less
owing to this circumstance, that a comparatively small quantity of
guano and other highly concentrated fertilizers are able to produce
crops five, ten, and fifty times greater than their own weight.
Azote, or nitrogen, in the form of ammonia, or nitric acid, (aqua
fortis), and the incombustible part of plants are the elements which
least abound in soils, and should be husbanded with the greatest
care.

The Hon. C.P. Holcomb, of Delaware, furnishes some interesting remarks
on the wheat crop of the United States:--

A short wheat crop in England, Mr. Webster says, affects the
exchanges of the civilized world. In the vast increase of population
in the absence of long wars and famines, the importance of this
staple is constantly increasing. Its cultivation is the most
attractive and pleasant of all descriptions of husbandry; and its
rewards are generally remunerating, when the soil and climate are
favorable, and the markets are not too distant.

It is important to know what our relation is to this staple of the
world, and what is, and what is likely to be, our contribution to
the great aggregate of production. Beyond feeding our own great and
rapidly increasing population, it probably will not soon, if ever,
be very great. It is a mistake, I apprehend, to suppose our country
is naturally a great wheat-producing country. The wheat district at
present, in comparison to the whole extent of our territory, is
limited. It is confined, so far as any appreciable amount is grown,
to about ten degrees of latitude and twenty degrees of longitude,
and embracing about one half the number of the States. The crop of
1848 is estimated by the Commissioner of Patents at one hundred and
twenty-six millions, and our population at twenty-two millions. This
gives a less number of bushels, per head, to our population than the
consumption of Great Britain, which is generally set down at one
hundred and sixty millions, or six bushels to each inhabitant. But
with us Indian corn is a great substitute; so are potatoes and oats
in Ireland and Scotland. Still our consumption of wheat, including
the black population, is undoubtedly less, per head, than theirs.
But in the absence of any certain data, to ascertain either the
actual production, or our consumption, our only safe course is to
take the actual exces