The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1857-01-06
From the New York Post. I.
Protectionists Problem Solved.

In inc uisctt>SOn winch - waxing warm at
the West, respecting the rcpcalliof the sugar
tax, we find one journal charging another with
abandoning the doctrine Of. protection because
it favors the repeal.
4 Our readers know very well that we do
not except the doctrine ofprotcction, eitherin
whole or in part-tha' we do not acknowledge
it as a principle Of Legislation in any of its
notifications, even the mild6st. And yet
We maintain that proteetionists, who at the
same time, has some claims to be called a
practicle man, would commit no inconsistency
in giving up the duty on sugar. ,ifag ai 81
Any sensible protectionist would tell you
that he would not attempt the domiciate a.
mong us, by means Of protection, any pursuit
for which our country, by its climate or its
olhcr circumstances, il Clearly unsnifed, and
which could not be followed bat at a great
waste of industry. Ask one of this class what
he thinks of the plan of raising our own coffee
on the soil of the United States He would
tell you at once that coffee is torpical pro-
duction; that il cannot be cultivated in any
part of our country without enormous expen-
scs in providing artificial shelter for shrubs
which bear it, to insure their vigorous growth
in summer and protect them from the cold
winter. For this reason he would tell you
that he should think protectiye duties on cof-
fee an absurdity, and that our policy is to let
it be cultivated in St. Domingo, in Brazil, in
the Arabian Peninsula and the leland Of Java,
where it finds congenial climate and where
the culture is cheap and easy. Any man of
common sense, though he were the most de-
termined and unhnchng protcctionist, would
give this answer
1t is not necessary, therefore, to renounce
the doctrine ofprotection in order to become
an advocate forthc repeal Of the tax which
now makes sugar SO dear. All that We ask
of the honest protectionist is, that he should
apply to the Same maxims of common sense
which he cheerfully recognises in the case Of
coffee, and we shall have him on our side.
The sugar cane is like the coffee shrub, a
tropical plant; its culture in auylpart of the
United States, except perhaps, in small
part of the peninsula of Florida, is forced
culture; expensive in the frequent planting
which is necessity: expensive in the waste of
the plant oeeasoned by the arrival of the cold
season before its juices have had time to ma
ture. We showed this pretty fully the other
day, but we have since obtained some further
information on the subject, which we place
before our readers.
Besides the degeneracy of the cane plant in
Louisiana, rs u consequence OF planting the
immature parts of the cane and tho poorest
of the ra:toons, there is another cause of the
small production Of sugar in that State. The
sugar estates are worn out.
When the cane was first planted in a vir-
gin soil, although in climate which did
not allow il fully toripcn its juses, the growth
was large and generous. On such soils we
raise the finest crops ofwhcat; such soils give
the largest growth Of maize and the most lib
cral yield of potatoes. In subsequent years,
the harvests diminish until AZ length the soil
requires scdulous manuring TO make it pro-
duce even tolerable crops. In the Agricultu-
raj Repo.t Of the Patent Office, for 1855, we
find the following statements:
"Thmt there is degeneracy in tho cane,
caused by exhaustion of the soil and injudi-
cious rotation, is obvious from the fact that
the same lands which have been under cult
walton for long period have yielded more /
than three times the amount Of sugar TO the
acre in some years than othcrs-thc produc-
tiveness having been in those cases in which
the soil was in itspnmitivc fertility, or, when
enriched by guano and other appropriate ma
nures For instance, the British and French
West India Islands, some sixty or seventy
years ago. yielded 5000 to 5000 pounds to
the acre. At present they do not yield
third Of this amount without manure. The
product in Louisiana formerly often reached
as high as 5000 or 1000 pounds, and in
some cases even G,000 pound; but for the
last few years it has often ranged as low as
from 500 to 1000 pounds to the acre"
In the Manritius they obtain, with the help
Of guano, according to Comodore Perry, six,
seven and sometimes eight thousand pounds of
sugar to an acre Of the cane plant. The re-
port from which we quote gives the following
table of the amount of raw sugar, as gross
product to the acre, in the different countries
of the globc:l iHioq gaia1s1 15die ~ .00d