THE  SUGAR-CANE  IN  LOUISIANA. 
131 
succeeded  no  better.  In  some  reports,  at  the  time,  the  sugar 
of  the  Chevalier  de  Mazan  is  represented  as  comparable  to  Saint 
Domingo  raw  sugar  ;  this  was  evidently  flattery,  and  encouraging 
falsehood.  The  raw  sugar  of  Louisiana  has  never  equalled,  and 
will  never  equal  in  value  that  of  the  Antilles  and  East  Indies, 
although  it  sometimes  surpasses  them  in  color ;  but  this  is  in 
consequence  of  the  age  of  the  cane,  and  the  constitution  of  the 
juice  of  the  cane. 
1765.  Several  other  planters,  among  whom,  was  Detrehan, 
formerly  treasurer  to  the  king  of  France  in  this  colony,  formed 
establishments  similar  to  that  of  Dubreuil,  below  the  city  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Mississippi.  The  small  quantities  of  bad  sugar 
which  they  produced,  were  consumed  in  the  country.  In  this 
same  year,  1765,  a  vessel  from  New  Orleans,  bound  for  a  port 
in  France,  had  taken  a  certain  number  of  barrels  of  this  sugar 
to  complete  the  cargo  ;  but  it  was  of  so  bad  a  quality,  and  so 
badly  manufactured,  that  the  whole  of  it  ran  out  of  the  barrels 
on  the  voyage.  (In  our  own  time  a  good  deal  of  Louisiana 
sugar,  if  badly  made,  would  do  the  same.) 
At  this  time  the  judicious  use  of  lime  was  unknown,  as  well  as 
the  proper  amount  of  boiling,  two  conditions  indispensable  for 
the  production  of  good  sugar.    In  one  word  they  had  all  failed. 
In  1769  the  manufacture  of  sugar  was  entirely  given  up  in 
Louisiana.  All  the  planters  who  had  tried  it  were  discouraged 
by  their  want  of  success.  Dubreuil,  the  Chevalier  de  Mazan, 
Detrehan,  and  others,  had  only  obtained  small  quantities  of  bad 
sugar.  The  products  of  the  harvest  did  not  cover  the  expenses 
of  cultivation,  and  that  of  the  manufacture. 
At  this  time  the  trade  of  New  Orleans  consisted  of  timber, 
indigo,  fur,  tobacco,  cotton,  pitch,  rice  and  maize.  Dubreuil 
was  the  richest  planter  in  the  colony.  He  had  above  500 
slaves.  He  had  brick-fields,  indigo  works,  silk-worm  grounds. 
He  gathered  annually  from  eight  to  ten  thousand  pounds  weight 
of  vegetable  wax,  wax  from  the  Myrica  cerifera,  and  had  large 
plantations  of  these  trees. 
Still  some  individuals,  gardeners  perhaps,  continued  to  grow 
sugar-cane  in  the  neighborhood,  and  sold  it  in  the  market  of 
New  Orleans  for  children  to  suck.  Others  expressed  the  juice 
by  means  of  wooden  cylinders,  converted  it  into  syrup,  and  sold 
it  in  the  town  in  bottles. 
