262 



humboldt's cuba. 



The profit of a plantation, established some time 

 since, consists in, 1st, the fact that, twenty years 

 since, the cost of making a plantation was much less 

 than now ; for, a cdballeria of good land cost then 

 only $1,200 or $1,600, instead of $2,000 or $2,500, 

 as now ; and an adult negro $300, instead of $450 to 

 $500 ; and, 2d, the variable returns — the prices of 

 sugar having been at times very low, and at others 

 very high. The prices of sugar have varied so 

 much, during a period of ten years, that the return 

 on the capital invested has varied from five to fifteen 

 per cent. 



[Note. — That the reader may compare the state 

 of the sugar industry, at the present time, with the 

 foregoing clear statement of its numerical elements, 

 we insert here the estimates presented in an able 

 and lucid work on the political and economical con- 

 dition of Cuba, printed during the present year, 

 1855, for private circulation. It is from the pen of 

 a gentleman distinguished alike for his literary 

 attainments, his ability as a sugar planter and econ- 

 omist, and his disinterested zeal for the welfare of 

 his native land. He says : 



" We select a plantation producing 4,000 boxes, 

 which is neither one of the colossal ones recently 

 made, nor one of those deemed small. 



