AGRICULTURE IN 1829. 43 
and is supposed with the molasses to defray the ordinary 
expenses of the estate and household. 
Rum not being a necessary of life, admits of a greater 
taxation than sugar. It pays 1,000 per cent duty, 
British spirits not more than * per cent, so that the 
British manufacturer clears * times as much as the 
Colonial one, and the consumer pays * times the 
Colonial value of the article. 
For every 2 casks, one of sugar and one of rum, the 
King receives 72.10, and the manufaéturer in the Colo- 
nies 20. Can the question be asked after this—of what 
value are the Colonies ? 
There is no crop time in Demerary. An estate of 
500 hhds. will make from 30 to 50 per month. The best 
sugar is no doubt made in the dryest weather, but then 
the plants are lost and the ensuing crop from the same 
field fails in consequence. There are so many advan- 
tages attending an equal distribution of the crop, that 
the power of being able to do so gives the Demerary 
Planter an immense advantage over the Island one. 
In the first place the labour of the Negro is uniform 
and regular; in the second there is no material delay or 
detriment from the breaking of machinery ; in the third 
there is no regular succession of ripe canes on the 
cultivation, and a secure crop from the portion planted 
in moist or showery weather. In the long dry season, 
the cane arrows, and the navigation is short of water. 
It not unfrequently happens therefore that in the month of 
O&tober less sugar is made than in any other, the arrow of 
the cane being unfit to plant and the juice losing much of 
its sacharine principle whilst the cane is in that state. 
* Left open in MS, 
F 2 
