204 



SUGAR. 



mountainous, well wooded, and abundantly supplied with water ; its 

 soil, resulting from tlie disintegration of conglomerate, is generally 

 of a stiff argillaceous nature. 



Notes on Usines, and the Manufacture of Sugar as carried 

 ON AT Martinique. 



1. Contract hetween Planter and Mill-owner. — The engagements 

 between the Usines and the cane-growers are generally for periods of 

 ten years. 



2. Proportion of Sugar allowed in Exchange or Payment for Canes. — 

 When first established, the Usines only allowed the planters 5 per 

 cent, of sugar per 100 lbs. of canes, but some of those lately estab- 

 lished give as high as 6 per cent. 



3. Mode of Paijing the Cane-growers. — Sugar is never actually 

 given by the Usine to the cane-grower, but the value of so much per 

 cent, per 100 lbs. of canes : this value is fixed in the following 

 manner : — Every fortnight the average between the highest and lowest 

 prices quoted at St. Pierre for muscovado is taken, and such average 

 price fixes the value of the percentage allowed by the Usine to the 

 cane-grower ; thus — A. sends 500,000 lbs. of canes to the Usine from 

 the 1st to the 15th March ; the Usine allows 5.jper cent. = 27,500 lbs. 

 of sugar for the 500,000 lbs. of canes. The average price of musco- 

 vado sugar at St. Pierre is, during the same period, say, $3 per 100 

 lbs. ; 27,500 lbs. sugar at $3 per 100 lbs. = $825. To this amount, 

 therefore, A. will be entitled for his 500,000 lbs. of canes. The 

 cane-grower is thus excluded from participation in the advantages of 

 the manufacture of the superior quality of sugar made by the Usine, 

 except to a moderate extent at those Usines where, after a certain per- 

 centage of the profits has been reserved for the shareholders and for 

 a reserved fimd, the balance is divided between the cultivators of the 

 canes and the proprietors of the Usine. 



4. The Carts go hy Usine Tramway from Estate to Usine : hut carted 

 from Cane-piece to Tramway. — The Usine is fed by means of tramways 

 which are laid down with regard to the configuration of the ground, 

 rather than directly, to save cartage to the cane-growers, who generally, 

 if possible, suit their cultivation to the direction of the tramways. 

 On Les Digues estate the canes for a crop of 300 barriques ( = about 

 150 42-inch hhds.) used to be carted by about forty-five oxen, to a small 

 mill of about 5 horse-power, driven by water : now, by sixty oxen, they 

 cart canes to the tramway sufficient to make 500 to 600 barriques ; 

 that is to say, with one-third more oxen, they are able to cart canes 

 sufficient to make about double as much as formerly. The railway 

 passes near the centre of the estate ; the cane-pieces farthest from it 

 are barely a mile off. On some estates, however, I am informed, the 

 cartage is from 2 to 3 miles. 



5. Varying Price, and Participation in Profits. — Where the Usine 

 gives the .value of 6 per cent, per 100 lbs. of canes (to the cultivators) 

 there is n© participation, on the part of the cultivators, in the profits 

 of the Usine ; but at the neighbouring Usine of Petit Bowg, where 

 the canes of Les Digues estate are manufactui'ed into sugar, the cane- 



