=249. (3) The chief markets for England’s exports.=—The market for English wares varied, of course, according to the country to which they were sent. The most favorable market for manufactures was afforded by the colonies in America, until the outbreak of the war of independence. The colonists were a high grade of customers; they had cultivated tastes and were willing to work hard to gratify them. By reason of natural conditions even more than by legislation they found it difficult to establish manufactures, and bought manufactured wares of England with the raw products which their environment afforded in abundance. A book published just before the revolution says that the “colonies are furnished from England with materials for wearing apparel, household furniture, silk, woolen, and linen manufactures, iron, cordage, and sails, great guns, small arms, ammunition, lead, brass, iron, and steel, whether wrought or unwrought; in a word England furnishes them with almost everything needful for the luxuries, as well as conveniences of life, except provisions.” In European countries English manufactures did not find such a clear field. There were some branches (silk, linen, lace, paper, tin-plate, etc.) in which other countries were distinctly superior, and no European country depended on England as did the colonies. English woolens, however, went practically everywhere, and other products of the textile and metal industries were sure of a ready market in most countries. For exports to other continents the English had to choose articles which would stimulate less civilized people to production and exchange. Very considerable sums in gold and silver were sent to Asia, and the half-savage Africans were tempted with gunpowder, iron, rum, spirits, beads, etc. QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 1. Endeavor to get a clear understanding of the meaning of each of the topics, and of their bearing on each other, by thinking of the present-day commerce of the U. S. and asking yourself: what are the main facts about (1) our exports, (2) our natural advantages, etc. Then ask yourself how knowledge of any one of these topics will be of use to you in understanding the others, and so understanding commerce in general. For instance, what bearing has our tariff policy on our imports and exports, respectively? What are the weaker points in our system of production as shown by imports; what countries are strong in those points? The student is most earnestly advised to learn the contents of this manual by understanding and not by memorizing. He should always be asking himself: what _use_ is this fact to me? 2. Transform the figures, sect. 239, into a graphic chart, and compare the results with exports at the present day. [See Statesman’s Year-Book for recent figures.] 3. Development of English agriculture in the seventeenth century. [Soc. Eng., 4: 115-122, 439-445; Prothero, *Pioneers and progress of English farming, London, 1888.]