718 



SUGAR. 



There was, as compared with the preceding 

 year, a decrease in total consumption of sugars 

 from this port, in 1863, of 24,166 tons; and in 

 1864, of 53,117 tons; and an increase, in 1865, 



of 71,521 tons. The following is a general state- 

 ment of the receipts of foreign sugars in the 

 United States for the same years : 



The consumption of raw sugars in California 

 and Oregon is put down, for 1864, at (proba- 

 bly) 10,500 tons, and for 1865 at 11,000 tons. 

 A very great diminution of the sugar-crop of 

 Louisiana, consequent on the troubled state of 

 the country, marked the years 1863, 1864, and 

 1865. This, being accompanied in the first two 

 of the years named with a greatly reduced de- 

 mand in the country at large, did not obviously 

 affect the importation of this staple; but in 

 1865, when the general demand was again 

 largely augmented, the failure of the domestic 

 supply inured to the benefit of foreign produ- 

 cers, especially in the West India Islands, and 

 most of all in Cuba, from which the bulk of the 

 excess of foreign sugar in that year was 

 drawn. Indeed, although the total consump- 

 tion of sugar iu the country, when the yield in 

 Louisiana was ordinarily large, has frequently 

 been greater than in 1865, yet the consumption 

 of foreign sugars exceeding the nearest pre- 

 vious approach, in 1860, by nearly 50,000 tons 

 was never before so great. It was admitted that 

 the sugar crop of Louisiana in 1866 must still 

 be comparatively small some 15,000 to 20,000 



hhds., perhaps, and not enough to allow of 

 large shipments ; and, the demand still increas- 

 ing, it appeared that the import of foreign 

 sugars would be yet larger in the year 1866. 

 The refineries manufacturing "clarified sug- 

 ars," or those from molasses, consumed in 

 1864 about 100,000 hhds. of that article, pro- 

 ducing, say, 22,321 tons of soft sugar ; and tho 

 quantities in 1865 were probably about the 

 same. The quantity of maple sugar is esti- 

 mated, for 1864, at from 26,000 to 28,000 tons ; 

 and for 1865, at 27,000 to 29,000 tons. In 

 1864, it was announced that a company with a 

 large capital was about to embark in the beet- 

 sugar manufacture in this country ; and another 

 also in that of sugar from the Indian corn, 

 which is grown so abundantly and cheaply in 

 the more western States ; but the statements 

 quoted give no estimates as yet of sugar from 

 the beet, corn, or even sorghum; the chief 

 manufacture from the last named still being 

 that of syrup or molasses. 



The following are the average prices at New 

 York, per 100 Ibs., yearly, from 1861 to 1865, 

 inclusive, of the sorts of sugar below named : 



