SOURCE:
American Husbandry (London, 1775), 1, 256-7, 124-5, 181-2, 89-91;
To shew the vast importance of these colonies [Virginia and Maryland] to
Great Britain, it will be necessary to lay before the reader the last
accounts of their exports [1763?], from which we shall also see what
proportion their common husbandry bears to their tobacco.
| Commodities | Quantity and Price | Value (£) |
|---|---|---|
| Tobacco | 96,000 hogsheads, at £8 | 768,000 |
| Indian corn, beans, pease, &c | 30,000 | |
| Wheat | 40,000 quarters, at 20s | 40,000 |
| Deer and other skins | 25,000 | |
| Iron in bars and pigs | 35,000 | |
| Sassafras, snake-root, ginseng, &c | 7,000 | |
| Masts, plank, staves, turpentine, and tar | 55,000 | |
| Flax-seed | 7000 hogsheads, at 40 s | 14,000 |
| Pickled pork, beef, hams., and bacon | 15,000 | |
| Ships built for sale | 30 at 1000 1. | 30,000 |
| Hemp | 1000 tons at £21 (besides 4000 tons more and 2000 of flax worked up for their own use) | 21,000 |
| Total | 1,040,000 |
[Note: A hoghead (hhd.) is a large cask. The size might be anything between 60 and 140 gallons.]
Upon this table I must observe once more, how extremely important these
colonies are to the mother country. To raise above a million sterling,
the greatest part of which are true staples, and the rest necessary for
the West Indies, with no fish, whale bone, oil, &c. commodities which
some of the colonies have run away with from Britain, by rivalling her
in her fishery-possessing no manufactures, even to such a degree that all
attempts to bring the people into towns have proved vain. By manufactures,
I mean those for sale; for as to private families-working wool, hemp,
and flax for their own use, it is what many do all over America, and are
necessitated to do, for want of money
and commodities to buy them. A Colony so truly
important, I say, deserves every attention from the mother country,
and every encouragement to induce settlers to fix in it. . . .
I shall next lay before the reader the exports of this province [New York]
as taken on an average of three years since the peace [of 1763].
| Commodities | Quantity and Price | Value (£) |
|---|---|---|
| Flour and biscuit | 250,000 barrels, at 20s | 250,000 |
| Wheat | 70,000 qrs. | 70,000 |
| Beans, pease, oats, Indian corn and other grains | 40,000 | |
| Salt beef, pork, hams, bacon, and venison, | 18,000 | |
| Bees wax, | 30,000 lb. at Is | 1,500 |
| Tongues, butter, and cheese, | 8,000 | |
| Flax seed, | 7000 hhds. at 40s | 14,000 |
| Horses and live stock | 17,000 | |
| Product of cultivated lands, | 418,500 | |
| Timber planks, masts, boards, staves, and shingles | 25,000 | |
| Pot ash, | 7000 hhds. | 14,000 |
| Ships built for sale, | 20, at £700 | 14,000 |
| Copper ore, and iron in bars and pigs | 20,000 | |
| Original Total | £526,000 | |
| Corrected Total | £[491,500] |
Let me upon this table observe, that far the greater part of this export is the produce.of the lands including timber; and even the metals may be reckoned in the same class; this shews us that agriculture in New York is of such importance as to support the most considerable part of the province without the assistance of either the fishery or of commerce;. not that the city of New York has not traded largely, perhaps equal to Boston, but the effects of that trade have been chiefly the introduction of money by the means of barter, besides the exportation of their own products: whereas New England's exports consist five parts in six of fish, and the other products of the fishery; a strong proof that agriculture is far more profitable in one country, than in the other; for settlers in colonies will never take to the sea., in a country whose agriculture yields well; but in very bad climates, and such as destroy instead of cherishing the products of the earth, any branch of industry pays better than cultivating the earth. . . .
Before I conclude this chapter, I shall insert a table of the exports of the province [Pennsylvania].
| Commodities | Quantity and Price | Value (£) |
|---|---|---|
| Biscuit flour | 350,000 barrels, at 20s | £350,000 |
| Wheat | 100,000 qrs. at 20s | 100,000 |
| Beans, pease, oats, Indian corn, and other grain | 12,000 | |
| Salt beef, pork, hams, bacon, and venison | 45,000 | |
| Bees wax, | 20,000 lb. at 1s | 1,000 |
| Tongues, butter, and cheese | 10,000 | |
| Deer, and sundry other sorts of skins | 50,000 | |
| Live stock and horses | 20,000 | |
| Flax seed | 15,000 hhds. at 40s | 30,000 |
| Timber plank, masts, boards, staves, and shingles | 35,000 | |
| Ships built for sale | 25, at £700 | 17,500 |
| Copper ore, and iron in pigs and bars | 35,000 | |
| Total | £705,500 |
Upon this account I must observe, that far the greatest part is the cultivated produce of the land; which is the very contrary to New England, whose lands yield nothing to export. In proportion to this circumstance, is the value of a colony, for it is the nature of colonization, that the people ought, on first principles, to support themselves by agriculture alone. Wheat appears to be the grand export of this province: that, and other articles of food, amount to above half a million, which is a vast sum of money to export regularly, besides feeding every rank of people in the utmost plenty; but of late years this has risen to much more, for wheat, instead of being at 20s. a. quarter, is at above 30s. No circumstance in the world can be more strong, in proof of the temperature, moderation and healthiness of the climate, than this of exporting such quantities of wheat, which throughout the globe, thrives nowhere in climates insalubrious to mankind: . . .
I shall conclude this account, with a table of the exports of this province [Massachusetts] since the peace [of 1763].
| Commodities | Quantity and Price | Value (£) |
|---|---|---|
| Cod-fish dried | 10,000 tons, at £10 | £1007000 |
| Whale and cod-oil | 8500 tons, at £15 | 127,500 |
| Whale-bone | 28 tons, at £300 | 8,400 |
| Pickled mackerel and shads | 15,000 barrels at 20s | 15,000 |
| Masts, boards, staves, shingles, &c | 75,000 | |
| Ships | about 70 sail, at £700 | 497000 |
| Turpentine, tar, and pitch, | 1500 barrels, at 8s | 600 |
| Horses, and live stock | 37,000 | |
| Pot-ash | 14,000 barrels, at 50s | 35,000 |
| Pickled beef and pork | 19,000 barrels, at 30s | 28,500 |
| Bees-wax, and sundries. | 9,000 | |
| Total | £485,000 |
Upon this table I must observe, that the fishery amounts to £250,900 of it; or rather more than half the total, which sbews what a great proportion of the people of this colony are employed in it. The other half is the produce of their lands, for so both ships and pot-ash must be esteemed; Cattle and beef, pork, &c. came to £65,500 all the rest is timber or what is made of timber; this is a proportion that gives us at once a tolerable idea of the colony. We are not from hence to suppose, that the great body of the landed interests in this country has, like Canada, no other resource to purchase foreign commodities with, than this small export. The case is very different, New England enjoys a vast fishery, and a great trade, which brings in no slight portion of wealth. The most considerable commercial town in all America is in this province; and another circumstance is the increase of population. These causes operate so as to keep up a considerable circulation within the colony. Boston and the shipping are a market which enriches the country interest far more than the above mentioned export, which, for so numerous a people, is very inconsiderable. By means of this internal circulation, the farmers and country gentlemen are enabled very amply to purchase whatever tbey want from abroad.