REPORT OF THE STATISTICIAN. 275 
SUGAR. 
In the diagram No. 1, preceding, is given the proportion of pro- 
duction to the consumption of sugar for this country during the last 
eighteen years. Thelonglinedenoies the total consumption of canesugar 
in the United States; the shaded part of the line represents the amount 
produced in this country. In Diagram No, 2 the same applies to 
molasses. 
In 1860, it will be observed, we raised nearly one-half the amount of 
sugar that we consumed, or, in round numbers, 500 million pounds, 
against a total consumption of 1,200 million pounds; whereas, in 1878, 
we only made 257 million pounds, against a total consumption of 1,731 
inillion for the year ending June 30, 1878. This great decline is due to 
several causes: First. The effects of the war so changed the relations of 
labor that a corresponding change took place in the manner of carrying 
on the estates, and many were abandoned or neglected. It is an open 
question still whether capital will be invested in the same manner as in 
former times; many, and some of the most intelligent, planters believe 
that in time this great industry will be revived under a system of small 
farms and central factories, where the cane will be sold or ground on 
shares. This plan has the merit of allowing men of small means to 
combine and erect a sugar-house jointly, or will induce men other than 
planters to put their capital into a business that will be entirely sepa- 
rate trom the planting, and not subject to the same vicissitudes as when 
connected with the agricultural branch of the business of sugar-making. 
The great objection to this plan, viz, the transportation of the cane, 
which is very heavy, from divers farms, can and will be obviated by 
better roads, or by location in favorable bayous, so that transportation 
by boats can be made as cheaply as by carts now. 
But another great drawback exists in the state of the levees to pro- 
tect the lands from everflow.: Formerly, when our production was 
nearly one-half our consumption, the State of Louisiana, which is the 
‘great center and real producer of our sugar crop, was tolerably well 
protected, but the wear and tear of war leit the State in a sad condi- 
tion both as regards levees and finances. It is useless to hope that pri- 
vate enterprise will accomplish a work of such magnitude. <A private 
citizen can at great expense protect his river front or levee; but suppose 
his neighbor is unable to protect his equaily well, the neglect of his 
neighbor, yes, neighbors for miles, will visit him with as great a loss as 
would haye resulted from his own neglect. The sugar estates of Louis- 
jana are generally located on the Mississippi River, beginning some sixty 
miles below New Orleans and going some two hundred miles above. 
There are also many estates in the parishes or counties to the westward 
of the river; in fact the greater portion of the State south of the Red 
River and west of the Mississippi is good sugar land. Yet of this im- 
mense area only 150,000 acres, or the area of one-half of a county, is 
planted in cane. 
The yield per acre is from sixteen hundred pounds to three or four 
thousand of sugar, and a proportionate quantity of molasses. The crop’ 
of sugar is subject to no more, if as many, vicissitudes as the other sta- 
ple crops of the country. No greater illustration of the value of the 
crop can be given than the single fact that the product of only 150,000 
acres is so great as to be considered of national importance. Itis only 
by such a comparison that we can realize the great possibility of our 
sugar lands when the subject shall receive the attention it deserves from 
the government. 
