The consumption of sugar then in the whole world may be roughly estimated at two and a half millions tons, of which the United Kingdom may now be put down for 350,000; the rest of Europe 420,000, and the United States 300,000

tons.

The United States produce about 140,000 tons of cane and maple sugar, which are exclusively used for home consumption, the remainder of their requirements being made up by foreign importation. The American consumption, which in 1851 amounted to 133,000 tons of sugar cane reached last year a total of 321,000 tons, almost as much as England consumed-358,000-and more than the consumption of 100,000,000 of persons on the continent.

The whole product of tropical sugar is about one million and a half tons, while the consumption is probably two million tons; but the manufacture of sugar from beet root, maple, and other sources, supplies the deficiency.

The total quantities of sugar, and molasses as sugar, consumed in the United Kingdom in the last six years, were, according to a Parliamentary paper, No. 292, of the last session, as follows:

The returns further specify that the average annual consumption of British colonial sugar, in the five years ending 1851, was 5,124,922 cwt.; and in the five years ending 1846, was 4,579,054 cwt.; the average consumption of British colonial sugar, has, therefore, exceeded in the five years since the duties were reduced, in 1846, the average consumption of the five previous years by 545,868 cwt. per annum; or in the aggregate in the five years, the excess has been 3,239,338 cwt. The quantity consumed in the year ending December, 1852, was 4,033,879 cwt.*

THE CULTIVATION OF TOBACCO.

We are indebted for this, and the next article, to the able report on the Agriculture and Geology of Mississippi, by B. L. C. Wailes, State Geologist:

When the country came under the dominion of Spain, a market was opened in New Orleans; a trade in tobacco was established, and a fixed and remunerating price was paid for it, delivered at the king's warehouses. Tobacco thus became the first marketable staple production of Mississippi.f

The tobacco plant, indigenous to the country, soon came into general

cultivation.

The larger planters packed it in the usual way in hogsheads. Much of it, however, was put up in carrets, as they were called, resembling in size and form two small sugar-loves united at the larger ends

The stemmed tobacco was laid smoothly together in that form, coated with wrappers of the extended leaf, enveloped in a cloth, and then firmly compressed by a cord wrapped around the parcel, and which was suffered to remain until the carret acquired the necessary dryness and solidity, when, together with the surrounding cloth, it was removed, and strips of linn-bark were bound around it at proper distances, in such a manner as to secure it from unwrapping and losing its proportions.

There is frequently a discrepancy in the figures in the Parliamentary papers, which will account for a want of agreement in some of these returns.

In 1788, Mr. Wm. Dunbar writes: "The soil of Natchez is particularly favorable for tobacco and there are overseers there who will almost engage to produce you between two and three hogsheads to the hand, besides provisions."

The rope used for this purpose was manufactured by the planter, from the inner bark of the linn, or bass-wood, then one of the most common trees of the forest. One end of the rope was made fast to a post, in front of which the operator, seated with the roll of tobacco on his knee, and his foot against the post, connected the other end with the carret, turning it with his hands while the necessary tension was maintained upon the rope, wrapped it securely and evenly from end to end.

In those days, when the roads were indifferent, and wagons and carts were few, the tobacco hogsheads were frequently geared to a horse by means of a pair of rude temporary shafts, connected with the heading, and in this manner rolled to the shipping point, or to market at Natchez; much being transported in this way from the settlements on Cole's creek, and from greater distances.

To convey the tobacco to market in New Orleans, it was usual for several planters to unite and build a flatboat, with which one of the number would accompany the joint adventure, deliver the tobacco at the public warehouse, and, if it passed inspection, receive the proceeds, and return home by land, generally on foot; the payment being made in a written acknowledgment, or bon, as it was called, which entitled the holder to receive the amount from the governor or commandant at Natchez, thus obviating the labor and risk of packing the specie several hundred miles.

The monopoly of the tobacco trade was retained by the King of Spain, and the price paid for all that passed inspection at his warehouses was uniform.

The price was regarded as liberal, and yielded a fair return for its production, whilst the stability and certainty of a market encouraged an increased cultivation; the country began to prosper, and the planters were enabled to make purchases of slaves, the current price of which averaged about three hundred and fifty dollars.

