SUGAR. 



149 



In 1872-73 the crop was 108,520 hogsheads of sugar, and 8,890,640 

 gallons of molasses, made by 1181 sugar-houses. 



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

 tion of 5 acres, producing 5000 lbs. of sugar, and 125 gallons of 

 molasses. 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 1200 lbs. of 

 sugar. The home production of the United States in 1870 was : 



Lbs, 



Sugar from cane, say 87,000,000 



Sugar from maple 28 , 443 , 645 



Total .. .. 115,443,645 



Galls. 



Molasses from cane 6 , 593 , 323 



„ sorghum 16,050,089 



„ maple 921,057 



Total 23,564,469 



The foreign importation of like products in 1873 into the United 

 States, as compared with the above, stands thus : Sugar, including 

 Melado, 1,567,795,088 lbs. ; molasses, 43,533,909 gallons. 



In June 1872, Mr. Lapice, one of the oldest sugar planters of 

 Louisiana, left New Orleans for the Pacific Ocean, for the purpose 

 of procuring a fresh supply of sugar-canes for planting, as it had been 

 found that the old Creole cane originally introduced by Columbus, and 

 generally cultivated in the West India Islands, had degenerated. 

 The ribbon cane was brought in by a vessel from Java, and had 

 proved hardy. Mr. Lapice, on visiting Singapore, found that the 

 ribbon cane had been entirely abandoned, and a new kind from Java 

 was in general cultivation. It is of a purple colour, and very small 

 light stripes. Another new kind of cane has been introduced into 

 Borneo from New Caledonia. At Saigon he obtained some specimens 

 of a variety called the elephant cane. The old ribbon cane is being 

 cultivated in Madagascar. The result of Mr. Lapice's voyage on 

 behalf of the Louisiana sugar planters, was the arrival of a steamship 

 with 11,000 cuttings from various new kinds of canes. 



The ' New Orleans Picayune,' writing on the sugar manufacture 

 there, observes : 



" It appears that while the sugar-cane contains nearly twice as much 

 sugar as the beetroot, in the process of extraction more sugar is 

 obtained from the latter than the former. Millions of pounds of 

 sugar are thrown away in Louisiana every year. The sugar exists 

 in the cane in a crystallized form, and cannot be pressed out. It 

 must be dissolved out by water. The fact that the Louisiana sugar 

 industry needs the aid of science fully to develop the wealth of the 

 State need not be longer concealed. The agriculturists of Europe 

 call in science to their aid, and are thus enabled to compete with their 

 less enterprising competitors who are blessed with superior natural 

 advantages. 



" The following figures are well worthy of perusal. They are from 



