The southern press. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-09-27

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ors to induce the governments Of France, Bel
GUM and Austria, to abandon their present to-
bacco monopoles, and to open their ports to the
| reception of this, as well other agricultural
staples of our country. ! am aware that these
i endeayors up To this moment, have met with
bat little success; but this constitutes no valid
reason why they should be abandoned. The
age of monopolies is passed, and the check
! which every monopoly imposes on other branch
es OF commerce, and through it, indirectly, on
the revenue, added to our own governmental
remonstrances, can in the end hardly fail to
open the eyes of those nations, and to effect the
desired object.
Il would now invite, your attention to the ex-
! portaton Of bread-stuifs AT one time, in the
history Of our country, general impression pre-.
vailed that We should never be able to export
wheat and -four to Europe. The distance from
i European markets, the cost Of transportation,
interest on capital, insurance. all were figured up
against us to show that competition with the
4 wheat growers Of Europe, was entirely out OF
the question, and that we must contine our ex.
port of bread. stuffs to the British North Amer
i lean colonies, the West Indies and South
4 America. This error, however, has been COR
rected by experience Without including our
large exports during the famine year, when we
were almost the only sellers in the markets OF
4 Europe, our exports show respectable increase
in ordinary years; our means OF transportation
have improved, production has become cheaper,
distances have been shortened, by the saving Of
time, and ir spite of all the ugubrious prophe-
cies of our croakers, we find our farmers COM
!, petiDg with the principal wheat growers of Eu-
y rope in their own markets! American bread
stufs have gained a permanent foot.hold in the
principal markets of the world, and our wheat
-four is quite as great favorite in Mark Lane,
as any other species of the same article imported
into England. 0 casional fluctuations in prices,
, in particular years of large crops-must OF
course be submitted to in the trade OF all agr-
cultural staples; and these will be met, and their
influences guarded against, by frugal, indus
trious people. a
But while in the trade Of wheat and -four we
meet with powerful rivals in the North and South
Of Europe-among the people Of the Baltic and
those bordering on the Black Seattle trade in
Indian corn and corn meal, and in provisions, is
to great extent left almost without competi-
ton, save that which proceeds from the offer of
cheaper and inferior substitutes. We can furn.
ish good provisions, at lower rates, than any
f other country on the globe; and Indian corn
has no longer any other real competitor in Bril-
fish markets than the now uncertain crops OF
{ potatoes. With this view of the subject, you
will pardon me if at once proceed to the con-
sidcration of that important American staple.
, Indian corn is, no doubt, an indigenous plant
. Of North and South America; having been Gull
tivated by the Indians many centuries before the
a discovery of this continent. Antiquarian re-
e searches ard architectural ruins show that In
dian corn must have been grown and held in high
esteem as the chief article of food by the Aztecs,
: and this supposition becomes the more proba.
BILE, as the principal other grains now cultivated
! in America have bren since introduced from
4 Europe. It constitutes now chief article Of
food for man and the animals subject to his do
r minion on this continent, and an important ar
9 ticle of export to Europe, although many parts
+ of Southern Europe have been found well adap-
: ted to its growth. II recommends iself TO the
f great body of consumers by its nutritious quail
. ties, far exceeding those of other substitutes for
0 wheat and rye, now in use among the laboring
!, classes of Europe, and by the great variety of
h forms in which it may be, prepared for food
e French chemists assert that two cents worth of
{ Indian corn will 90 further in sustaining animal
}. life than ten cents worth of wheat, rye or bar
. lev. There is no doubt that its consumption is
4 increasing everywhere, and that its production
q in this country, the largest scale, will abund-
antly reward the farmer Indian corn will, in
$ due time, no. only partially supplant the potato,
@ (Which is now an uncertain crop in EuropeD but
: also compete successfully with the more valua-
J, b, grains and bread stufs.
Among the agricultural products entering into
Y the general consumption of all civilized nations,
{ sugar deservedly occupies u very high rank Ii
{ is disputed question whether the sugar cane is
4 indigenous 10 America. II has been known
and cultivated from the earliest periods in Asia,
= and especially in China, and is by some sup
4 posed to have been introduced into America by
. the Spaniards and Portuguese. Others maintain
{ that the cane is plant indigenous TO the new
O world. incline to the latter opinion, but leave
. the subjec. 10 those who have the time and the
inclination TO investigate IL.
y Sugar from cane is produced 10 great extent
. In the United States but a large portion is yet
\ imported from foreign countries. Whether the
. United States will ever be able 10 produce the
quantity required for their own consumption,
remains TO be SEEM and will In all likelihood de.
pend on the probable annexation OF more sugar
r growing States TO the Union. Some portions
n Of Louisiana, Texas and Florida produce cane
sugar TO the extent Of rewarding the cultvators;
D while in many Of the Northern States large
. amounts Of sugar are manufactured from the
! maple tree The whole quantity, however. does
/ not meet the demand for home consumption,
and the question has often been asked whether
. some other plant, easily raised and cultivated.
may not, in part at least, supply the deficiency ?
III The cultivation Of the beetroOt. for the man.
ufaciure Of sugar, was introduced into France,
\ during the operation Of the continental system.
That prohibitory system, AZ long as IL continued,
constituted in itself the ample protection against
all foreign competition but when, upon the fall
Of Napoleon, some ofths French colonies which
o had been seized upon by Great Britain. during
\ the war. were restored 10 France, and the con-
|, tnsntal sytem itself abandoned, protection, in
the shape of high duties upon colonial sugar,
was deemed necessary 30 sustain the cultivation
!. Of the beetroot Under Louis Philippe the
growth Of beet.root and the manufacture Of
beet-root sugar, received the utmost attention
. and fostering osFc Of the government. Both
4 were encouraged by series CT legislative en-.
4 actments, and. fcr while, fierce struggle was
; ~ lintained between the advocates of the French
. colonial system, and the friends Of the domestic
article. The large and predominant interest Of
. the consumer which required, ms 40 act Of just.
. zee 10 all, that both kinds Of sugar should BE-