SUGAR CULTURE. 



271 



water-power was introduced in Guines, it having 

 been used even by the first settlers in St. Domingo ; 

 and, finally, experiments with steam-power were 

 made at Ceibabo, by Count Jaruco y Mopox. There 

 are now twenty-five of these steam-engines on differ- 

 ent estates in Cuba. 1 The cultivation of the Otahei- 

 tan cane is also becoming very general. Clarifiers, 

 and better arranged reverberating furnaces, have 

 been introduced. "We must also confess, in honor of 

 the wealthy planters, that on a great number of 

 plantations, the greatest care is taken of the sick 

 slaves, of the children, and to increase the number 

 of women. 



In 1775 the island contained 473 sugar planta- 

 tions, and in 1817 there were more than 780. None 

 of the former produced even a fourth part of the 

 sugar that is now produced by a second-class planta- 

 tion ; it is not, therefore, the number of plantations 

 alone that will give us a true idea of the progress of 

 this branch of agricultural industry. The district of 

 Havana contained, in 1763, 70 sugar plantations; in 

 1796, 305 ; in 1806, 480 ; and in 1817, 625. 2 



1 The census of 1846 states the number of sugar plantations with 

 steam-power at 286, since when the number has very largely 

 increased. 



2 The number in 1846 was 735. In 1850, the total number of 

 sugar plantations in Cuba exceeded 1750. 



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