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The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom by P. L. Simmonds

P >> P. L. Simmonds >> The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom




Such are the deductions of a skilful and scientific, practical and
theoretical agriculturist, from the statements furnished by the most
enterprising and successful of our colonists. Nevertheless, I cannot
conceal a doubt whether all the elements of comparison have been duly
weighed. The result, especially as regards wheat, is so contrary to
pre-conceived opinions, that further investigations should be made. Is
it not possible that, while an equality of expense in preparing the
land for a wheat crop appears to have been assumed, the great care and
expense necessary in New Brunswick to prepare the land, and an
occasional succession of minimum returns would, to a very considerable
extent, account for the supposed discrepancy?

Wheat has, from time immemorial, been a staple crop in the plains of
Northern India, and especially in the Punjaub. The climate and soil
are well fitted for this cereal, but owing to defects and carelessness
in the agriculture and harvesting, the crops, though excellent, fall
short of what most corn-growing countries produce. Further--owing to
foul boats and granaries, and to the moist heat of the months
immediately succeeding harvest, the wheat reaches England in a state
too dirty and weevelled for market. The hard wheat is preferred by the
natives in India to the soft, probably for no better cause than that
the hardness of the grain more closely resembles their favorite food,
rice.


BARLEY.

Oats, rye and barley, are the staple crops of northern and mountainous
Europe and Asia. In England barley is grown principally in the eastern
and some of the midland counties, and chiefly for malting. It is most
extensively cultivated in the Himalaya and Thibet, replacing in many
districts the wheat, and producing an admirable flour.

Since the establishment of the studs at Buxar, Ghazepore, &c., oats
have been extensively cultivated. It is a winter crop.

Although believed to have been indigenous to the countries bordering
on the torrid zone, this grain possesses the remarkable flexibility of
maturing in favorable seasons and situations on the eastern continent
as far north as 70 deg., and flourishes well in lat. 42 deg. south.
Along the Atlantic side of the continent of America, its growth is
restricted to the tract lying between the 30th and 50th parallels of
north latitude, and between 30 and 40 deg. south. Near the westerly
coast, its range lies principally between latitude 20 and 62 deg.
north. The barley chiefly cultivated in the United States is the
two-rowed variety which is generally preferred from the fulness of its
grain and its freedom from smut. Barley has never been much imported
from that country, as the Americans have been rather consumers than
producers. The consumption of barley there in 1850 in the manufacture
of malt and spirituous liquors amounted to 3,780,000 bushels, and
according to the census returns, the quantity of barley raised was
4,161,504 bushels in 1840, and 5,167,213 bushels in 1850. In this
country barley is extensively used for malting, distilling, and making
beer; large quantities are consumed in Scotland, or carried into
England.

In Prussia, about ten and a half million hectolitres of barley are
annually raised. In the Canary Isles, about 354,000 bushels are
annually exported. In Van Diemen's Land in 1844, 174,405 bushels of
barley were grown on 12,466 acres.

The quantity of barley made into malt in the United Kingdom in the
year ending 10th October, 1850, was 5,183,617 quarters, of which about
four million quarters were used by 8,500 maltsters. The quantity of
malt charged with duty in the year ending 5th January, 1851, was
636,641 tons; the average price per quarter, 26s. 2d.

Barley is at present extensively cultivated in the temperate districts
and islands of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. In Spain, Sicily,
the Canaries, Azores and Madeira, two crops are produced in a year.
In North America its growth is principally confined to Mexico, the
middle, western, and northern States of the Union, and to the British
North American provinces. The introduction of barley into the American
colonies may be traced back to the period of their settlement. By the
year 1648 it was raised in abundance in Virginia, but soon after its
culture was suffered to decline, in consequence of the more profitable
and increased production of tobacco. It has also been sparingly
cultivated in the regions of the middle and northern States for
malting and distillation, and has been employed, after being malted,
as a substitute for rice.

