SUGAR 



SUGAR. 



Ifnited States the cultivation cannot be carriec 

 on advantageously higher than about the 32c 

 degree of latitude, and here the cane dies down 

 annually, unless cut in time to escape the 

 effects of frost. It attains the height of 7 or 8 

 feet, or more, and its broad leaves, and large, 

 silky panicles, give it a beautiful aspect. The 

 stems are jointed, very smooth, shining, and fill- 

 ed with a spongy pith : the flowers of the sugar- 

 cane are small, and very abundant, being cloth- 

 ed externally with numerous silky hairs. But 

 in the regular course of cultivation, it never 

 flowers in Louisiana, and but rarely in the 

 West Indies. Consequently, seed is difficul 

 to be procured, short of Otaheite or China. I 

 is well known that where the plant is allowed 

 to go to seed, this natural process interferes 

 with the developement of the saccharine ma- 

 terials. In the West Indies, it is propagated 

 by cuttings from the main stalk, planted in 

 hills or trenches in the spring or autumn. 

 The cuttings root at the joints under ground 

 and send up shoots, which, in 8, 12, or 14 

 months, are from 6 to 10 feet long, and fit to 

 cut down for the mill. A plantation lasts from 

 6 to 10 years, but in Louisiana the planting has 

 to be renewed every 2 or 3 years. 



The juice of the sugar-cane is so palatable and 

 nutritive, that, during the sugar harvest, every 

 creature which partakes freely of it, w.hether 

 man or animal, appears to derive health and vi 

 gour from its use. The meager and sickly ne 

 groes exhibit at this season a surprising altera 

 tion ; and the labouring horses, oxen, and mules, 

 though constantly at work, yet, as they are 

 allowed to eat, almost without restraint, of 

 the refuse plants and scummings from the boil- 

 ing-house, improve infinitely more than at any 

 other period of the year. The sugar-cane is 

 now cultivated in all the warm parts of the 

 globe. The variety from Otaheite has lately, in 

 the West Indies, superseded all other kinds of 

 cane, and succeeds in soils too poor for the 

 common varieties. The qualities of the sugar 

 are also very superior. 



Sugar is now cultivated to considerable ex- 

 tent in the United States. On the northern coast 

 of the Gulf of Mexico, for the distance of about 

 300 miles, the sugar region is almost entirely 

 embraced within the limits of Louisiana. Here, 

 the soil being all alluvial and of the richest 

 description, the cane is forced by its exceeding 

 fertility, together with the warmth of the long 

 summers, to a state of maturity which enables it 

 to yield sugar in the greatest abundance, and of 

 the finest quality. Thus, the natural strength 

 of the soil and warmth of the summer compen- 

 sate in a great degree for other defects of the 

 climate. The extent of lands in this portion 

 of the United States admitting of the profitable 

 culture of sugar, is sufficient not only to supply 

 the entire amount required forborne consump- 

 tion, but for large exportation. The sugar cul- 

 ture in the United States is now protected by a 

 duty on muscovado or brown sugars of 2 cts. 

 per Ib. White sugars from Havana pay a duty 

 of 4 or 4 cts. per Ib. Louisiana brown sugar 

 has been sold in the spring of 1843, at 4 to 5 

 cents, per Ib. wholesale, in all of the Atlantic 

 cities. 



Varieties of the Cane. There are four varie- 

 1018" 



ties of cane mostly planted in the West Indies 

 and Louisiana. The OtaheUe cane is, as has 

 been before observed, more extensively culti- 

 vated at present in the West Indies than any 

 other. It will grow better on the lighter and 

 older cultivated soils, and has several peculiar 

 advantages over the Brazilian or Creole canes 

 in former use, but now generally superseded. 

 The last named is more delicate and requires 

 more culture than any other variety, but pro- 

 duces sugar of the finest quality. The variety 

 most extensively cultivated on the rich lands 

 of Louisiana, is the Blue-ribbon cane, the most 

 luxuriant of all others. All the varieties 

 " rattoon," that is to say, produce a growth from 

 the roots two and sometimes three successive 

 years in Louisiana. The consumption of Eng- 

 land now amounts to upwards of 400,000,000 

 pounds, which gives an average of about 30 

 pounds for each individual. That of the United 

 States is about 250,000,000 Ibs. per annum, 

 which, considering the population, gives a 

 larger individual rate of consumption than 

 any other country in the world. 



In an interesting communication in ' the 

 Farmers' Register, vol. iii., Mr. Macrae, a Flo- 

 rida sugar planter, speaks of the sugar cul- 

 ture in that region as profitable, but still, he 

 thinks, too uncertain, from the effects of frost, 

 to be depended upon to the exclusion of other 

 southern crops. The season for manufactur- 

 ing, he observes, may not admit of the saving 

 of 500 acres of cane ; but it assuredly admits 

 of 100 acres being profitably sa,ved, with 50 

 effective hands, and the requisite machinery; 

 and that, too, without any serious sacrifice of 

 cotton, or great loss of labour. The opinion 

 there generally maintained, that the manufac- 

 ture of a sugar crop will essentially interfere 

 with and diminish the cotton crop, he regards 

 as erroneous. In the proportion of one-fifth 

 cane, he says there need be no such interfer- 

 ence admitting that the earliness and severity 

 of frost is such as to compel the immediate ser- 

 vice of all other labours to the security of the 

 cane. "Your 50 hands will mattress it (100 

 acres) in from 3 to 5 days, where it may lie 

 for a month. Half your force, with tried ma- 

 chinery, will then manufacture it in a fortnight, 

 without any extra labour ; and your other re- 

 maining half of labourers will certainly, at that 

 season, save all the cotton that is liable to fall. 

 It is not, however, one year in ten, that the sea- 

 son would compel this entire disposition of 

 your labourers; and certainly your chance of 

 revenue from two crops, not liable to the same 

 disasters (for none can deny that the cotton 

 plant has nearly as many risks to run before 

 its fruit is saved, as the cane), is more than 

 equivalent to a moderate loss by a heavy blow 

 of cotton. No one should attempt the cane 

 cultivation as a source of revenue, with a less 

 force than 50 effective hands ; and I attribute 

 the heretofore failures of sugar here, in a great 

 measure, to overcropping, and a poverty of 

 abourers." 



The operation termed "mattressing" consists 

 n piling the cane which is cut, to prevent 

 njury from frost, in rows in the field. The 

 plan recommended by Mr. Macrae, is to cut 

 he cane down close to the ground, and 



