THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



537 



fall has since taken ])iace, involving much 

 loss and heavy failure in the trade all 

 over the world. The value of the sugar 

 consumed in the three countries in 1852, 

 was $77,000,000, and in 1857 $160,000,- 

 000. This fact is at variance with the 

 theory that high prices diminish consump- 

 tion. They do so, no doubt, in some de- 

 gree, but the mere advance in the figures 

 for the sale of an article does not really 

 constitute a higher price — the real price 

 consists in the relative ability of the buy- 

 ers. In a time of activity of trade and 

 improved general business, the ability of 

 all consumers to purchase necessaries and 

 comforts is greater, and they do so if the 

 price is higher than it formerly was. In 

 the case of sugar, which is always an ac- 

 companiment to other articles, the de- 

 mand for it depends upon those other ar- 

 ticles. The Island ol' Cuba is the largest 

 consuming countr}' in the world, because 

 its natural and spontaneous supply of fruit 

 is immense, and sugar added to these for 

 preserves becomes an important item of 

 food. So in the Northern United States, 

 the consumption of sugar depends very 

 much upon the suppl}' of fruits, peaches, 

 straw^berries, &c., for which it is the cus- 

 tom of every family to preserve quantities 

 every year. When these are abundant 

 and cheap, the price of the sugar is far 

 less an object than when they are scarce 

 and dear. Thus, a basket of peaches 

 weighs about 50 lbs., v;hich will be reduc- 

 ed to 20 lbs. when ready for the sugar, 

 which is used pound for pound. In some 

 years a basket of peaches can be had for 

 50c. ; in others $5 are given. If sugar is 

 5c, and peaches are 50c., the 20 lbs. of 

 preserves will cost 50c. for the former and 

 $1 for the latter. At the higher prices 

 for the peaches the cost will be $5 for the 

 fruit and $1 for the sugar, but when the 

 fruit is dear the sugar is obviously likely 

 to be cheap, and the reverse. It follows 

 that the condition of the fruit crop has an 

 important relation to the consum])tion of 

 sugar, whatever may be its price. The 

 »wee of coffee or tea, in greater or less 

 quantities, has also a great influence, and 

 not a less important one is the use of that 

 article in drinks of wine or spirits, all of 

 which are affected by other causes than 

 the price of sugar. It follows that the ex- 

 tended use of any and all of these arti- 

 cles throughout Europe and America, 



makes rapid demands upon the supply of 

 sugar. In Germany, in particular, where 

 until very recently the use of sugar was 

 hardly known among the masses of the 

 people, the custom w^as, instead of putting 

 sugar in the diinks, to hold a piece of 

 hard candy in the mouth while drinking. 

 With the improved condition of the peo- 

 ple, this habit changes to the American 

 custom. The use of sour salads and 

 sauces in Germany in some degree sup- 

 plied the want of sweets, and the custom 

 is changing. The whole consumption is, 

 therefore, rapidly outrunning the supply 

 of cane sugar, of which the production is 

 everywhere closely restricted by the want 

 of labour. In all sugar-raising countries 

 the cry goes up for labour. The British 

 West Indies have been confessedly ruined 

 for the want of it. The demand for it in 

 Cuba has fed the slave trade in spite of 

 all efforts to restrain it. A rise in the 

 value of a hhd. of sugar is always an ex- 

 tra premium for a hand. The Brazils 

 have almost abandoned sugar raising for 

 want of hands. The Mauritius and Re- 

 union lost large quantities of cane last 

 year, because there were no hands to har- 

 vest. In Louisiana the effect of the same 

 cause is self-evident. The use of beet- 

 root sugar is not amenable to the same 

 difficulties. It is as good a paying crop 

 as the farmer can have, and is not restrict- 

 ed for want of labour. Sorghum will not 

 produce sugar profitably, but it will distill 

 to greater profit than beet-root, leaving 

 that article free for sugar making. Chem- 

 istry is, however, busy with a new effort 

 at transmutation, with much promise of 

 success. The tamous chemist, M. Bra- 

 connet, of Nancy, has succeeded by the 

 help of sulphuric acid in transmuting cer- 

 tain woods, straw, hemp, and flax, into 

 sugar, pound for pound, but not of a qual- 

 ity that will granulate. There is every 

 hope from what has been done that science 

 may yet enable a housekeeper to fill his 

 sugar bowl from his old straw beds, and 

 convert the baskets in which fruit has 

 been kept into sugar to preserve them ! 



U. S. Economist. 



A large number of American oaks 

 have been planted on the Quai de Tuile- 

 ries, Paris, and are flourishing. 



