I have given figures merely as regards the trade of Buffalo; but it must not be presumed that Buffalo is the only outlet from the great corn-lands of Northern America.  In the first place, no grain of the produce of Canada finds its way to Buffalo.  Its exit is by the St. Lawrence or by the Grand Trunk Railway as I have stated when speaking of Canada.  And then there is the passage for large vessels from the upper lakes—­Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Lake Erie—­through the Welland Canal, into Lake Ontario, and out by the St. Lawrence.  There is also the direct communication from Lake Erie, by the New York and Erie Railway to New York.  I have more especially alluded to the trade of Buffalo, because I have been enabled to obtain a reliable return of the quantity of grain and flour which passes through that town, and because Buffalo and Chicago are the two spots which are becoming most famous in the cereal history of the Western States.

Everybody has a map of North America.  A reference to such a map will show the peculiar position of Chicago.  It is at the south or head of Lake Michigan, and to it converge railways from Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana.  At Chicago is found the nearest water carriage which can be obtained for the produce of a large portion of these States.  From Chicago there is direct water conveyance round through the lakes to Buffalo, at the foot of Lake Erie.  At Milwaukee, higher up on the lake, certain lines of railway come in, joining the lake to the Upper Mississippi, and to the wheat-lands of Minnesota.  Thence the passage is round by Detroit, which is the port for the produce of the greatest part of Michigan, and still it all goes on toward Buffalo.  Then on Lake Erie there are the ports of Toledo, Cleveland, and Erie.  At the bottom of Lake Erie there is this city of corn, at which the grain and flour are transhipped into the canal-boats and into the railway cars for New York; and there is also the Welland Canal, through which large vessels pass from the upper lakes without transhipment of their cargo.

I have said above that corn—­meaning maize or Indian-corn—­was to be bought at Bloomington, in Illinois, for ten cents (or five pence) a bushel.  I found this also to be the case at Dixon, and also that corn of inferior quality might be bought for four pence; but I found also that it was not worth the farmer’s while to shell it and sell it at such prices.  I was assured that farmers were burning their Indian-corn in some places, finding it more available to them as fuel than it was for the market.  The labor of detaching a bushel of corn from the hulls or cobs is considerable, as is also the task of carrying it to market.  I have known potatoes in Ireland so cheap that they would not pay for digging and carrying away for purposes of sale.  There was then a glut of potatoes in Ireland; and in the same way there was, in the autumn of 1861, a glut of corn in the Western States.  The best qualities would fetch