Barley, like wheat, has been cultivated in Syria and Egypt for more
than 3,000 years, and it was not until after the Romans adopted the
use of wheaten bread, that they fed their stock with this grain. It is
evidently a native of a warm climate, as it is known to be the most
productive in a mild season, and will grow within the tropics at an
elevation of 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the level of the sea. It is one
of the staple crops of northern and mountainous Europe and Asia. It is
the corn that, next to rice, gives the greatest weight of flour per
acre, and it may be eaten with no other preparation than that of
boiling. It requires little or no dressing when it is sent to the
mill, having no husk, and consequently produces no bran. In this
country barley is chiefly used for malting and distilling purposes. In
the year 1850, 40,745,050 bushels of malt paid duty, the number of
maltsters in the United Kingdom being from 8,000 to 9,000. About one
and a half million quarters of barley were imported in 1849, and a
little over a million quarters in 1850, principally from Denmark and
Prussia. The counties in England where this grain is chiefly
cultivated are Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Bedford, Herts, Leicester,
and Nottingham. The produce of barley on land well prepared, is from
thirty to fifty bushels or more per statute acre, weighing from 45 to
55 lbs. per bushel, according to quality. It is said to contain 65 per
cent. of nutritive matter, while wheat contains 78 per cent.

The estimated average produce of barley in this country may be stated
as follows:--

Acres. Crop.
England 1,500,000 6,375,000
Ireland 320,000 1,120,000
Scotland 450,000 1,800,000
-------- -----------
2,270,000 9,295,000

The average produce per acre, in the United Kingdom, is 41/4 quarters in
England, 31/2 in Ireland, and 4 in Scotland. The prices of barley per
quarter have ranged, in England, from 36s. 5d. in 1840, to 27s. 6d. in
1842. In 1847 barley reached 44s. 2d., and gradually declined to 23s.
5d, in 1850.


OATS.

Oats are principally in demand for horses, and the extraordinary
increase of the latter has occasioned a proportional increase in the
culture of oats. They are grown more especially in the north and
north-eastern counties; in the midland counties their culture is less
extensive, but it is prevalent throughout most parts of Wales.

Nearly twice as much oats as wheat is raised in the United Kingdom,
but the proportion grown in Scotland is not so large as is supposed.
The following is a fair estimate of the comparative production:--

Acres. Produce.
England 2,500,000 12,500,000
Ireland 2,300,000 11,600,000
Scotland 1,300,000 6,500,000
--------- ---------
Total 6,100,000 30,500,000

We import annually about l1/4 million quarters from foreign countries
and nearly three-fourths of a million quarters from Ireland. The
average produce per acre throughout the kingdom is five quarters. The
price within the last 10 years has ranged from 28s. 7d. per quarter
(the famine year) to 17s. 6d.

The oat, when considered in connection with the artificial grasses,
and the nourishment and improvement it affords to live stock, may be
regarded as one of the most important crops produced. Its history is
highly interesting, from the circumstance that in many portions of
Europe it is formed into meal, and forms an important aliment for man;
one sort, at least, has been cultivated from the days of Pliny, on
account of its fitness as an article of diet for the sick. The country
of its origin is somewhat uncertain, though the most common variety is
said to be indigenous to the Island of Juan Fernandez. Another oat,
resembling the cultivated variety, is also found growing wild in
California.

This plant was introduced into the North American Colonies soon after
their settlement by the English. It was sown by Gosnold on the
Elizabeth Islands in 1602; cultivated in Newfoundland in 1622, and in
Virginia, by Berkley, prior to 1648.

The oat is a hardy grain, and is suited to climates too hot and too
cold either for wheat or rye. Indeed, its flexibility is so great,
that it is cultivated with success in Bengal as low as latitude
twenty-five degrees North, but refuses to yield profitable crops as we
approach the equator. It flourishes remarkably well, when due regard
is paid to the selection of varieties, throughout the inhabited parts
of Europe, the northern and central portions of Asia, Australia,
Southern and Northern Africa, the cultivated regions of nearly all
North America, and a large portion of South America.

In the United States the growth of the oat is confined principally to
the Middle, Western and Northern States. The varieties cultivated are
the common white, the black, the grey, the imperial, the Hopetown, the
Polish, the Egyptian, and the potato oat. The yield of the common
varieties varies from forty to ninety bushels and upwards per acre,
and weighing from twenty-five to fifty pounds to the bushel. The
Egyptian oat is cultivated south of Tennessee, which after being sown
in autumn, and fed off by stock in winter and spring, yields from ten
to twenty bushels per acre. In the manufacture of malt and spirituous
liquors oats enter but lightly, and their consumption for this purpose
does not exceed 60,000 bushels annually in the United States.

