Common whale oil finds a market in the West-Indies, Great-Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal. The greatest part of the spermaceti oil is carried to Great-Britain. (See Table No. X.) The late war between the United States and Great-Britain has again almost annihilated the cod and whale fisheries.* Previous to the restrictive system and the war, the fisheries furnished articles for exportation to an amount of more than three millions of dollars; in 1814, the exports, the produce of the fisheries, were reduced to the sum of $188,000. In 1815, they amounted to $912,000, and in 1816, to $1,331,000. 2d. THE PRODUCTS OF THE FOREST. The products of the forest consist of lumber of all kinds, naval stores, (such as tar, pitch, turpentine and rosin,) pot and pearl ashes, skins and furs, ginseng, and oak bark and other dyes. The exportation of lumber has always been an object of no inconsiderable importance to this country. The first settlers found here immense forests of wood and timber, and as they cleared their lands the timber was of little value except for exportation. The lumber exported consists of staves and heading, shingles, hoops and poles, boards, plank, scantling and timber of various sorts for masts, spars, buildings, &c. The official value of lumber of all kinds, exported in the year 1770, was about £154,637 sterling, or $686,588. From • Twenty-four whalemen were taken by the British in the late war. 1803 to 1807, the value of lumber exported, on an average, exceeded two millions and a half of dollars. Naval stores, such as tar, pitch, turpentine, and rosin, have long been an object of importance, not only for home consumption, but for exportation. Great-Britain has always been dependent upon foreign countries for these articles, which to her are of the first necessity. Before they were produced in her NorthAmerican Colonies, she obtained them from the North of Europe, and particularly from the pitch and tar company of Sweden. About the year 1703, this company attempted to raise their price upon these articles, by prohibiting the exportation of them except in their own ships. This induced the British government to encourage the production of them in their Colonies. By the 3 and 4 of Ann, a bounty of £4 per ton was given on the importation of tar and pitch, and £3 per ton on rosin and turpentine from the American Colonies. These articles are produced principally in North-Carolina, and this bounty, no doubt, had its effect, in increasing the production of them in that Province. In the year 1770, the quantity of tar exported was eighty-two thousand and seventy-five barrels, of pitch, nine thousand one hundred and fourteen barrels, and of turpentine, seventeen thousand and fourteen, and their official value was £34,693 sterling, or about $144,000. Since the year 1791, the quantity of these articles had varied almost every year; in 1795, ninety thousand and sixty-six barrels of tar were exported. During the years 1805, 1806, and 1807, the average quantity of tar exported was sixty-four thousand nine hundred and seventeen barrels of turpentine, seventy-four thousand six hundred and seven barrels, and of pitch, nine thousand and eight barrels, and their average value was about $500,000. In 1816, there was exported one hundred thirty-three thousand three hundred and forty-five barrels of tar, seventy-six thousand one hundred and five of turpentine, thirteen thousand five hundred and ninety-five of pitch, and six thousand nine hundred and eighty-two of rosin, valued at nearly $800,000. Before the American revolution, Great-Britain also encouraged the production of pot and pearl ashes in her North-American Colonies, articles necessary for her manufactures. In 1761, the society instituted at London for the encouragement of arts, manufactures, and commerce, offered large premiums to those who should import from the American Colonies the greatest quantity of pot and pearl ashes. Treatises, describing the method of making them, were, about the same time, sent over, and circulated among the Colonists. In the year 1770, one thousand one hundred and seventy-three tons of pot ashes, and seven hundred thirty-seven tons of pearl ashes were exported from the North-American Colonies; the value of these was then estimated at £64,660 9 2 sterling or about $290,000. The exportation of these articles has since greatly increased; the value of pot and pearl ashes exported in 1807, amounted to $1,490,000, and in 1816, to $1,630,000. As the American forests abounded in wild animals, whose skins and furs were valuable, furs and peltry have always constituted a part of American exports. In the year 1770, the official value of these articles exported, from all the North-American Colonies, which included Canada, was £149,224 14 4 sterling, or about $670,000. The average value of these articles, exported from the United States from 1791 to 1803, was about $300,000; from 1804 to 1807 inclusive, the annual average value was about $900,000. It is believed, that during these years, a large proportion of the furs exported were brought from Canada, and shipped at the Atlantic ports. In 1816, the value of skins and furs exported was $553,000. Ginseng, a root so highly valued in China, has long been known in North-America, and has become an article of export. In 1770, the quantity exported was seventy-four thousand six hundred and four pounds, and was valued at about $5,000. The greatest quantity exported, since 1791, was in 1806, being four hundred forty-eight thousand three hundred and ninety-four pounds, and valued at $139,000. Oak and other bark and wood, for tanning and dying, have also become articles of exportation of some value. In 1803, they amounted to $225,000. The following is the value of all the exports, which are the produce of the forest, from 1803 to 1816, viz.— The value of each of the articles exported, during the same periods, The articles of lumber are carried, principally, to the West-Indies, except staves and heading, many of which go to Great-Britain and Portugal. Nearly all the naval stores, and pot and pearl ashes, go to Great-Britain. For the destination of these articles from 1800 to 1816, see Tables No. XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI and XVII, annexed to this chapter. |