There was no classification in the sale of the tobacco. If the article passed inspection, it was taken, and the quality was generally such that for that cause it could not be rejected. Nevertheless, it sometimes happened that an unobjec tionable article was left upon the planter's hands, if, from ignorance of established usage, he had omitted the customary douceur to the inspector.

This, however, soon came to be better understood. The capacious pockets of the inspector were not worn without a purpose, and the expected purse was habitually dropped into it without at all shocking the moral sense of the wearer.

It was not necessary, or perhaps altogether proper, to couple the offering with expressed conditions; that, if not indelicate, would have been quite superfluous, it being quite safe and effectual to make the silent contribution. Nor was any particular secrecy or concealment at all necessary. This was not considered bribery; the king always paid his servants indifferently, and these were but the perquisites of office which indemnified the needy official for his poorly requited ser

vices.

Whether these usages, reacting upon the producers, had any effect upon the quality or condition of the tobacco in the end, is not, perhaps, altogether clear; but it is certain that, from some cause, either from fraud in packing, the falling off in quality, or from the cempetition of the Kentucky tobacco introduced into New Orleans, under General Wilkinson's contracts with the Spanish authorities, or by their connivance, the price was so reduced, that the further cultivation of it in Mississippi, for exportation, was, in a few years, wholly abandoned, greatly to the injury and embarrassment of the planters, who had, for the purchase of slaves, contracted debts which they now found it difficult to discharge.

THE CULTIVATION AND PREPARATION OF INDIGO.

The tobacco crop being no longer profitable, indigo, which had been cultivated for some time in Louisiana, was now resorted to. This most offensive and unwholesome pursuit was nevertheless the most profitable one in which the planter could engage. Seed was obtained at the cost of about fifty dollars per barrel, and some of the small farmers engaged in cultivating the indigo exclusively for

* Indigo had not been cultivated in the Natchez district as late as 1788, and until after the failure of the tobacco business it was produced only for the seed, which was supplied to the Point Coupee and other settlements on the Mississippi.

the seed to supply those whose larger means enabled them to erect the necessary fixtures, and to prosecute the cultivation and manufacture on a profitable scale. Indigofera tinctoria, from which the indigo pigment of commerce is prepared, said to have been introduced from India, flourishes luxuriantly in the southern States, where a variety termed the Atramentum anil is said to grow spontaneously. It was cultivated in drills, and required careful handling when young and tender, the subsequent cultivation being similar to that of the cotton plant. When mature, in good land, it attained the height of about three feet. It was then, previous to going to seed, cut with a reap-hook from day to day, tied in bundles in quantities suited to the capacity of the steeping-vats, to which it was immediately transferred. These vats or uncovered reservoirs were constructed in pairs above ground, of thick plank dovetailed together in such a manner as to be perfectly water-tight; the larger one, or steeping-vat, so elevated as to permit the draining off of the liquid into the smaller, or beater, in which it is churned or agitated.

This vat was usually about four feet deep, eight feet wide, and about fifteen feet in length. Two or three pairs of these vats were sufficient for the largest indigo establishments in the country. One pair ordinarily sufficed.

The vats were placed near a pond of clear soft water, (spring or hard water would not answer,) and the shallower the ponds, and the greater the surface of water exposed to the sun, the better.

Into the steeping-vat the indigo weed, as cut, was thrown, and the water pumped on to it. The steeping generally required a day; but this depended in a great degree upon the temperature of the weather during the process and that of the water used.

When the steeping was carried to the proper point, and the fermentation suffered to continue until all the coloring matter or grain was extracted, which was ascertained by examining the liquid in a silver cup, the turbid liquid was drawn off into the beater,

If drawn off prematurely, a loss in the coloring matter was sustained, and if deferred too long, putrefactive fermentation ensued, which injured the quality of the dye.

Attached to a shaft, revolving across the smaller vat, was a set of arms or paddles, by which the liquid was churned or agitated. In small establishments, the shaft or beater was turned by hand, but generally horse-power was connected with it.

The beating or churning process was continued for several hours, during which the precipitation was aided by adding a small quantity of lime. Other substances were often substituted, however, some using a mucilage obtained from the ocra plant, the sassafras, or from a plant known as the moave.