In 1840, Ireland exported 2,037,835 quarters of oats and oatmeal, but
in 1846, on account of the dearth, the grain exports fell off
completely. Most of the grain grown in Ireland requires to be
kiln-dried, and is, therefore, of lower value.

The oat, like rye, never has entered much into our foreign commerce,
as the domestic consumption has always been nearly equal to the
quantity produced. The annual average exports from the United States
for several years preceding 1817, were 70,000 bushels.

By the census returns of 1840, the total produce of the United States
was 123,071,341 bushels; of 1850, 146,678,879 bushels.

In Prussia 43 million hectolitres of oats are annually raised.

The quantity of oats imported into the United Kingdom, has been
declining within the last few years. In 1849, we imported 1,267,106
quarters; in 1850, 1,154,473; in 1851, 1,209,844; in 1852, 995,479. In
1844, 221,105 bushels of oats were raised in Van Diemen's Land on
13,864 acres.


RYE.

Rye (_Secale cereale_) is scarcely at all raised in this country for
bread, except in Durham and Northumberland, where, however, it is
usually mixed with wheat, and forms what is called "maslin,"--a bread
corn in considerable use in the north of Europe.

Geographically rye and barley associate with one another, and grow
upon soils the most analogous, and in situations alike exposed. It is
cultivated for bread in Northern Asia, and all over the Continent of
Europe, particularly in Russia, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany and
Holland; in the latter of which it is much employed in the manufacture
of gin. It is also grown to some extent in England, Scotland and
Wales. With us it is little used as an article of food compared with
wheat and oats, though in the north of Europe and in Flanders it forms
the principal article of human subsistence, but generally mixed with
wheat, and sometimes, also with barley; 100 parts of the grain consist
of 65.6 of meal, 24.2 of husk, and 10.2 of water. The quantity of rye
we import seldom reaches 100,000 quarters per annum.

The straw is solid, and the internal part, being, filled with pith,
is highly esteemed for Dunstable work, for thatching and litter, and
it is also used to stuff horse collars.

In Ireland there are 21,000 acres under culture with rye, producing
105,000 quarters.

In North America rye is principally restricted to the Middle and
Eastern States, but its culture is giving place to more profitable
crops.

In Bohemia, as in most parts of Germany, rye forms the principal crop,
the product being about 3,250,000 quarters annually.

The three leading varieties cultivated in the United States are the
spring, winter, and southern; the latter differing from the others
only from dissimilarity of climate. The yield varies from 10 to 30 or
more bushels per acre, weighing from 48 to 56 pounds to the bushel.
The production of rye has decreased 4,457,000 bushels in the
aggregate, but in New York it is greater by the last decennial census
than in 1840, by about 40 per cent. Pennsylvania, which is the largest
producer, has fallen off from 6,613,373 to 4,805,160 bushels. Perhaps
the general diminution in the quantity of this grain now produced may
be accounted for, by supposing a corresponding decline in the demand
for distilling purposes, to which a larger part of the crop is applied
in New York. This grain has never entered largely into its foreign
commerce, as the home consumption for a long period nearly kept pace
with the supply. The amount exported from the United States in 1801,
was 392,276 bushels; in 1812, 82,705 bushels; in 1813, 140,136
bushels. In 1820-1 there were exported 23,523 barrels of rye flour; in
1830-1, 19,100 barrels; in 1840-1 44,031; in 1845-6, 38,530 barrels;
in 1846-7, 48,892 barrels; in 1850-1, 44,152 barrels. During the year
ending June 1, 1850, there were consumed of rye about 2,144,000
bushels in the manufacture of malt and spirituous liquors.

According to the American census returns of 1840, the product of the
country was 18,645,567 bushels; in 1850, 14,188,637 bushels. We
imported 246,843 quarters of rye and rye meal, in 1849, equivalent to
49,368 tons; but in 1850 the imports were only 94,078 quarters and in
1851 they were but 26,323 quarters. About 20,000 acres are under
cultivation with rye in Ireland, the produce of which is 100,000
quarters.


BUCKWHEAT.

Buckwheat belongs to the temperate and arctic climates, and is
cultivated in Northern Europe, Asia, and America for the farinaceous
albumen of its seeds, which, when properly cooked, affords a delicious
article of food to a large portion of the human race. It also serves
as excellent fodder to milch cows, and the straw, when cut green and
converted into hay, and the ripened seeds, are food for cattle,
poultry, and swine.

