



84 STATISTICS OF SUGAR. 



thought a supply of sugar for home consumption might be produced in 

 the U. S. The consumption in the U. S. in 1830 was about 70,000 tons. 



The product of a hand on a sugar estate is put down at the cultiva- 

 tion of 5 acres, producing 5,000 Ibs. of sugar, and 125 gallons of molas- 

 ses. The value of the sugar on the spot is 5\ cents a pound, and the 

 molasses 18 cents a gallon; total, $297.50. The annual expense 

 per hand, tools, &c., $105. Two crops are made in succession on the 

 same land, one of plant-cane, and one of rattoons ; it then lies fallow 

 two years, or is planted with Indian corn or peas. An acre yields 

 about 12,00 Ibs. of sugar. The state of Louisiana has 700 plantations, 

 525 in operation, producing annually about 90,000 hogsheads of 1000 

 Ibs. each. The raw sugar imported in 1840 was, 121,000,000 Ibs. valu- 

 ed abroad at $5,600,000, and imported from 6 different countries. This, 

 with our own product, is over 263,445,000 Ibs. But maple sugar con- 

 stitutes in addition a large proportion of our domestic consumption, 

 amounting annually to 8 or 10 millions Ibs. The protection afforded by 

 a tariff has greatly increased the production of sugar in the U. S. From 

 1816 to 1828 this increase was from 15,000 to 45,000 hogsheads. 



The annual consumption of sugar in Great Britain in ISBOMcCul- 

 loch estimated at 180,000 tons, or over 400,000,000 Ibs., which was 

 about 30 Ibs. for each person. The consumption is rapidly increas- 

 ing there and on the continent, where the annual consumption is 260,- 

 000 tons. The British West India Islands yield about 195,000 tons. 

 Other West India Islands, 200,000, and Brazil, 75,000. During the 

 first half of the last century the consumption increased five-fold. The 

 sum total of sugars brought into all the markets has been estimated 

 for 1838 at 738,000 tons, but the present average quantity produced 

 of all kinds may be estimated, in round numbers, at one million of tons. 

 Great Britain employs, according to an English account, 200,000 tons 

 of shipping in the exportation of 500,000,000 of Ibs. of sugar from her 

 colonies, which, if consumed by her twenty-eight millions of people, 

 would be equal to 25 Ibs. each ; but this is so taxed that the poor can 

 get but a fraction of this proportion, as the revenue from this is an- 

 nually $22,200,000. The British imported, in 1831, from their East 

 India possessions, 485,326 cwt., costing from 22 to 35s. with a duty of 

 24s. Notwithstanding the large amount imported, Mr. Huskisson has 

 said that "two-thirds of the poorer people drink their coffee without 

 sugar." 



The average annual amount consumed by each person is, in Ireland 

 5 Ibs., in France 7, Spain 7j, United States 18, and England 23. The 

 consumption of maple sugar and molasses in the U. S. makes the amount 

 equal, probably, to 23 or 24 Ibs. each ! 



S. Officinarum ; leaves flat ; flowers in pairs, panicled, on loose 

 zigzag spikes ; panicle spreading in feathered branches, 1 foot long ; 

 stem 10 feet, jointed E, I. and A. 



