AGRICULTURE. 



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By this calculation it appears that the export of 

 coffee from Cuba is greater than that from Java, 

 which was estimated by Mr. Crawford, in 1820, at 

 190,000 piculs, or llf kilogrammes ; and than that 

 from Jamaica, which, in 1823, did not exceed, 

 according to the custom-house returns, 169,734 cwt., 

 or 8,662.478 kilogrammes. 



While the price of sugar in Havana is always 

 quoted by the arrobe, of 25 pounds, that of coffee is 

 quoted by the quintal of 100 pounds. The latter 

 has varied from $3 to $30, and in 1808, it fell even 

 below, the former price. During the years 1815-19 

 it sold from $13 to $17 the quintal, and now rules 

 at $12. It is probable that the cultivation of coffee 

 in Cuba does not employ over 28,000 slaves, the 

 annual average product of which is 305,000 quintals, 

 worth, at present prices, $3,660,000. At the same 

 time, 66,000 negroes produce 440,000 boxes of sugar, 

 which, at the price of $24 a box, are worth 

 $10,560,000. By this estimate we see that each 

 slave produces, annually, in value, $130 in coffee, 

 and $160 in sugar. It is almost needless to observe, 

 that these sums vary with the alterations in price of 

 the two articles named, the variations of which are 

 sometimes in opposite directions, and that in these 

 calculations, which may give some idea of intertro- 

 pical agriculture, I embrace the domestic consump- 