It is raised most abundantly in Central Asia and the Himalaya. In the
latter country the different varieties are grown at various
elevations, between 4,000 and 12,000 feet. The finest samples
exhibited in 1851 were from Canada, but some of excellent quality was
also shown by the United States, Russia, and Belgium. The common
variety grown in Europe is the _Polygonum fagopyrum_, and _P.
emarginatum_ is grown in China and the East. In this country the
produce varies from 2 to 4 quarters per acre. The quantity of seed
sown is 5 to 8 pecks the acre. Vauquelin found 100 parts of its straw
to contain 29.5 of carbonate of potash, 3.8 of sulphate of potash,
17.5 of carbonate of lime, 13.5 of carbonate of magnesia, 16.2 of
silica, 10.5 of alum, and 9 of water.

It is believed to be a native of Central Asia, as it is supposed to
have been first brought to Europe in the early part of the twelfth
century, at the time of the crusades for the recovery of Syria from
the dominion of the Saracens; while others contend that it was
introduced into Spain by the Moors, four hundred years before.

The cultivation of buckwheat, in one or other of its species, is
principally confined to Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Italy,
Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Russia, China, Tartary, Japan, Algeria,
Canada, and the middle and northern portions of the United States.

In America from 30 to 45 bushels per acre may be considered as an
average yield in favorable seasons and situations, but 60 or more
bushels are not unfrequently produced.

According to the census returns of 1840, the annual quantity raised in
the United States was 7,291,743 bushels; of 1850, 8,950,916 bushels.

The average annual imports of buckwheat into this country have not
exceeded 1,000 quarters, until last year (1852), when they reached
8,085 quarters. A small quantity of the meal is also annually
imported.


MAIZE.

Maize (_Zea Mays_), is the common well-known Indian corn forming one
of the most important of the grain crops, and has a greater range of
temperature than the other cereal grasses. It was found cultivated for
food by the Indians of both North and South America, on the first
discovery of that continent, and thence derived its popular name.
Maize succeeds best in the hottest and dampest parts of tropical
climates. It may be reared as far as 40 degrees north and south
latitude on the American continent; while in Europe it can grow even
to 50 degrees or 52 degrees of latitude, some of the numerous
varieties being hardy enough to ripen in the open air, in England and
Ireland. It is now cultivated in all regions in the tropical and
temperate zones, which are colonized by Europeans. It is most largely
grown, however, about the Republics bordering on the northern shores
of South America, California, the United States and Canada, the West
India islands and Guiana, on the coasts of the Mediterranean, and
partially in India, Africa, and Australia. We see the singular fact in
Mexico of land which, after perhaps thousands of years' culture, is so
little exhausted, that with a very little labor bestowed on it, a bad
maize harvest will yield two hundredfold profit, while a good crop
returns 600 fold.

This grain adopts itself to almost every variety of climate, and is
found growing luxuriantly in the low countries of tropical Mexico, and
nearly equally well on the most elevated and coldest regions of the
table-land; in the rich valleys of the Cordilleras or the Andes, and
on the sandy heights of those mountains wherever a rill of water can
be brought to nourish its roots. In short, it ripens under the sun of
America, in every part of both continents.

Though wheat is characterised as the most nutritious food for man in
all quarters of the world, yet the Indian corn crop of the United
States is not second in value to any product of the earth; cultivated
in the middle and Eastern States, nay, even in the rich cotton-growing
districts, Indian corn is fast rising in importance, and will soon
equal in value that important commercial staple. This indigenous grain
yields to the nation an annual average of five hundred millions of
bushels, and has, within the last five years, attracted much attention
as a life-sustaining food, more particularly at the period of
Ireland's severe suffering, in 1847, and the following years. Nations,
as well as statesmen and farmers, have found it an object worthy of
their consideration and esteem.

When due regard is paid to the selection of varieties, and cultivated
in a proper soil, maize may be accounted a sure crop in almost every
portion of the habitable globe, between the 44th degree of north
latitude and a corresponding parallel south. Among the objects of
culture in the United States, it takes precedence in the scale of
cereal crops, as it is best adapted to the soil and climate, and
furnishes the largest amount of nutritive food. Besides its production
in the North American Republic, its extensive culture is limited to
Mexico, the West Indies, most of the States of South America, France,
Spain, Portugal, Lombardy, and Southern and Central Europe generally.
It is, however, also cultivated with success in Northern, Southern,
and Western Africa, India, China, Japan, Australia, and the Sandwich
Islands, the groups of the Azores, Madeira, the Canaries, and numerous
other oceanic isles.

