Questions. 1. What is the principal article of export from the United States? What portion of the whole is cotton? 2. What is the second article of export, in value? How large a portion of the whole is wheat and flour? 3. Mention the seven articles next in value to wheat in their order. 4. Where is the cotton raised? 5. Where is the wheat raised? the tobacco? the lumber? the rice? 6. Who caught the fish? 7. Where were the cattle raised? &c.

Increase and decrease of Exports.

TABLE IV. Showing the increase and decrease in the quantity of the staple productions of the United States exported at differ. ent periods.

Remarks. It is worthy of remark in this table, that the amount of cotton exported has increased regularly from 100,000 pounds to more than 85,000,000. It is now the staple production of the United States, and constitutes one third of the whole value of our exports. This astonishing revolution in our agriculture and commerce is to be ascribed to the invention, by Mr. Whitney, of a machine for cleansing upland cotton from its seeds. Before the invention of that machine, it was so difficult to cleanse the cotton, that the cultivation of it was not profitable. But now it is culti vated in all the country south of Virginia and Kentucky, where the land will admit of it. The fourth and fifth columns show that the amount of tobacco and rice has decreased. This was owing to the increase in the amount of cotton; for, when the cultivation of cotton became profitable, the planters neglected tobacco, rice, indigo, and every other crop, and employed their slaves almost exclusively on their cotton plantations.

Questions. 1. Which of the exports of the United States has increased most since 1790, cotton, flour, tobacco, or rice? 2. Which next? 3. Which has decreased? 4. What occasioned the increase in the cultivation of cotton? 5. What occasioned the decrease in the cultivation of tobacco and rice ?

Destination of the Exports.

TABLE V. Showing the annual value of the produce exported to each foreign country, calculated on the average of ten years, ending September 30, 1812.

(From Seybert's Statistical Annals.)

Remarks, The amount of exports to the various countries is very different in different years; but the British dominions always receive the largest portion of our domestic produce, particularly cotton. The Spanish, Portuguese and French dominions, have usually been next to the British,

The period to which the table refers was a period of war, during which the carrying trade of the continental powers fell into our hands. From the fourth column it appears that the nations for which we carried most were the Dutch, French, and Spaniards. Since the return of peace in 1815, the quantity of the foreign produce exported from this country, as appears from Table I. has been very small, compared with its amount from 1802 to 1812, and in 1816 and 1817 the largest portion of it went to

the South American states. From the seventh column it appears that more than one fourth part of the whole produce exported during the period mentioned in the table, went to the British dominions. In 1816 and 1817 the proportion was about one half.

Questions. 1. Which foreign nation received the largest amount of our domestic produce between 1802 and 1812? 2. Which three nations stood next to the British? 3. Which nation received the greatest amount of foreign produce from the United States? 4. Which two nations stood next to the Dutch? 5. How large a portion of our exports between 1802 and 1812. was destined to the British dominions?

A List of the principal Articles Imported.

TABLE VI. Showing the annual value of the several species of merchandize imported into the United States, the value of what was exported with allowance of drawback, and the value of that portion on which duties were actually collected, together with the net duty paid on each article, calculated on the average of the three years ending September 30, 1804.

Remarks. The goods paying duties ad valorem, (that is, a certain per cent. on the value of the article) constitute commonly more than one half of our imports. They consist principally of manufactured goods, particularly woollens and cottons. The coffee, sugar, rum, and other articles above enumerated, pay specific duties: that is, a certain sum on every pound or gallon of their weight or measure.

Of the goods paying duties ad valorem, more than three quar ters came from the British dominions, and the rest chiefly from China, Germany, Russia, and France. From the table it appears, that nearly all these goods were consumed within the United States, only one tenth part being re-exported. The coffee came

entirely from the colonies of the European powers in America and the East Indies; particularly from the French West India possessions. Very little of the coffee was consumed in the United States, more than three quarters having been re-exported, as appears from the third column. The sugar came also from the East and West Indies, and about one half of it was re-exported. The rum was imported principally from the British and Danish West Indies, and was almost wholly consumed in the United States. The wines came chiefly from France, Spain, Portugal, Madeira and the Canary islands; the teas almost entirely from China; the brandy from France, Spain and Italy; the molasses, from the West Indies; and the hemp from Russia. The cotton came principally from the Spanish American colonies and, was almost wholly re-exported. The pepper was from the Dutch East India possessions, and was also principally re-exported. The nails and spikes, lead and manufactures of lead, boots and shoes, beer, ale and porter, and the coal came chiefly from Great Britain. The steel and the cheese came almost wholly from Great Britain and the Netherlands. The salt came principally from Great Britain and her West India colonies, but Portugal, Spain, and the Cape Verd islands furnished also considerable quantities.

Questions. 1. What are the principal articles included in the merchandize paying ad valorem duties to the United States? 2. What are the seven principal articles imported into the United States, exclusive of the merchandize paying duties ad valorem ? 3. Which imported article, exclusive of the merchandize paying duties ad valorem, yields the greatest amount of revenue to the United States? 4. Which next? 5. Which next? 6. From what parts of the world was the coffee, consumed in the United States between 1801 and 1804, imported? 7. From what parts, the sugar? the rum? &c.