The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1911-12-01
imports AND EXPORTS OF
MATERIAL USEO BY FARMERS

The agricultural interests Of foreign
countries buy nearly sl0O,OoO,OoO
worth of American manufactures and
other products for use in eultirating
the soil, while about s5O,OOO.0OO worth
of foreign products are annually i'm
ported into the United States for use
upon American farms. The foregoing
summarizes certain information recent
ly compiled by the bureau of statistics.
department of commerce and labor. in
response TO an inquiry upon that sub
jeet received from a representative
newspaper located in the great farm
ing area of the middle west, and refers
more especially TO those classes Of
merchandise having their chief. if not
exclusive use in the farming industry
and does not include articles in gem
eral use, such as clothing, furniture,
and miscellaneous manufactures
Of the exports from the United
States of articles required in farming
by far the larger portion are composed
of manufactures, such as agricultural
binding twine. barbed
wire, and oil cake; while phosphate
rock. to be ground up and used as fer
tiluizer, and clover, timothy and other
grass seeds are among the articles ex-
ported in the natural state. In addi-
tion to the exports above enumerated
as SPECIFICALLY for farm use. there are
certain articles for which the agricul-
turalists of other countries draw upon
the United States but which cannot be
classed as distinctively for farm pur-
poses, such as wagons, carriages. trac-
Ition engines, fiber bags, pumps, etc
In such cases the bureau of statistics
has no means of determining the pro-
portion of the exports intended for
farm use and they are not. therefore,
included in the 100 million dollars
worth of merchandise exported for ag-
ricultural purposes.
Taking up the principal exports of
the class under discussion, agricultural
implements head the list, with a prob
able total of $40,OO0,000 in the year
about to end, comprised of nearly $780,
100000 worth of mowers and reapers,
100000 worth of plows and cultiva-
tors, s2,500,000 worth of threshers, and
the remainder miscellaneous farming
tools and implements. These agricul-
tural implements are exported to prac-
tically all parts of the world where
man has adopted modern methods of
cultivating the soil; in the great wheat
fields of Russia, in the vineyards of
France, on the coffee plantations of
Brazil, in the rise fields of China and
Jopan, and in all the rapidly develop
ing countries of the New World. in
Guiding Canada, Argentina. Cuba and
Mexico. The years exports will range
from nearly $S,0OOO0O to European
Russia. $6,000,000 to Argentina, and
about $500Q,000 to Canada, to about
81 100000 to Africa, while to British
Australasia and Oceania will be sent
a total of nearly 100000, to other
Oceania and Asia about $1,00O,000, and
Brazil about 100000 worth Even the
great manufacturing countries of Eu-
rope, the United Kingdom, Germany,
and France, are represented in the
years exports of agricultural imple-
ments. the United Kingdom with a
total of over $1,00O,0O0, Germany 81
100000. and France, $30OO,000.
Fertilizers. of which the exports will
be about $12,OOOOOO during the year,
are chiefly sent to European countries,
where long-continued use of the soils
has largely depleted their natural fer
Utility and rendered artificial fertili-
zers a necessity For American phos-
phate rock and other fertilizers of that
class Germany is the largest market,
next by Netherlands and the
United Kingdom. Another class Of
materials, used as cattle food, whose
exports are considerable includes oil
cake and oil cake meal made from
cotton-seed and linseed OF these the
exports amount to about $15,00O,O00
per annum, being exported mostly to
various countries of Europe.
Binding twine is another article of
Importance in wheat-growing countries.
Of that article the years exports will
be about >S,0OO,OOO practically all des-
lined for Russia and other European
Canada, and Argentina.
American barbed wire exported. about
S5,000,000 per annum, goes chiefly to
NanoIa N,,gfroff. v..4s-r