SUGAB. 



147 



heads. Each hogshead averaging 1,000 lbs. net, and yielding 

 from 45 to 50 gallons of molasses. 



The number of sugar estates in operation in 1830, was 600, 

 The manual power employed on these plantations, was 36,091 

 slaves, 282 steam-engines, and 406 horse power. The capital 

 invested being estimated at 50 million dollars. In 1844 the 

 estates had increased to 762, employing 50,670 slaves, 468 steam- 

 engines, 354 horse power. 



The sugar-cane is now cultivated on both branches of the 

 Mississippi from 57 miles below New Orleans to nearly 190 miles 

 above. The whole number of sugar houses in the State is 1,536, 

 of which 865 employ steam, and the rest horse power. 



The crop of 1849-50 was 247,923 hhds. of 1,000 lbs., which, at- 

 an average of 3J cents., amounted to nearly 9|- million dollars. 

 The quantity of molasses produced was more than 12 million 

 gallons, worth, at 20 cents the gallon, about 2,400,000 dollars, 

 giving a total value of close upon 12 million dollars, or an average 

 to each of the 1,455 working sugar houses of 8,148 dollars. 



The overflow of the Mississippi and Eed Elvers in 1850, 

 shortened the crop near 20,000 hhds., and was felt in subsequent 

 years. Since 1846, not less than 355 sugar mills and engines have 

 been erected in this State. The sugar crop of 1851-52 was 236,547 

 hhds., produced by 1,474 sugar houses, 914 of which were worked 

 by steam, and the rest by horse-power. Texas raises about 8,000 

 to 10,000 hhds. of sugar, and Florida and Greorgia smaller quan- 

 tities. 



In the year ending December, 1851, there were taken for con- 

 sumption in the United States about 132,832 tons of cane sugar, 

 of which 120,599 were foreign imported. The quantity consumed 

 in 1850 was 104,071 tons, of which 65,089 was foreign. 



Production in Cuba. — The average yearly production of sugar in 

 Cuba has been, in the five years from 1846 to 1850, 18,690,560 

 arrobas, equal to 467,261,500 lbs., or 292,031 hhds. of 1,600 lbs. 

 weight. The crop of 1851 was estimated at twenty-one and a-half 

 million arrobas, equal to about 335,937 West India hhds. Thus, 

 the increase from 1836 to 1841, has been as 29 per cent. ; from 

 1841 to 1846, as 25 per cent. ; and from 1846 to 1851, as 45 per 

 cent. A portion of sugar is also smuggled out, to evade the export 

 duty, and by some this is set down as high as a fourth of the 

 foregoing amounts. 



In the three years ending 1841, the exports of the whole island 

 were 2,227,624 boxes; in the three years ending 1844, 2,716,319 

 boxes ; in the three years ending with 1847, 2,805,530 boxes. 



Between 1839 and 1847, the exports had risen from 500,000 to 

 1,000,000 boxes. The following table exhibits the quantity shipped 

 from the leading port of Havana, to different countries : — 



Countries. Sugar boxes of about 400 lbs. each, 



1850. 1851. 

 Spain . . . 81,267 . . 101,762 



United States . . 146,672 . . 199,204 



L 2 



