Comparative Superiority of the Sugar Lands of Louisiana.

in Louisiana will produce. If it will produce only 350 pounds, as agreed by Poinsett, and Cuba will produce 2,800 pounds, then would the acquisition of that island break up the sugar culture of Louisiana.

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boratory, and had the quantity of sugar contained in the juice accurately ascertained by the same process as that employed by Prof. McCulloh. It was found to average from fifteen to sixteen per cent. of pure crystallizable sugar. W. P. Riddell, A. M., perfectly familiar with such matters, made the examination, Prof. Riddell looking on.

A hectare of land is about two and a half acres. By referring to the Picayune newspaper of this city of the 29th of December, 1852, it will be perceived, Avequin makes the general average that Mr. James Wafford, of St. Mary, of Louisiana cane juice 15.35 per cent. ; Louisiana, made, the past season, on specific gravity, 1061.5, corresponding forty acres of land in that parish, 190 with 816 Baumé's saccharometer. Achogsheads of sugar of 1,000 lbs. each, or cording to McCulloh's analysis of the 11,775 lbs. per hectare-beating the best juice of canes in Cuba, on one of the land of Cuba or Mexico more than two best plantations in the island, selected to one. By referring to the Banner of by him from canes nearly twice as old the 25th of December, published in as those of Louisiana, it did not exceed Franklin, La., it will be seen that many in richness the general average of Louiplanters in the vicinity of that town siana cane juice more than 234 per cent., have just made upwards of three hogs- instead of being eight times as rich, as heads of sugar, of 1,000 lbs. each, per Poinsett and other politicians opposed to acre, or 7,500 to the hectare-exceed- the acquisition of southern territory have ing Humbolt's highest figures by a thousand pounds per hectare. I have the best authority for stating, that W. W. Wilkins, Esq., of the parish of St. James, made, the past season, 48 hogsheads of sugar on twelve acres of ground, or ten thousand pounds per hectare. Col. Preston, of Assumption, averaged 3,000 lbs. per acre (7,500 lbs. per hectare) on 200 acres of ground. Harpour, of Pointe Coupee, made on some of his land this season 10,000 lbs. per hectare, nearly doubling Mexico. The other assumption, that the cane juice of Cuba is eight times as rich as that of Louisiana, is positively disproved by direct experiment, viz. the analysis of Louisiana cane juice by the learned and neglected Avequin, of New-Orleans. (See De Bow's Review, July, 1848, "Avequin on the Sugar-cane.")

been led to believe on incorrect testimony. But if it be admitted, for argument sake, that Louisiana cane juice, expressed from canes from seven to nine months old, be a little less rich in sugar than that of Cuba, expressed from canes from fourteen to eighteen months old, it must be admitted that this difference in richness is more than made up by the greater amount of juice yielded per ton of cane in Louisiana over and above the quantity of juice yielded by the same weight of cane in Cuba.

Almost all the writers on the subject, among whom is Avequin, seemed to take for granted, that the greater yield in juice per ton of cane in Louisiana than Cuba, was owing to the mills and machinery being better in the former than in the latter. But, according to McCulloh, the mills and machinery are better Prof. McCulloh (see his "Report to in Cuba than in Louisiana. Five exCongress") found the cane juice of one periments, each made on 1,000 lbs. of of the finest plantations in Cuba, the In- cane, on the plantation of Marmillion, genio Saratoga, near Matanzas, to con- St. James, Louisiana, gave from 63 to 64 tain 18.07 per cent. of sugar. No relia- per cent. of juice, as reported by Aveble author who has written on the sub- quin; whereas the yield in juice of Cuba ject has ever made it exceed 25 per cane, reported by McCulloh as ascercent. Prof. McCulloh strangely omitted tained by the Prof. of Chemistry of the to test the quantity of sugar in Louisiana University of Havana, was only 45 per cane, and left Poinsett's statement (Ave- cent. on Count O'Reilly's plantation, 57 quin's) uncorrected. To supply that per cent. on Don Montalvo's, and 35 per omission, and to test the correctness of cent. on Don Diagro's. It would thereAvequin's statements, last November I fore appear that Louisiana cane is from took various specimens of Louisiana 10 to 20 per cent. richer in juice than cane, picked up at random from the that of Cuba. sugar plantations in the vicinity of New- The juice examined by the Riddells, Orleans, to Prof. Riddell's chemical la- at my instance, was found to average

