tely detail the exports of 1859, but they have been very
light on account of fall in the European market, after the termination
of the war in Italy. During these years there were various causes for
the remarkable fluctuations which we have noted; namely, famine in
Ireland, the Crimean war, and the failures of the harvest at home and
abroad, nor have these exportations been regularly divided or spread
over the various months of each year. They have increased or
diminished according to the European demand, governed by the supply at
home and regulated by advices from the other side of the Atlantic. It
is likely that the export of breadstuffs in 1860 will be very
considerable.

Michigan possesses many advantages over her sister States, and these
enable her to bear up against monetary panics better than they. Her
immense length of lake coast is indented with excellent harbors, which
invite commerce from every quarter, and furnish excellent outlets for
her surplus produce or mineral wealth. The great and diversified
resources of the State support her in the evil day, and bring her
through a commercial crisis in safety. From the ushering in of the
year to the close, there is not a day in which the marts of commerce
are not enlivened by the contributions of grain or live stock from our
fields, fish from our lakes, lumber from our forests, or ores of
various kinds from our inexhaustible mines.

According to the census returns of 1840, the State of Michigan
produced 2,157,108 bushels of wheat, there were 190 flouring mills at
work, employing 491 hands, and producing 202,880 barrels of flour
annually. In 1853 this State produced 7,275,032 bushels of wheat,
there were 245 flouring mills at work, employing 604 persons, and
manufacturing 1,000,000 barrels of flour in a year. It will be seen
that the flouring mills have increased greatly both in number and
capacity since 1840, and that very large quantities of flour are now
manufactured in the interior of the State, a circumstance which partly
accounts for the comparatively small quantity of wheat that is now
exported. The number of flouring mills have doubtless increased since
1853, and as steam power has been applied in many instances their
manufacturing capacity must now be very great. Farmers are beginning
to understand the importance of disposing of their produce near home,
and having the surplus exported in a manufactured state, instead of
sending away the raw material; the br