SUGAR CULTURE. 



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1,600 acres), one-half of which is planted in cane, 

 and the other is appointed for alimentary plants and 

 pastures, which latter are called potreros. The value 

 of the land naturally varies according to its quality, 

 and vicinity to the ports of Havana, Matanzas, or 

 Mariel. In a radius of twenty-five leagues around 

 Havana, the value of each caballeria may be estima- 

 ted at two or three thousand dollars. 1 



That a plantation may produce 2,000 boxes of 

 sugar, it must have three hundred negroes. 2 An 

 adult male slave, who is acclimated, is worth 450 or 

 500 dollars, and an unacclimated, newly imported 

 African, 370 to 400 dollars. A negro costs from 45 

 to 50 dollars a year in food, clothing, and medicine, 



1 The land measure known as a caballeria, is a square, having 18 

 cordels, each cordel being 24 varas, or 432 varas of a side ; conse- 

 quently, a caballeria has 186,624 square varas, equivalent to 32 1-10 

 English acres. — H. 



2 There are very few plantations in Cuba that make 2,500 boxes ; 

 only those of Rio Blanco, of the Marquis de Arcos, of Don Rafael 

 O'Farril, and Dona Felicia Jauregui, attain this quantity. Those 

 which produce 2,000 boxes, annually, are considered first class sugar 

 plantations. — H. 



There has been a great change in this respect, since Baron Hum- 

 boldt wrote, and a large number of the plantations in the Western 

 department yield from 4,000 to 5,000 boxes, annually. A first class 

 sugar plantation in Cuba now yields from 7,500 to 10,000 boxes, 

 annually. 



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