Maize is not a favorite grain as bread-corn with the European nations,
for although it abounds in mucilage, it is asserted to contain less
gluten, and is not likely to be much used by those who can procure
wheaten flour, or even rye bread.

The large importations which were made by our Government during the
prevalence of the potato disease, brought it into more general use
among some classes, and the imports for home consumption are still
extensive, having been as follows in the last few years:--

1848. 1849.
Indian corn, quarters 1,582,755 2,249,571
" meal, cwts. 233,880 102,181

1850. 1851.
Indian corn, quarters 1,286,264 1,810,425
" meal, cwts. 11,401

The trade in maize, or Indian corn, is totally new since 1846. The
famine in Ireland in that year, and the potato rot in almost every
successive year since, have now fully established it. Like the gold
discoveries, the potato rot may be regarded as a providential means of
effecting a great change in the condition of society. Those
discoveries are not without their influence in the East, and, combined
with the potato rot, they have rapidly increased the commerce between
the East and West of Europe, while they are spreading broad paths
between all Europe and the lands in the Southern Ocean. The imports of
maize from all parts, in 1852, amounted to 1,550,000 quarters, of
which about 1,100,000 quarters arrived in vessels from the
Mediterranean, &c., calling at Queenstown or Falmouth for orders. The
balance consisted of imports from America, France, Portugal, &c., and
also of cargoes addressed direct to a port of discharge, without first
calling off the coast for orders. The quantities received in 1851 and
1852 from the Mediterranean were as follows:--

1852. 1851.
Received from qrs. qrs.
Galatz 223,000 286,067
Ibraila 362,600 211,779
Salonica 35,640 95,377
Odessa 219,170 74,065
Egypt 50,960 86,260
Italy 8,250 162,544
Constantinople, Malta,
Trieste, and other
ports in the Mediterranean 190,720 286,358
--------- ---------
1,090,340 1,202,450

The various quarters from whence we derive supplies of this grain, are
shown in the following table of the imports for the last three years,
which I have compiled from the most recent Parliamentary returns.

INDIAN CORN AND MEAL IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 1849. | 1850. | 1851.
|-----------------|----------------|---------------
PLACES. | Corn. | Meal. | Corn. | Meal.| Corn. |Meal.
| qrs. | cwts. | qrs. | cwts.| qrs. |cwts.
----------------------|---------|-------|---------|------|---------|-----
Russian Ports in | | | | | |
Black Sea | 25,519| | 19,721| | 98,176|
Denmark | 1,300| | 250| | 5|
Hanover | 1,344| | | | |
Belgium | 67| | | | |
France | 135,115| 510| 102,978| 26| 164,128| 29
Portugal Proper | 61,446| | 67,518| 53| 21,922|
Azores and Madeira | 17,214| 7| 7,794| 6| 4,356| 1
Spain and Bahama | | | | | |
Islands | 26,856| 48| 19,982| 48| 34,771|
Sardinian Territories | 13,357| | 25| 2| 1,302| 1
Tuscany | 11,481| 95| 15,612| 94| 34,760|
Papal Territories | 8,927| | 1,876| | 75,588|
Naples and Sicily | 18| | 10,066| | 101,489|
Austrian Territories | 90,540| | 45,748| | 73,966|
Malta and Gozo | 18,198| | 4,969| | 11,002|
Ionian Islands | 5,390| | 7,324| | 5,967|
Greece | 57,520| | 8,712| | 3,252|
Egypt | 12,767| | 71,808| | 127,692|
Turkish dominions, | | | | | |
including Wallachia,| | | | | |
Moldavia and Syria | 563,799| | 348,456| | 748,180|
Morocco | 760| | | | |
West Coast of Africa | 889| | 2,322| | |
B.N.A. Colonies | 1,645| 164| 1,530| | 4,377| 7
U.S. of America |1,170,154|100,859| 538,155|11,253| 295,978|9,522
Brazil | 1,253| | 468| | 725|
Other places | | | 1,756| | |
| | | | | | 1
----------------------|---------|-------|---------|------|---------|-----
|2,225,459|101,683|1,277,070|11,482|1,807,636|9,561
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Parliamentary Paper, No. 14, Sess. 1852.)

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