186 



me that lie bad obtained four crops from oue piece of land in 

 three years, and that the soil in question had been considered by 

 him as nearly worn out, before he planted the Cayenne cane upon 

 it. — (" Koster's Travels in Brazil," vol. 2.) 



Mr. E. Morewood, of Compensation, Natal, who has paid much 

 attention to sugar culture in that colony, has favored me with 

 the following details, which will be useful for the guidance of 

 others, as being the results of his own experience : — 



lbs. 



Produce of one acre of sugar cane .... 72,240 



Juice expressed, (or 64 per cent.) .... 46,308 



Dry sugar . . . . . . 7,356 



Green syrup or molasses . . , . .2,829 



This syrup carrying with it a good deal of sugar out of the coolers, 



contains fully 75 per cent, of crystalizable sugar, or . . 2,121 



Thus the total amount of sugar per acre is . . . 9,477 



The average density of the cane juice was 12 degrees Beaume, or 21 per cent. 

 All the improved cane mills are now constructed to give at least 75 per cent, of 

 juice. "With such a mill, an acre would , yield 11,075 lbs, of sugar. With 

 proper cultivation I have no doubt the produce could be largely increased ; for, 

 as the numerous visitors who have seen this place can testify, my cane fields 

 were not attended to. 



T® enable me to show the cost of producing a crop of canes, you must 

 allow me to go into the expense of cultivating the land first. 



To keep one ploughman going, a person requires — - 



20 Oxen at £3 . . . . £60 0 0 



1 Plough . . . . 7 10 0 



1 set Harrows . . . . 7 10 0 



Yokes, Trektows, Eeins, &c. . . 5 0-0 



Then the expenses per month will be : — 

 Ploughman's wages 



Board .... 

 1 Driver, 10s., Leaders, 5s. . 

 Food for two natives 



"Wear and tear of oxen and gear, at 25 per cent, 

 per annum 



£80 



0 



0 



£2 



10 



0 



1 



10 



0 



0 



15 



0 



0 



10 



0 



1 



10 



4 



£6 



18 



4 



These two spans of oxen will comfortably plough and harrow twenty acres 

 per month, and the cost will thus he about 7s. per acre. 



'Now, let us suppose that a person wishes to put in twenty acres of canes, 

 the expense would be about as follows : — 



4 Ploughings and harrowings, 80 acres at 7s. . 



Drawing canefurrows, 4 acres per day, 5 days at 6s. 



2,000 Cane tops per acre, at 50s. 



4 Horsehoeings, at 2s. 6d. . 



4 Handweedings in the rows, at 2s. 6d. 



Cutting and carrying out canes, at 30s. 



Carriage to Mill, thirty tons per acre, at 2s, 



£28 

 1 



100 

 10 

 10 

 30 

 60 



£239 10 0 



or £12 per acre. To this must be added the rent of land, say 10s. per acre, 

 with right of grazing cattle, for two years, when the first crop will come in, 

 would bring the expense to ' £13 per acre. The cane yielding say only three 

 tons of sugar per acre, of which the planter Avould, most likely, have _ to give 

 the manufacturer one-third, he will receive forty tons of sugar, costing him 



