New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-09-01
The following table gives the receipts at
this port, and the total crop for the last fif-
RECEIPTS AT NEW ORLEANS.

Inc yleld IN IS6b-6I was estimated at
1000, 900 bales, but was swelled to the above
amount by remnants of previous crops.
The year closed with a stock on hand and
on shipboard not cleared of 25,323 bales,
against 20,696 last year, and no the year
before.
SgGAR-At the commencement of the
year, the growing crop was variously estl-
mated at 10000 and 10000 hogsheads.
Some persons were sanguine enough to pre-
dict that it would exceed the outside
figures, while others gave reluctant assent
TO the inside. 1t was well known, how
ever, that the result would depend upon
the weather for the rest of the season, and
the supply OF labor. An early freeze, to-
gether with other similar contingencies,
might reduce the yield to the inside
figures, Or even less, while suspicious
weather, FAD the command of efficient
laborers, would probably give the outside
estimate, II not more. The result proved
to be so near the latter-talling short of it
only SIG hogsheads-that it presents fair
subject for congratulation; the more so, as
until grinding has been completed the pre-
seriousness OF the crop, and uncertainty
with regard to its yield, generally keep the
planter in suspense with regard to the re-
turns he will receive for his enterprise and
labor. In fact, if we are to judge from the
annals of the culture there is no crop that
was 100000 hogsheads, and in the following
year only $4,000; in 1855 it was 23l ,427
hogsheads, and in 1856 it fell to 1896; in
1861, the most fruitful year on record,
it was 459, 4l0 hhds, and in 1862 sunk to
223, 753. In the former year the productive
capacity of the entire sugar district was es-
timated at 100000 hhds, produce which,
however, would require a combination
of favorable circumstances, includ-
fbpOn q
the year. When we compare the
extent of the culture, the. number of
sugar houses, the capital invested, the credit
of planters, which was equivalent to capt.
tai, and the supply and efficiency of labor
i'll that year with the present, or with the
prospect, one can readily conclude that a
long time must elapse before we witness
similar liberal yield. OF course we have the
land, arabic or recliamable from the swamp,
but the capital TO build sugar houses, pro
vide implements and animals, and extend
fencing-in itself requiring a much larger
outlay than is generally supposed-is want
ing, and if we had the capital, we might be
unable TO supply the labor. In 1858 we
made 81 ,G47 hEds; in 1859 81 go; in 1869-70
81 .091, and in 1901 l44, SSl. The growing
crop is estimated at about 10000 hhds. If
this anticipation be realized, it will present
a rare instance Of uninterrupted increase.
There is no crop more attractive to the
inexperienced, and, even with all its IN
certainty, there are few or none which have
made more satisfactory average returns.
The result often depends greatly on the
Judgment of the planter. If cutting be de-
ferred too long, freeze may destroy his
hopes; if it be commenced too early, the
cane NAV prove poor. and Weld scant Ie-
turns In the former case, the large amount
expended for wages, subsistence, animals,
and implements, may be lost; in the latter,
the proceeds may be hardly more than
sufficient to refund advances. With aus
piuiOus weather and a fair supply of labor, !
It Is reasonable 10 anticipate highly salts
factory results. Hence, not only experienced
Planters continue the cultivation, but city
capitalists engage in il, with the aid Of SUI
gETintendents or oyeTseers. Some of the
most productive plantations in the State are
now owned or leased by Western men, and
their success, if not equal to their sanguine
anticipations, has at least been encouraging |
In the good old time, sugar planting was
the basis OF some of the largest fortunes
in the South, and may be again.
The sugar lands. moreover, are mostly
situated in districts proverbial for their sa-
iubrity, with a temperate climate and a
genial soil, well adapted TO the culture of
fruits and vegetables the former embracing,
not only the orange and hg, and other South
ern products, but also many of those which
are supposed to be peculiar to Northern lati-
tudes such as the peach, the pear and the
apple, and the latter comprising every va
riety of root crops, some of them in extraor-
binary abundance. Many of the old planta-
tons which were ruthlessly ravaged during
the war, to such an extent that there was
left scarcely a trace of their former improve
ments have been restored, and are again
highly productive: but capital is still needed
to rebuild burnt sugar-houses, furnish new
engines and machinery, replace fences, pro-
vide implements and animals, and furnish |
whatever else may be essential to making a
crop.
The following tables are compiled from
MT. Bouchereau's crop statements of this !
year and last year. The first gives the |
number of plantations in the several par +!
ishes compared with the three preceding
years, and the big crop year of lS6I-62, and /,
the second the detail Of the crop, by par
ishes, with a similar comparison. In the |
former we give the actual number of planta-
tons from which crops have been made, |
both this year and last year.
PARISHES AND SUGAR PLANTATIONS.