Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1867-08-23
Editorial note. on st. Croi,.
No XXI


It's PRODUCTIVE Iadasiry, Sc.
The amount Of sugar made on the island Of
ST. Croi1, at least all that is packed up in hogs-
heads for sale. is determined with precision from
year to year, under the regulations Of the gov
eminent The planter or administrator Of the
estate, has to make statement Of the amount
which he makee. and he cannot export any til
it has been weighed in the hogshoad st the Gus
tom House, and the weight regular per-
centsge being deducted for the weight Of the
cask and unavoidable Wssie,-is entered on the
Custom House books. Both the Custom House
returns and the returns the owners or admin
istrs,ors, are published by authority, and they
do not differ to any noticeable extent On all
the sugar exported the Danish Government
levies an export duty, for the support Of gov
eminent.
II there are any official returns Of the amount
Of molasses and rum annually made OF export
ed, they are not published. believe no export
duty is levied on either molasses or rum, winch
Efficiently explains the lack Of official reports.
do not suppose that there is any certain proper,
ton existing between the annual amount Of su-
gar and molasses, or OF sugar and rum produced
from year to year. 1t must vary some accord
ing as the season favors or as the skill and care
Of the manager and those who conduct the pro-
ce.se. at the sugar works, are less or more. The
great aim Of the estate is to get the largest
amount possible Of good dry sugar, and the
larger the product Of sugar from given guam
tity Of cane juice the less the amount Of drain
age from the sugar casks. and this drainage is
the molasses. As said in ny letter on the su-
gar manufacture, the rum comes from a distills
ton Of the beer made from all the skimmlngs
and wsshings of the coppers, all the drippngs Of
the sugar on the floor, and sll the slured cane
juice, to which if added come Of the poorest or
least merchautable mOlasses. The product Of
rum, of prescribed strength, is Of course
very variable quantity.
find however in the number for July 1861, Of
the St. Croix Agricultural Reporter, little
short lived magazine. a tabular statement Of the
amount Of sugar, molatses and rum exported
from the LIST January. 1864, to the end Of
June, Of the same year. This statement is as
follows - OF sugar the amo : was 7,0l9,796
lbs, Of molasses 237,S2l gals, Of rum lO5.32S
gals.
The entire crop Of sugar for the year 1864
- ,Iat l. fhvca
fOurths of it was exported by the end of June.
Surprising that the expectation Of molasses and
rum proceeded at the same rate-and 1t would
not, probably. vary very widely from 1.-THE
product Of molssses for that year would not be
far from S15 900 gallons, and that Of rum not
far from 10000 gallons. As for the relative
the sugar at $3.50 per 100 lbs. nett, and the
rum and molasses at 80 cents per gallon. Those
prices do not vary much from the prices at
which the corresponding articles we're sold at
the St. Croi1 ports in April last. My impress
sion Is that the prices Of this year were some
what lower than these given above for 1864
Surprising the relative production Of molasses
and rum to that Of dry sugar to be about the
same from year to year, and the relative prices
to be about the same. it would follow that the
market price Of the entire molasses and rum !
crop can not fall much below one third Of the !
market value Of the entire sugar crop at st. |
CrOix. To make more precise estimate would |
require an acquaintance with details which it
"" out Of my power to acquire.
The production Of cotton, as an article Of ex-
port. is quite recent affair at St. Crui1. 1t
does not appear to have been thought Of, till the
outbreak Of the great rebellion in the United
States caused sudden and great rise in the
price Of raw cotton for purposes Of manufac-
'ure and its beginnings were on a very small
'cale. As stated in former article, in 1868
'nly SO acres were devoted to cotton The next
price Of raw cotton beng then very
,igh-about eight times as much land was ap-
'ropriated to ts production, and this amount
Eas nearly doubled for the years 1866 and
1866. As the market price Of cotton has fallen
argely within the last year OF two. and doubt