The grain or coloring matter being separated, as ascertained by test with the silver cup, flakes of the pigment being seen spreading or settling on the bottom, it was suffered to subside, and the supernatant liquid was drawn off through a series of holes descending towards the bottom. The indigo deposit was then removed by wooden shovels from the vat into draining-boxes lined with canvas, and placed upon beds of sand, afterwards transferred to moulds lined in like manner, dried in the shade, and cut into cubes.

After undergoing a further curing by being laid on smooth plank shelves, where it underwent a sweat, it was packed in boxes for exportation.

A variety of delicate light blue color was called "floton; " but that termed the "pigeon neck," from its prismatic colors, was most esteemed.

The price obtained for the best quality is variously represented, some affirming that it was from one and a half to two dollars per pound.

A second cutting of the suckers or sprouts was obtained, but the indigo produced from it was of inferior quality.

About one hundred and fifty pounds of indigo are said to have been produced to the hand.

The whole process was of the most disgusting and disagreeable character. Myriads of flies were generated by it, which overspread the whole country. The plant itself, when growing, was infested by swarms of grasshoppers, by which it was sometimes totally destroyed, and the fetor arising from the putrid weed thrown from the vats was intolerable. The drainings from these refuse accumulations into the adjacent streams killed the fish. Those in Second creek, previously abounding in trout and perch, it is said were destroyed in this way.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the cultivation of indigo was abandoned in a few years, and gave way to that of cotton, so remarkable for its freedom from the disagreeable concomitants of tobacco and indigo culture, and comparatively so light, neat, and agreeable in its handling.

HEMP---ONE OF THE GREAT STAPLES OF THE COUNTRY.

The

The article of hemp has become one of the important staples of the west. late census report makes the annual aggregate production in the United States upwards of 60,000 tons. This article is one indispensable necessary to our navy and commercial marine. In former years we looked to Russia for the supply; but of late we have become independent of the foreign production, and we now rely mainly upon the American production, as is shown by the statistics of the late census, and more fully by the able and elaborate speech of the Hon. John R. Thomson, of New Jersey, made during the last Congress, before the Senate of the United States, in the case of David Myerle.

It abundantly appears from the evidence produced by Mr. Thomson, in support Mr. Myerle's claim upon the government, for damages sustained by him through a violation of contract in the rejection of his hemp, that in 1839 the Hon. James K. Paulding, then Secretary of the Navy, induced Mr. Myerle, under promise of sustaining him from loss, to embark upon experiments for testing the practicability of supplying the navy with American water-rotted hemp. Some experiments for the purpose had been made under the sanction of the government many years previous; but these Lad left behind them a general opinion that the operation of water-rotting of hemp was impracticable in our climate, and the object was abandoned.

In an interview had by Mr. Myerle with the Secretary, the subject was mentioned by the latter, when Mr. M. expressed the utmost confidence in the entire practicability and safety of the process, and of the feasibility of successfully overcoming, by a course of proper experiments, the existing deep-rooted prejudices against it. The Secretary concurring in his views and justly considering it an object of the highest consideration, as well as eminently entitled to the patronage and encouragement of the government, he urged him to abandon the business in which he was then engaged, as far as might be necessary, and to enter upon, and carry out, in the heart of the hemp growing region of the west, the experiments necessary to establish both the practicability and safety to health of the process. To induce him to this course, he tendered him the patronage of the government, and made the most liberal promises of encouragement and indemnity against loss; as well as, if successful, the most generous government reward.

The navy commissioners, at the time, fully concurred in the views of the Secretary; also the chairman and several members of the naval committee of the House of Representatives cordially coincided in the same. Under these assurances and promises, and urged by his zeal for the successful accomplishment of the object and wishes of the government, as also by motives of patriotism, he agreed to abandon the lucrative business in which he was at the time engaged, and enter at once upon the experiments proposed. The expenses attendant upon the experiments were all borne by Myerle, and must have been very heavy ; almost insuperable difficulties and obstacles, growing out of the deep-rooted prejudices of the people, opposed his initiatory efforts in the matter. His workmen (of whom at one period he had about 200) were difficult to procure, owing to the fear of the effects upon their health, and when obtained at high prices, they had to be instructed in every part of the process of water-rotting and preparing the hemp for market.

