SUGAR TRADE.-The sugar trade of the world has in the last ten or fifteen years undergone a great change, on account of the changed commercial policies of our own and other governments, the improved prosperity of the people of England and Europe as well as of the United States, leading to larger consumption on the one hand, while the development of the culture of the cane in Louisiana, and of beet sugar in Europe, has tended to enhance the general supply, which again has been checked by the course of the British and French governments in respect of their sugar colonies. The great reduction of the sugar duties of Great Britain has had the effect of increasing the consumption of raw sugar in the British islands 50 per cent. The duty on foreign brown sugar in England, which was 668. per cwt. prior to July, 1846, has been but 14s. since July, 1851, and in 1854 the duties on raw and refined will be equalized. While the British demand for sugar was thus enhanced, the colonies produced less, and the extra demand from England fell on the markets of the world. In the same period, although the aggregate consumption of sugar on the continent increased, the demand for cane sugar was checked by the extended production of beet-root sugar, which has reached 150,000 tons per annum. Of this, in the German Customs Union, the increase has been from 15,000 to 62,000 tons, forming now one-half of the whole consumption of sugar in the Zollverein. In France a great increase in the production of beet sugar took place under the protective policy of the government, which discriminated in its favor against the cane sugar of the colonies, until the growth became large, and then it reversed its policy, discriminating in favor of cane-sugar. Nevertheless, the course of the provisional government, in 1848, towards its colonies diminished the receipt of colonial cane-sugar in France from 120,000 to 60,000 tons. The product of Martinique and Guadaloupe has been as follows: It would seem to be the case, however, that notwithstanding the diminished supply of cane-sugar from the British and French West Indies, that the growth of beet-sugar in Europe has so far supplanted its use as to more than meet the aggregate increased demand for consumption in both England and Europe, and to throw larger supplies of Cuban sugar upon the United States' markets, to compete with the swelling production from the Louisiana cane. The import of brown sugar into the United States down to June 30, 1847, according to official returns, was as follows: Such has been the annually increased sup-cents of the refined sugar was giving back a ply of raw sugar. Since 1842, the trade has undergone a change in refining. Thus the tariff of 1833 charged a duty of 2 cents upon raw sugars, but in order to encourage refining, it allowed a drawback of five cents per pound on refined sugar exported. It is ascertained that 100 pounds, one-third white Havana and two-thirds brown, will yield 51 pounds refined. Hence refunding five little more than the duty on the raw sugar. That is to say, 100 pounds raw sugar $2 60 duty, and produced 513 pounds refined, on which the drawback was $2 683; and further, as under the terms of the compromise act, the duty on the raw sugar underwent biennial reductions, while the drawback became a direct bounty, and the business was increased as follows: The great increase in the import of refined making a difference of near 27,000,000 lbs. sugar in 1851 was from Belgium and Hol- in the quantity of brown sugar re-exported land, stimulated by the low prices of raw in the shape of refined sugar. This was a sugars there. Under the operation of the very important item, and its effect upon the falling duty upon raw sugar and the un-market was by no means properly estimated. changed rate of drawback, the export of re- We may now take a table of the whole exfined sugars rose from 2,000,000 lbs. in 1837, port of sugar from the United States, that is, to nearly 14,000,000 lbs in 1841. With the raw sugar of foreign and domestic origin, close of that fiscal year, the drawback was and of refined sugar equal to raw, at the reduced from five cents to three cents, and rate of two pounds raw for one of refined, as after January, 1842, to two cents. The ef- follows: fect was the instant cessation of the trade, TOTAL EXPORT OF RAW SUGAR, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC, AND OF REFINED EQUAL TO RAW, This table gives the whole annual export demand for raw sugar. If now we take the above table of supply, the difference will give the annual consumption of cane sugar in the Union : 265,231,273. 23,969,100. .235,890,585....41,125,648. 271,197,662. 39,094,265. 261,879,236....18,604,814.. 211,632,356. 3,576,607 284,589,007. 6,324,954. .313,119,928. ..15,391,058 .314,775,497 ...27,715,733. 385,879,361. 9,223,547. 494,208,125....19,570,352. .478,919,226....21,462,893. 465,572,231 .20,097,870. .579,627,298.. .11,220,723.. U. S. Consum. viewing these conflicting accounts dispassionately, we must allow that, as the plant was found growing in its utmost luxuriance throughout the islands of the Pacific Ocean by our earliest navigators, it requires no great stretch of imagination to believe that it was also growing on the great continents of 201,624,719 America long before it was brought there by 241,262,173 the Portuguese and Spaniards. It would not 194,764,937 be difficult to adduce many arguments in .243,274,422 support of this belief: but I am well aware .209,056,749 that such a discussion here would be deemed .278,264,053 tedious and irrelevant. 232,103,397 .298,728,920 453,456,333 But I 287,059,764 The Chinese assert that sugar has been In these figures we have taken no account of maple sugar, because, although that article is a valuable product in the new states, it does not conflict with the cane sugars where the latter are introduced through the operation of the public works, the returns of which all show an increasing market for the cane sugar, as the districts through which they run become more settled. The prominent fact in the above table is, that while Louisiana and Cuba afforded equal supplies for the consumption of the Union, the former has far outrun Cuba, notwithstanding that the latter has become so much more dependent upon the United States for market. a SUGAR-CULTURE AND MANUFAC- EAST AND WEST INDIES, THE UNITED STATES, VANTAGES ATTENDANT UPON EACH BEING THE Varieties known and their qualities.