Sugar of Frosty Climates-Interest of the South and West. 201

Louisiana, as cane is a very exhausting that interest to glut the cotton market

crop, may not average more than a hogshead, or as much to the acre, but as the laborers are better fed and clothed, and more attention paid to their health, comfort and happiness, they make more sugar than an equal number of laborors in any other country in the world where the cane is cultivated. From Porter and other high authorities, we learn that the average quantity of sugar, produced in the several West India islands, is under, rather than over, a hogshead for each negro on the plantations-often not equaling more than that for each effective laborer. Here, in Louisiana, five hogsheads for each effective laborer is considered bad cropping. From Porter's work on the Cane Culture, 1st edition, pages 246 and 247, it will be seen that the average quantity of sugar produced per acre in Mexico, is only 750 lbs. From other authorities, we learn that from one to two peons are assigned to each acre. From "Dr. Roxburg on the Hindoo Method of Cultivating the Cane," from "Dr. Hamilton's Statistical Survey of Dinajpore," and "Dr. Buchanan's Journey from Madras to Malabar," we learn that the East India laborers, per capita, do not produce as much sugar as those of the West Indies or Mexico. In Java, with two laborers to the acre, the average of the middling and best quality lands is from 1200 to 1800 lbs. per acre. In Mauritius, 2000 lbs. per acre is considered a good yield, so says Porter, page 242. This is the island, which, some time ago, alarmed the sugar planters of the East and West Indies, Brazil and Demerara, so much, lest its wonderful fertility and the richness of its cane should break up the sugar culture everywhere else. I am sure that even its annexation to the United States would not scare our planters, particularly such men as Wilkins and Wafford. Facts, when interrogated, respond that Louisiana is not without, but in the centre of the sugar region proper, if the quantity and quality of the sugar produced, by a given amount of labor, be the guides in locating that region. Yet the same logic, the same errors and prejudices, which would throw even the southern borders of Louisiana too far north for the cane to be profitably cultivated, except as a sickly exotic, fostered in the sunshine of governmental favors, have had an injurious effect upon the cotton planting interest, in causing

from the lands that could have been more profitably put in cane, if the truth had been known, and that liberal encouragement extended to the culture the change of labor from one agricultural product to another always requires. But if Congress will not give a sufficient duty, men of science ought to interpose and send forth the scientific truth, at present confined to their closets, that the sugar made in a frosty climate is worth double the money of that made in tropical regions-being more healthy and nutritious. If this truth were generally known, the cane culture in the United States would no longer be confined to a narrow strip of land on and near the 30th parallel of latitude, but would be extended further north, and every one would be anxious to know how far north this good, vital, dextrogyrate sugar, the restorer of health, the renovator of age, the beautifier of the complexion, and the preserver of the teeth, would be profitably carried.

The extension of the cane culture would enhance the value of every other southern agricultural product, and would thereby enrich the whole South. The South enriched would enrich the West, and, like Ruth and Naomi, they would cleave together. The serious fears entertained by our ablest statesmen of that fanaticism which įmonarchical Europe is artfully using for the purpose of overthrowing the American Republic of confederated states, destroying their power and blotting out their bright example, and at the same time depriving them of their main source of wealth by transferring the rich productions of southern agriculture to India and Australia, covering the objects of the unceasing war it is waging against the labor and institutions of the South, under the false pretence of philanthropy for the negro race-has already, in a great degree, been dispelled by the people of nearly all the states in the Union having weighed transatlantic philanthropy and found it wanting. But the most effectual check which abolitionism has received, or could receive, until another Cromwell rises in England, has been given by the Great West saying to the South, in the language of Ruth, "Whither thou goest I will go, thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried."

With the Great West, steadfastly minded to cleave to the South, abolitionism will be deprived of the power to force disunion upon these happy states. The extension of the sugar culture would open new avenues and markets for western industry, and soon the two sections, the Great West and the South, (ere long to be the Great South,) would be indissolubly united by a network of rail-ways.

low prices, they have already begun to find, that the profits of those plantations which breed their own horses and mules, and make their own corn, beef and pork, are the greatest. But if this practice should become general, the northwestern states will be deprived of their best market, and will link themselves by rail-roads, as they are now doing, with the better markets of the northeastern Atlantic states. Notwithstanding, they will bring their produce to the South, if, enriched by an extension of the sugar culture, it can afford to pay better prices

eastern states and Europe. It will be thus enriched if the cane culture be extended even as high up as the 32d parallel of latitude-only half a degree above Mr. Calhoun's plantation, where the best sugar is made. For more than twentyyears, P. M. Lapice has grown excellent cane near Natchez, in 314°. It has also for many years been found to succeed very well on Lake St. Joseph, north of 32°. It grows well also in the vicinity of Monroe, on the Washita, in 324. I am creditably informed that there is no finer looking sugar-cane anywhere to be found than in Marshall county, Mississippi, near Holly Springs, but a little below the 35th parallel of latitude. Gen. Felix Huston has found from experience that peaches ripen and come to perfection much sooner at Vicksburg, in 324°, than two degrees further south, near Baton Rouge.

