The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-01-06
THE SUGAR CROP.


IL Ii generally admitted that this years
sugar crop will not be q success. But d few
short months ago everything promised q
splendid CROP our planters were more thar
hopeful, were boastfu and predicted that
Tho sugar industry Of Louisiana would develop
strh gigantic proportions In very few years
that our State would supply the whole Union
with sugar, and take from Cuba its best
customer. For some time past the sugar pro
duution Of this State had boon increasing regti-
larly some ten or fifteen thousand hogsl.eads
each year; planters had learned nj last how
10 make money out OF sugar; bad debts that
had borne them down for years were paid
their nareage was increased all was most
promising until this year, when succession OF
lucky seasons WINS interrupted by most OK
trHorainary complication Of meteorological
misfo1tunes. First came cloudy weather 10
make the cane late: then came rainy weather
ID make IL grow too rapidly. then the cyclone
visited lis, Telling the cane 10 the ground fol-
l1wed by another spell of rainy weather,
which prevented the cane picking itself
sip again. and lastly, to complete the
ruin, ws were visited by nm emily
freeze followed by warm weather. Here
were some half dozen misfortunes
visiting us In swift succession. Had
They not all happened together just MS they
did. the disaster would have been much lighter.
! Had, for instance, the cyclone been followed
by warm or the freeze by cold weather, we
would undoubtedly have boaeted of some mil.
lions more pounds Of sugar this year than we
now will.
This temporary failure Of the crop II TO be
regretted mostly for tho moral effect that 1t
will have on sugar planting In Louisiana.
Scores OF persons, encouraged by tho success
OF past seasons. were about to embark In IL.
In this they will hesitate now when they
learn that this years crop has not boon n
profitable one, disregardng tho fact that tho
weather has been phenomenal. The effect,
therefore,, viii be tt tetafa that Increased de-
vnlopment OF Louisiana's sugar industry, and
that increased production of sugar 10 which
We looked forward so confidently as the hope
of this State and Of the whole country.
Some go oven further, and declare that the
partial failure of this season will have
an injurious effect on the sugar planters and
brokers. 1t Is easy TO soc how this alarm
arose. Sugar planting, although old, Is now
planters recommended II under most I'M
promising circumstances. Labor was high,
taxes were high, levees were insecure; In
fact, sugar cultivation was doubtful, II not
tnproHtable A bad crop then would have
been indeed an unluoky visitation. and would
have carried down hundreds of planters and
merchants. Fortunately we escaped any
great misfortune of this kind. Tho planters
soon began 10 prosper. increased their acre
age; refitted their sugar-houses; paid off old
debts.
Planting prospects grow brighter and
brighter with each successive year until last
season, when the climax was reached The
largest crop for fifteen years was then pro-
duced at the smallest cost. The yield was
tho largest to the acre ever known, and the
price that sugar brought unprccedentedly
high. The present crop, to which all looked
forward as even greater than that of last year,
now promises TO fall behind 1t. Fortunately we
can bear this: could have borne complete
failure. Last years crop left neat profit
In each planters pocket, and enabled him to
pay his merchant good share Of that debt
that had been hanging over him for years,
and even II the narrow margin of profit OF
Tho present crop prevents tho payment of any
further part of this debt this season, there
liz no reason why it should create any alarm.
The sugar planters to-day owe less
than they did q year ago; their places,
thanks to the change In our State govern
ment, are more valuable than they were then.
The merchants, therefore, have better back
ing and security for the planters debts than
they have had at any time since the war. IT
a liberal policy, therefore, be pursued, there
Ia no reason why this years crop should
bring any disasters on sugar merchants or
planters beyond the fact that profits Will not
be as large az they promised to be. 1t Is
more than probable however. that what ID
called the failure OF the crop Is, rather, the
failure OF the anticipated crop. To sec such
crop as we had early In September sud
denly cut short by complication
of misfortunes made the disaster seem
much greater than it really was. There Is no
doubt, also, that much of the alarm over the
failure of the crop was due to this great dis
appointment. The CONSERVATION that some
foresaw as result of the failure
never came, and the apprehension that
some felt is rapidly fading away under
more recent developments. 1t will prob
ably be wholly gone in few months.
Planters will go back to planting convinced
that zone swallow does not make a spring,
that one unpropitious crop after dozen pay
ing ones, is scarcely a reason why the sugar
industry of Louisiana should not be devel-
oped and increased. In 1t lies our great hope.
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The guilds of London, the richest corpora
Z tiapS In tba world will fall hair in n ypry