-From what I have already seen, I do not hesitate different varieties of cane that are known, to say, that an endeavor to describe all the would be a wearisome, if not a hopeless, task, from which, it is clear to my mind, that no adequate benefit can be derived. Therefore, I will confine myself to a mention of those which have been more prominently think, almost every variety known to the brought before me; and amongst them, I generality of my readers will be found no ticed. canes. tius; great English work of Wray has been sold at the Bourbon, the Otaheite, aud Batavian In Jamaica, the varieties common area price that puts it out of the reach of our planters, though a most invaluable guide it would prove to them. Scarcely a dozen copies have been taken in Louisiana. We yielded to the frequent solicitations of many friends, and re-published it in several numbers or the Review, in short parts and very small type. It will be interesting in Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Texas, as well as in Louisiana.-ED. In Bengal, the yellow and purple ribboncanes of Otaheite; the Bourbon, or Maurilarge purple cane of Java; the red cane of the Singapore (Tibboo Leeut*); the Assam; the common, small, hard cane of China; and some ten different kinds of native cane, varying in thickness from one inch and a half to half an inch in diameter; the very smallest resembling little riding switches. In the Straits Settlements of Penang and Province Wellesley, Malacca, and Singapore, the varieties are the Salangore cane; or, as the Malays term it, Tibboo Cappor; the Tibboo Leeut; the Tibboo Teeloor, or egg cane; the Tibboo Etam, or black cane; the Tibboo * Tibboo, or Tubboo, is the Malay name for sugar cane. Meerah, or red cane; the Tibboo Batavee, or Batavia cane; the Tibboo China, or small China cane; and many others not requiring description. To give a distinct account of the foregoing canes, I will take them as I have named them, each in succession. The Bourbon cane.-There does not appear to me to exist any very satisfactory account of the origin of this variety; the opinion generally received is, that it was introduced into the West Indies from the island of Bourbon, but came originally from the coast of Malabar, where it was found growing spontaneously. When first discovered, it is stated to have been a small-sized, but soft and juicy cane, which was so much affected by the change of climate, soil, and the cultivation it received in Bourbon, that it increased wonderfully in size and richness of juice; so that it was cultivated in preference to the old species, which at length it entirely superseded throughout the island. From my own experience in Jamaica, I can pronounce it a most valuable cane; but I entertain a strong suspicion that it is in reality no other than the Tibboo Leeut of Singapore, sometimes called the Otaheite cane,) somewhat altered by change of soil and climate. I have bestowed considerable attention upon it, and have carefully marked the Tibboo Leeut, growing on entirely different soils, in different situations, and under widely different circumstances, and I can come to no other conclusion than that they are identical. The Otaheite canes are two-the yellow and straw-colored, and the purple-striped or ribbon cane. The former and the Bourbon are so much alike in all respects, and have become so intermixed on West India estates, that it is a matter of great difficulty to distinguish between them; indeed, I have long been of opinion that they are the same variety of cane. If we remember that the Bourbon was taken to that island, then to Martinique, and afterwards spread in course of time throughout the West India islands, that the Otaheite was taken direct from that island to the West Indies, and direct to Calcutta and the Straits Settlements; that the Tibboo Leeut came from Manilla (evidently from Otaheite originally) to the Straits of Malacca; if we consider these facts, we shall find no cause for astonishment at the very slight difference that exists between them; on the contrary, we must be much struck at the extreme similitude, which even such extraordinary changes have failed to destroy. But let the three be collected, and then planted out, under precisely similar circumstances, and I am quite satisfied no man can distinguish the one from the other: at all events, I have no hesitation in owning that I never could-the which has served to convince me that they all came originally from Otaheite. As I consider them to be the same variety, and as one description serves for the whole, I will therefore treat of them accordingly. With the advantages of a good soil and favorable season, plants of the first year's growth often attain the height of twelve or fourteen feet, measuring six inches in circumference, and with joints eight or nine inches apart. I do not mean to imply that the average size of a field, or of fields, is so large, but that canes may be picked out from amongst them fully as large as that. Such plant canes commonly yield (in Jamaica, Bengal, and the Straits) two and a half tons, and not unfrequently three tons, of marketable sugar per acre. Such an amount of produce per acre is a very common and well-known occurrence; but the general calculation among planters is, however, two tons of dry sugar from each acre of "plant canes:" that is, canes of the first year's growth. I can see no difference in the yield of this cane in either Indies; for, in good land, the return is generally as above stated. Planted at proper seasons, as will be treated of hereafter, they often attain maturity in ten months, and very rarely exceed twelve. Under certain circumstances, it may be expedient to allow them even fourteen months, as in excessively rich land, or a wet season; but, of course, these circumstances come more particularly under another head, which will be fully discussed in its proper place. These canes require a generous soil, careful fencing, and attentive management. Many soils which suit other varieties, are unfit for the proper development of these; whilst it is generally remarked, that they are more sensible of the injuries committed by the trespassing of cattle, sheep, &c., during their early growth than other descriptions. The foliage of the Otaheite is of a pale green, leaves broad and drooping much; and the plant, on arriving at maturity, frequently arrows, or flowers; which renders it, when in extensive fields, exceedingly graceful and ornamental in appearance. "The purple-striped Otaheite" cane is very much like the ribbon cane of Batavia in appearance: but the former has broad purple stripes, on a greenish yellow ground, whereas the latter is of a blood-red, on a transparent straw-colored ground. It is often called "the Otaheite ribbon cane," in contradistinction to "the ribbon cane of Batavia." Its foliage is of a much darker color than that of the yellow variety, whilst its leaves droop much less. It is a hardy and estimable description of cane, of large size, soft, juicy, and sweet; and yields sugar in equal quantities, though of a rather dark quality. The Batavian canes, with which I am ac |