The object of this paper is not to fix the limits, but inquire of fact and science how far north the profitable culture of the cane can be carried. Happily for the interests of southern and western for western produce than the northagriculture, a few patriotic and practical men have broken the fetters of prejudice by boldly carrying the culture of the cane a degree or more of latitude further north than the boundary which prejudice and error had assigned as the utmost limits of its profitable culture. Already they are reaping a rich reward in dollars and cents. But they are doing more than merely enriching themselves. By turning cotton into cane fields they are laying the foundation of a prosperous future to the cotton planters. Lands, tired from the cotton culture, bring the best cane. The cotton planters in the southern section of the cotton region would not reap all the benefit; because those in the northern portion too far north for the cane, would be benefited in the enhancement of the price of the article. Moreover, the best and most convenient market in the world, for what is called up-country or western produce, including horses, mules, beef and pork, would be opened to the Great West, and that vast region would be linked indissolubly to the fortunes of the South. While the cotton market, from over production, is kept down, and the cane culture confined to the halfexhausted lands of the southern boundary of Louisiana, neither the cotton nor the sugar planters can afford to be the extensive purchasers of northwestern produce they would be, if cotton commanded a higher price, and sufficient encouragement were extended to the sugar interest, to divert a large portion of the land and labor, now appropriated to the cotton branch of industry, to that of sugar. Under high prices of cotton and sugar our planters would find it cheaper to buy horses and mules than to breed them; they would plant less corn and more cane and cotton. Whereas, under

The archives of medicine contain more useful knowledge on the subject of the sugar-cane and its essential salt, than all the other sciences put together. Dutrone, Roxburg, Edwards, Hamilton, Buchanan, Hoffman, Pelletier, Magendie, and more than half the authors who have ever written on the subject, belonged to the medical profession; and last but not least, that profession may properly claim Avequin, a learned druggist and chemist of this city, who has been worth more than his weight in gold a dozen times over to the planting interest, by the light which he has made science throw upon the culture of the cane, and the manufacture of its juice into sugar.

It was Avequin who, many years ago, explained the action of lime as a defecating agent, and the necessity of using it pure, mixed with distilled water. He made the discovery of a peculiar kind of natural alcohol in cane juice, which

Discoveries of Avequin-Medicine and Agriculture.

he called cerosie. The great chemists, Liebig and Dumas, gave the Orleanian full credit for his discovery, but as yet its importance is not fully appreciated. Prof. McCulloh improperly confounded the substance discovered by Avequin with bees-wax, to which it has no kind of resemblance. He also proved that the juice of the cane, in its normal condition, does not contain a particle of acid in a free state, and only a little carbonic acid at the moment of compression, thus arresting the expensive and destructive war the sugar makers had been carrying for centuries against wind-mills in the shape of acid in the juice. The indication of acid in the juice, by the test with litmus paper, he proved to be a deception caused by the presence of phosphate of lime. The existence of this last-mentioned popular remedy for breast complaints he was the first to prove existed in cane juice.

Avequin's method of using nothing but pure lime water to defecate the cane juice, is that pursued by P. M. Lapice, Esq., of St. James, who makes the best sugar in the world.

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of-all-trades, that nothing but his most consummate skill as a practical physician prevented his entire practice from being swept away from him. Those, with medicable wounds, who listened to the outcry of the illiberal and selfish against the American Hippocrates, often paid dearly for their folly in not finding the balm of Gilead of which he was the great dispenser. His name is on that immortal scroll-the Declaration of American Independence, and his fame as a skilful practical physician shines brighter as years roll on, as if to prove to after ages that eminent skill in practical medicine is not incompatible with that patriotism which takes an active part in subjects. connected with the general welfare. So blighting to the private interests of professional men, particularly medical men, is any meddling with public affairs, that those who practice their profession more for the fees than for any good the knowledge they may derive from it may do the public, studiously avoid making themselves targets for the illiberal and envious, and never go an inch beyond the narrow limits of the routine duties they are paid for performing.

Unfortunately, however, for the South, if members of the medical profession The southern people, southern instituinterest themselves in matters of public tions, and southern agriculture, are daily utility, whether it be political economy, losing, from this European, selfish cusagriculture, manufactures, or internal tom introduced among us, much useful improvements of any description, the knowledge, especially that acquired by ignorant, indolent, envious and jealous, practical physicians, which dies with its are always ready to injure and curtail professors. But, as an encouragement their usefulness by sneering at them as to all those members of the medical dangerous experimenters, crack-brained profession, however illiterate or humble theorizers, too learned for the practical they may be, who may have acquired, or duties of their profession; as if spending think they have acquired, by chance or their leisure moments in the chemical laboratory, or at books or the writing-desk, would disqualify them for practice, more than if they had spent the same time in low chicanery, idle frivolity, or at the haunts of dissipation.

It is the ignorant who try dangerous experiments, not the wise and the learned. Every thing is experimental with the ignorant, whether they be planters, chemists or physicians. Learned plant ers do not spoil their sugar with experiments they know have been tried before and failed; nor do well-read physicians thus lose their patients. But in the hands of the ignorant, life and sugar are both in danger.

The usefulness of the celebrated Dr. Rush was so much curtailed by his being sneered at as a politician and jack

otherwise, any knowledge which may be turned to purposes of public utility, Benjamin Rush is not dead and forgotten, as his defamers are; he still lives to smile upon them, and to beckon to them to make it known for public good

Much error and obscurity still hang over the important subjects of the management of our negro peasantry-the amelioration of their condition-their enlightenment-the preservation of their health-the improvement of their morals, and the proper measures to make their services more valuable. The profession which deals with all the agencies influencing both mind and body, is betterqualified, than any other, to throw light on these important subjects to southern. agriculture.

Food and raiment, whether drawn