The sailing vessel is rapidly disappearing from the grain-carrying trade. Ten years ago there were 1,782 sailing ships engaged in the grain trade, now there are only about thirty cargoes in a year from New York. The total amount of grain and breadstuffs exported from the United States in 1890 was valued at $141,602,847. Of this New York shipped 32-1/4 per cent., and yet fears are entertained that New York will lose her grain business, owing to the heavy port and storage charges compared with those of other seaports. In 1890, New York handled $45,649,765 worth of grain. Corn led in the amount shipped, there being a total of 24,374,745 bushels. Wheat came next with 12,607,484 bushels, and there were 9,192,203 bushels of oats and 1,389,419 bushels of rye. There were 3,693,598 barrels of wheat flour shipped from New York out of a total for the United States of 11,319,456 barrels. Barley, buckwheat, and rice were exported in smaller quantities, and cornmeal, oatmeal, and other preparations, not included in the above figures, were sent to foreign ports. Ships are specially fitted up for carrying grain. The hold is divided into compartments by a longitudinal bulkhead in addition to the ordinary bulkheads. This is done to prevent the cargo from shifting. The hold is ceiled in order to prevent any waste of grain which is shipped in bulk in the lower hold; shifting planks are placed on each side of the keelson and fitted to side stanchions between the beams, and care is taken to secure the planks so that they will hold their places even in a rough sea. The British Board of Trade requires that the hatches of the lower hold shall be supplied with a feeder or hopper capable of holding a sufficient quantity of grain to fill the hold completely as the grain settles; these feeders extend above the lower deck. The space between decks is filled with grain in bags. Care is taken in loading to stow these bags so that the space between decks will be entirely filled. These requirements have been adopted by ship-owners and shippers generally. With the exception of the American line from Philadelphia, United States vessels cut but a small figure in grain traffic. Their four vessels are the only American steamships engaged in the business. In one year Great Britain carried 616 shiploads of grain, or an aggregate of nearly 25,000,000 bushels; Germany carried 167 shiploads, or nearly 4,000,000 bushels; Belgium carried 70 shiploads; France, 33; Denmark, 21; Italy, 15; Spain, 8; Austria, 10; Portugal, 9; and Norway, 6. The handling of all this grain, by the time it arrives by canal-boat or by railway from the West, to the time that the ship sails from the harbor, requires a large number of elevators and many men. There are 31 floating elevators in the port of New York, which are towed alongside of grain ships in order to fill in bulk. The grain is simply pumped from the capacious bins of the elevator to the hold of the ship.