New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-12-15
ayem OrIeatss gepnblifa1r.
nFFIcIaL JOURNAL Of THE UNITED STATES
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OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENTS.
SEw ORLEANS, December II. 1879.
THE SUGAR PLANTATIONS.

SUGAR plantations on the coast are dilapl-
DARED. and the ornamental shrubs show
want Of care, the old virtue Of hospitality
etilI CLOVIS with an undimmed ardor among
jts people. You are received at the landing
by your host and his dependents, and Hsh-
cred into apartments with blazing hres'
which CLEAN on massive old mahogany and
simmer pleasantly on the cut-glass and
we'll filled decanters of the sideboard. After
neutralizing the night air with an aPpro-
pirate protective, the visitor finds his cham
Der prepared with the same care for his
comfort 1t is in the diningroom, however,
that the most abundant hospitality is dis
olaved. There is found the profusion OF
those substantial supplies which the
farm alone can furnish IN perfection
Meats milk, poultry and vegetables are
the staples: the adjacent Gulf waters fur-
nish to many on the coast oysters, fish and
wild fowl. Commerce brings her tribute
from far lands, and there may be assem-
bled at the table of the lower coast Loulsl-
ana planter as many Of the luxurles OF lie
az fall to the lot of any cUltivatOr Of the
soil any where. If we indulge IN memories
il would be found that in the elegant and
refined incidents of wealth no people sur
passed the former and some of the present
occuDants of these lands Libraries, pic
lures wines, furniture, servants, carriages
and horses, OF the most select character,
rendered each dwelling palace IN It's
appointments. The intelligence derived
from education and travel made the occu-
psnts instructive associates. With a change
of industrial systems much of this elegance
has passed away; the substratum OF hos
pitality upon which it was based remains.
Let us hope that with the necessity has
arisen a developed enterprise, which Will
replace all the pleasures of social inter
course which it is the chief object of human
ENTERPRISE TO create. Such has been the
history Of every change in the political or
industrial relations of most intelligent PEG
ples Thc abolition Of nobility in France,
of primogeniture and Of slavery on,thls CON
tinent, have produced great loss and dis
turbance. but the innate resolution of
class determined on personal independence
soon replaces the system Of the past with
another applicable to the present.
THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR.
The sugar planter goes one step further
Shan other farmers. After having incurred
the toll of cultivation during long and
doubtful season, the value of his labor de-
ponds upon successful process OF prepa-
ration for market This occurs at the crit
zeal moment when a sudden frost may i'm
pair the product of the crop grown, as well
"a of the crop coming. Hence the necessity
of rapid and judicious administration.
The cane must be cut and protected from
the possibility of frost. 1t must be carried
promptly to the mill and this supply regu-
lated so that neither surplus of the cut
cane remains exposed in the field nor de.
4iciency obstruct the regular process OF
manufacture. 1t may as well be remarked
here that the sugar planter OF Louisiana
has, in his short season. good deal to do
from which his competitor in the tropics isex-
empt, nor can any class of men be shown
to have demonstrated a better application
of science to the problem before them than
is manifested by our planters.
Our home readers are familiar with the
process of sugar manufacture how the cane
passes into the roller mill at one end Of the
building, while the juice of the crushed
cane. evaporcted by the heat of the furnace,
or of tubular steam pipes, flows steadily
along the watts, until, having parted with
all its aqueous qualities, the thlckened
syrup graduates, and the grained sugar Is
separated from the molasses by one of two
processes: by heaping it in hogsheads to
dry with draining and evaporation, or BY
pouring it into an open cylinder having a
revolution of about 1000 por minute. The
centrifugal action thus impaired TO the
sugar separates and dries the particles
which arc lodged in compact and White
mass on the concave Of the cylinder, while
the moIasses is drained away at the bottom.
The economy Of time effected by this pro
cess. and the purity of the product, com
mend it greatly to the planter. 1t serves
10 show them how much all the industries
are indebted to science, aud leads to the
obvious propriety of embodying this de
partment in our system Of popular educa
ton.
AS this process Of maturing the crop con,
Enues for some two weeks, it involves a
corresponding vigilance and activity on the
part of ALL The planter, the manager, the
engineer must be all instant at their posts
the attendants upon mill and boilers must
be competent, so that no interruption shall
occur in this extended chain of operations
To have made and milled a sugar crop so at
to present q fair marketable article requires
degree of practical intelligence no
often needed in the pursuits of life else
where.
1t is perhaps to a want Of these combined
attributes Of administrative skill that tn
failure Of the neophyte planter may Otter
Be attributed There is more of such abili
ty required in the care of the people, AM
mails and other agencies employed in max
ing crop; in the financial management o
purchases, sales and wages, and in the cul
ture and manufacture Of sugar crop, thai
there is in the management of many institu
tions whose business may be much larger
but which are so well arranged that it i
subdivided amongst many competent sub
ordinates Certainly it would involve les
labor and require less ability to COVER
some State well regulated by law, than
conduct a louisiana sugar estate through
single crop-especially if there were te'
mortgage creditors to be consulted on tn