Houma Ceres. [volume] (Houma, Parish of Terrebonne, La.) 1855-18??, 1857-04-11
The Sugar Crop Of 1S57...lts Pros.
pecls--.Failure of the Cuttings
Imported from Demerara.


pects--.Faflure Of the Cuttings
Imported from Demerara.
To the Editors Of the Journal Of Commerce:
Gentlemen II have cut the following
from your weekly of February 10. and
would comment only on tina, portion of the
extract which relates to the prospect Of
the next crop Of sugar in Louisiana, and
the aid it is to receive from the s. Demera-
ra Cuttings" of cane.
Here follows the extract, which it is
not necessary to republish. The par, OF
it upon which the writer chiefly comments,
is as .ollows:
"Recent accounts from Louisiana as TO
the prospects Of the next sugar crop, are
favorable. We do not learn that the re-
cent cold weather has damaged the cane
seriously. \ large 10. Of fresh cuttings.
from Demerara, are now at New Orleans.
Instead Of the sugar culture being des-
troyed, therefore, the probability is that a
preater amount Of domestic sugar will be
grown III the next five years, than has been
grown in the five years just expired. The
crop is not IS failure."-bua, on the other
hand. it ha. been as uniform IN Louisiana,
as Indian corn or potatoes have been at
the North. True, It was very short last
year, but this was an exception 10 gen.
eral rule. Jour. of Com.
Since the publication of the above you
have probably learned that the Cuttings
are failure. Owing to want OF expe.
rience, or proper care on the part Of the
agent sent out for them, in the selection,
packing or slowing Of the IS cuttings, !"
they arrived for the mos, part in state of
decay, and were almost entirely worthless.
But if they had reached US in a perfect
state OF preservation, how far do you sup
pose they would have gone in planting our
fields with cane7 Why, the cargo Of the
Release would not have suficed to furnish
one fourth Of the plants needed on the
smallest sugar farm in the parish Of ST.
Mary. My own is but Of medium extent,
and yet I do not suppose l have planted
less this season than two thousand cart
loads Of cane Tin 800 acres enough prob
ably to gil The hold Of the Release forty
times over, allowing for the space required
for packing and boxing. The calculation
l make with regard to this, is as follows.
The Release, | am informed, brought
twelve hundred boxes Of cane, packed in
earth. l am also informed they were Of
uniform size, being about four feet by two.
| saw the contents Of two of them, each
about as much as man could convenient
ly pick up and carry off on his shoulder al
one time. Now l suppose thirty of these
arm. fulls would make a cart.load, which
being divided into twelve hundred. produ-
ces forty carloads of cane, enough to
plant between sir and seren acres, in the
manner it is usually planted. So much
for the benefit to be expected from the
cargo Of the Release in the presen, grow
ing crop. supposing the canes to have been
sound. If the canes brought by that yes
sci had all been sound, and the cultivation
Of them essential to improving the species
here, it would have required about light
years, before, from so small a quantity, we
should have been able to experience any
apparent benefit that is, before we should
have enough raised from it to begin to use
it in making sugar. To illustrate this. |
will state that six years ago, schooner
arrived in the Bayou Teche from Jamaica,
with load OF cane in bulk, (which .us.
peel is the safest mode Of bringing it,
From this cargo | procured cart-load,
one fifth of which was sound and came up.
This is about five times as much as would
have fallen to the share Of any one plan
ter from the cargo Of the Release, and yet
il has not multiplied sufficiently until the
present year, to enable me to make por-
ton Of my crop Of sugar from it. This
year expect to grind about eighty acres
from i'll do not perceive that it has kept
in the mats any better than the cane l had
1t is strange how little is known at the
North concerning the production Of sugar.
| have seen letter to sugar planter
here, from large importer Of sugar and
molasses in one Of the Northern Giles
one who ought to be well acquainted with
the manner in which the articles he deals
in are produced-expressing desire to-
be informed how far the introduction of
tho "cuttings by the Releese will ben.
eft the production Of the /" present year."
If such as be are so uniformed upon the
subject. it is not to be wondered at tina,