of food per acre is as follows: ......... Potatoes...... VOL. XIX.-NO. III. ..9 tons .28 bushels, at 60 lbs. .64 bushels, at 40 lbs., in oatmeal 20 20,160 lbs. 1,680" 1,645 66 From this, it appears that an acre planted with potatoes will support as many persons as four planted with oats, or three with wheat. The increased population of Ireland, which rose from 6,036,000 in 1812 to 8,179,359 in 1841, was mostly sustained by potatoes, taking patches from grain lands and planting with potatoes. In the English manufacturing districts the same process enhanced the quantity of cheap food to the operatives, until it was estimated in 1846 that 3,400,000 acres were planted with potatoes, yielding 30,600,000 tons of food. Of this, 60 per cent perished by rot, and the cultivation of potatoes has been abandoned to an extent which requires an addition of at least 150,000,000 bushels of grain to her average harvest. Notwithstanding the low prices of the past summer, the imports into England amount to 1,000,000 bushels per week, and by recent advices a considerable advance in prices. AVERAGE PRICE OF WHEAT In England for four years. It is to be observed that prices have ruled higher during the present year thus far than in 1845, notwithstanding the alleged large supply of both home and foreign grain, and that prices at the present date are higher than in 1846, immediately preceding the great rise in prices, and are now advancing, when at that period they were falling. In order to illustrate the actual annual large demand for grain in England, we may take the following return, published by order of the House of Lords, of the quantity of grain of all sorts taken out of bond in the United Kingdom, yearly, for the last twenty years, giving the following totals: 48.2 87. 1 52.10 47.11 48.10 82. 3 52. 3 47.11 49. 1 75.6 50.10 48.10 48.11 77. 3 49.11 50.0 75.5 47. 5 53. 3 The great element of the enormous consumption of last year at the high prices indicated above, was the railroad expenditure. These continue this year, aided by low prices of grain. The number of persons employed by the companies is over 350,000, per official reports, and the "calls" for July amounted to £3,885,021, say $20,000,000, being at the rate of an annual expenditure of $250,000,000. With this element of the means of popular consumption, the prospect is now that the demand will be enhanced by damaged harvests; and it will be remembered that the duties come off finally in February, 1849, after which the trade will be free. Under these circumstances, it is not improbable that the present will be the lowest year of export of farm produce for many years to come. The capacity of the United States to supply food in almost any quantity, is becoming more apparent each year. As an indication of this, we compile from official sources the number of acres of land sold by the federal government in each of the agricultural States: Total........ 4,719,479 12,475,349 9,839,971 8,423,709 6,744,417 These figures represent the breadth of land taken annually by each State directly from the federal government. In the years 1835-6, when speculators were appropriating large tracts, with the view to compel settlers to pay high prices, a small proportion only of the sales fell into the hands of the immigrants. These lands have since been gradually purchased to some extent for cultivation, and have in that proportion competed with the subsequent sales of the government. In the last two years the sales of the government lands have considerably revived. The progress of national exports do not seem to have kept pace with the settlement of the lands. The following table shows the quantities of certain articles sent out of the country: EXPORTS OF LEADING ARTICLES OF UNITED STATES PRODUCE AT DIFFERENT PERIODS. Beef and pork.. 123,456 133.534 262,147 339.645 318,169 Provisions 124,007 1,826,068 16,326.050 269,030 298,790 948,060 66.858 $ 2,755,000 2,242.726 2,596,422 2,739,016 5,796,654 7,421.179 10,806,615 Tobacco........hhds. 83,186 86,718 119.484 147,168 147.998 135,762 Cotton.......... lbs. 63,914.459 124,893 405 276,979,784 743.941,061 872,905,996 547,557.000 527,219,985 Manufactures......$ 2.120,000 2,754.631 7,147,364 9,410.200 9.130.000 10.525,064 10.476,345 Amer. tonnage ent.. 1,089,876 769,084 914,704 1,576,946 2,035,486 2.151,114 2,701,359 Population.......... 6,000,000 9,638,131 12,866,020 17,063,353 20,000,000 20,600,000 22,000,000 From 1807 to 1840, the value of provisions exported did not maintain itself. It has since quadrupled, and has become the second item in our list of exports, with every probability of becoming ultimately the first. The cotton culture has, on the other hand, received an evident check. The following table shows the quantity of land purchased of the federal government annually in the new cotton States: ACRES OF UNITED STATES LANDS SOLD IN THE SOUTH-WESTERN STATES. This table gives the quantities of land in these cotton States, and the influence upon the cotton culture is seen in the following table of the annual product of those States. The receipts of cotton at New Orleans embraced the Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee crops; and those of Mobile and Florida the product of those States respectively. ACRES OF LAND SOLD, AND CROPS OF COTTON IN THE SOUTH-WESTERN STATES. 1846.. 220,240 1,037,144 421,966 141,184 1,600,294 500,243 705,978 323,462 127,852 1,157,293 621,358 1,167,120 428,866 149,612 1,745,598 527,540 There has been sold, it appears, in these five cotton States since 1833, 20,774,556 acres of new land. Of these, particularly in Louisiana, a considerable quantity has been appropriated to sugar; but from the results, it appears that the largest proportion has gone to cotton culture, and the consequence is, that in the year 1843 the crops reached a maximum of 2,378,875 bales, of which 1,703,048 was in those new States, and their yield is a little more this year, but the production of the old cotton States has not varied. In the five new States, the settlement of 20,774,000 acres of land has resulted in an increase of 1,200,000 bales in the |