144 



SUGAR. 



with the sugar-cane, and 7 plantations, employing 655 labourers. The 

 produce of sugar has fallen off of late years from 420,000 kilos, to 

 250,000 kilos., with a little molasses, and 75,000 litres of rum. 



Surinam. — Sugar is the staple product of this Dutch colony, and 

 the manufacture is now being actively carried on. 



The following have been the exports for six years : 





Year. 



Sugar. 



Molasses. 



Rum. 







1866 

 1867 

 1868 

 1869 

 1870 

 1871 



lbs. 



18,577,826 

 21,164,179 

 22,593,182 

 19,600,220 

 22,309,213 

 23,709,797 



galls. 

 435,933 

 523,738 

 562,888 

 484,266 

 380,171 

 317,223 



galls. 

 75,594 

 78,128 

 61,374 

 58,542- 

 90,373 

 167,412 





Several of the wealthiest owners of estates have introduced the 

 vacuum-pan process, making their sugar thereby, and thus rendering 

 it more marketable and of higher value. They have also been 

 erecting first-class distilleries on their estates, as, the price of 

 molasses being low, they find it more profitable to distil than to sell 

 the molasses. 



Brazil. — Sugar is one of the great articles of export from Brazil, 

 forming about one-sixth of the total value of the shipments. It has 

 not made the same progress that coffee has done ; its culture has indeed 

 in some provinces been stationary, owing to the preference given to the 

 growth of coffee and cotton, which are for many reasons supposed to 

 be more advantageous to the planter, as requiring less capital and 

 labour. The culture of the sugar-cane is in general carried on in 

 the most primitive manner, and owing to the rudeness of the 

 machinery and the want of knowledge of the latest and most 

 improved processes of manufacture, the quality of Brazilian sugar 

 is, with some few exceptions of note, greatly inferior to that of other 

 American countries. However, in this as in most other matters the 

 Brazilians are seeking to put themselves on an equality with other 

 nations, and many enterprising planters are availing themselves of 

 the latest improvements that machinists and scientific men have 

 placed at their disposal. The sugar-cane can be grown in almost 

 every part of Brazil, but is raised chiefly in the provinces of Kio 

 Janeiro, San Paulo, Bahia, Pernambuco, Parahyba, Ceara, Alagoas, 

 and Rio Grande do Norte. The exports of sugar were in 



Arrobas (32 lbs.). Arrobas (32 lbs.). 



1843 5,209,721 1863 10,121,719 



1853 10,681,344 1872 9,762,135 



The average annual value of the sugar exported is about 

 2,500,000Z. 



The larger planters manufacture their molasses into rum, but 

 many of the small growers produce a superior quality of spirit, which 