At the close of 1840, it seems his efforts had demonstrated the entire practicability of carrying on the process without serious detriment to health, and so complete was the change of public opinion on this point, founded in the actual experiments and the evidence of their own senses, that a great number of the most respectable planters entered into an agreement with him to furnish him with the water-rotted article, some engaging to furnish as much as 100 tons. These experiments, it appears, were commenced in Kentucky; this State, at that period, being the only one that cultivated this article to any considerable extent, (which, by the way, it may be stated, was of very inferior quality, and unfit for naval

purposes,) the annual production not exceeding 1,500 tons. The eminent 、ccess attending Mr. M.'s experiments was soon noised through the western St.tes, as a result of which, the annual production in 1846 had increased to 30,000 tons. The first difficulty in subduing the prejudices of the people having Leen overcome, he produced, at great expense, and forwarded to Boston upwards of 200 tons of the article for the navy of the United States, and was prepared to fulfil his contract for 500 tons, which he would have done had he not been disabled and ruined by its improper, if not corrupt, rejection by the inspector. In regard to this, the testimony of Mr. Paulding, Commodore Nicholson, and others, seems conclusive. A great prejudice, at the time, existed against American hemp, such as from time to time, in very limited quantities, had been sent to the Boston market, from the fact of its having been badly prepared, and of very inferior quality of dew-rotted. This created a prejudice against the arti le when furnished by Myerle. But after its rejection, and its sacrifice, at ruinous prices, the manufacturers who purchased it, having proved its quality, the rejudices previously existing was overcome, and the production of American water-rotted hemp was established, and can never be abandoned. This great branch of American interest was thus established; the nation reaped the rich fruits of Mr. Myerle's skill, perseverance, energy, seven years' toil, losses and sacrifices; but he was entirely ruined (through the rejection of his hemp with at o the neglect of his business) to establish it. In conferring this great benefit upon his country, he has saved to the government, in the difference between th price of Russian and American hemp, four times the amount of his claim, beses millions of dollars to the nation by the substitution of a domestic for a foreign article of indispensable necessity for the naval as well as the mercantile marine our Union.

An extensive eastern manufacturer says: "If there were no hemp raised in the United States, it would be impossible to obtain a supply equal to our necessity, if all Europe were open to us. The American hemp is of a quality that answers all the purposes for which the Russian is used; and in regard to the power of bearing a dead strain it is much superior."

It is also known that there is a large demand for American hemp for manufacturing purposes, say for canvas, duck, and coarse fabrics; many factories for the manufacture of these articles have been established in this country since the year 1840, and our shipping is entirely clothed with the American production. Moreover, previous to the above time, the importation of Russian hemp amounted annually to 6,000 tons, whereas, in the year 1844 the importation had fallen off to a few hundred tons, in consequence of the introduction of American hemp. It cannot be questioned but that this state of prosperity was produced through the instrumentality of Mr. Myerle's efforts in behalf of this great American interest. We have also before us the fact that our government is now making their purchases of American water-rotted hemp for the use of the navy, at the price of $280 per ton, while at this time Russian hemp is quoted at $400 per ton in our market, and the quantity very limited. The consumption of hemp for our mercantile marine annually amounts to 15,000 tons, and nineteentwentieths of the American hemp is used for one-twentieth of the Russian. The government requires annually from six to eight hundred tons for the navy. It also appears that Mr. Myerle not only established the mode of water-rotting, but also, that, through his instructions, the culture of hemp has been greatly improved in its quality; that large quantities of dew-rotted hemp command a market at remunerating prices to the producer in the eastern ports of our country; as well, also, large shipments are made to Europe.

What would be the condition of our country, as regards the supply of this article, (so essential to our navy and commercial marine, if we were depending on the foreign production,) in a state of war on our part with Europe, although Russia might stand towards us as a neutral power at such a time? It must be apparent to every mind that the Baltic would be closed against our commerce, and that if Russia attempted to furnish us with her production she would have to run the gauntlet; hemp being a contraband article, by the law of nations it would be subject to seizure and confiscation, and our supply would be entirely cut off. But look at the present state of things; we are beyond all fear of being thrown under this embarrassing position, as happened in the war of 1812, when there was no raw material to supply our navy and mercantile marine. From the facts set forth by the honorable senator from New Jersey, in his speech, we have come to the conclusion that Mr. Myerle has conferred a great benefit on his country, and