Russia EXPORTS OF COFFEE FROM THE UNITED STATES, From the 1st July, 1844, to the 30th June, 1845. .2,183,627 119,617 Trieste, etc.. 43,450 2,600 Turkey, Levant, etc.. 277,329 15,388 Hayti.... 19,705 1,438 Texas 38,738 2,438, Mexico British Am. Colonies.. 524,968 44,170 Chili.... 2,019,540 131,098 486,307 27,698 85 France on the Medit'n. 1,578,745 98,270 Africa generally. An examination of these tables produces some curious results. They are such, however, as will strike the general reader without the addition of any remarks from us. We regard the source whence they are derived as the most reliable. In one of the leading publications in the United States, giving a "statistical view of the coffee trade," there is a statement of this character .... 1834. .26,571,368.. .... 1843. Increase. Import of coffee from Brazil. 49,515,666.... Value $3,392,960.... $573 932 Exports U. S. produce to Brazil... 1,586,097. 2,409,419.. 832,321 and the following argument upon it: "Now, it is sometimes alleged that the import of foreign goods drains the country of its treasure. Here is the fact, that increased purchase of $573,932 worth of coffee, which added largely to the enjoyments of the people of the United States, resulted in increased sales of American produce to the extent. of $823,321, a clear profit of $300,000 besides the coffee." This is certainly a marvelous conclusion, and one which unquestionably demanded no little exercise of fancy. That directly opposite results should be deduced from the same premises, is the strongest evidence we can have of the diversity of the human mind. Of that diversity there can be no doubt. Apart from the relative value of the imports into, and the exports from the United States to Brazil in these two separate years, 1834 and 1843, we find the increase in the value of the imports into the United States from Brazil in the latter year, amounting to $573,932 over the former, and an increase in the exports of United States produce to Brazil of $823,321 during the same period. What then are the true facts which result from this state of things? not, certainly, that "a clear profit of $300,000, besides the coffee, has accrued to the United States from the trade, but the very opposite. We export an excess of $249,389 to Brazil over our imports, clearly proving, if it proves anything, a loss, instead of a gain. We have noticed this NEW ORLEANS COFFEE TRADE. 320 fact, for the reason that it carries with it an air of plausibility at variance with the truth; being based upon the hypothesis, that the greater the excess of our exports over the imports, in just such a degree is our national wealth augmented. This point has been placed in so clear a light by all the writers upon Political Economy, that any attempt to enforce it here is unnecessary. New Orleans is destined, unquestionably, to become the great coffee mart of the United States. If we regard her situation and proximate locality to those countries whence our largest imports are derived, or her almost immediate connection with those States, the largest consumers of the article, we cannot well resist this conclusion. Within a few years, the direct imports into this city have increased to an almost incredible extent, while the consumption of that portion of country which it supplies has been enlarged proportionally. With a view to a better understanding of the position of this city, in its relation to the entire trade of the United States, we subjoin a statement of the IMPORT OF COFFEE INTO THE U. S. FROM BRAZIL, FROM 1821 TO 1844. From this table, it evidently appears, that more than half of the exports of Brazil find their way to our market, and it is fair to infer, are here consumed. In the years prior to 1844, inclusive, with an average consumption of nearly 120 millions, the exports of no one year exceeded nine million pounds. Twelve years ago, and scarcely more than one cargo of Rio coffee was imported direct into our city. Everything now indicates that very nearly, if not the whole of this trade, must very soon be ours. Since there is a very limited demand for this grade of coffee in the northern States, so soon as we import what will be required for the supply of the western trade, this point will have been attained. The western States consume this quality almost exclusively, and ours is found,by experience, to be the best market. The necessity for northern import to supply our trade, in view of these facts, cannot much longer exist. EXPORTS OF COFFEE FROM RIO JANEIRO.* * Bahia, among the northern provinces, is, next to Rio, the point whence the largest amount of coffee is shipped. Thus we see, that in these two years New Orleans imported a larger quantity than either New York or Baltimore, and we may confidently predict for her an import trade that will yearly increase, until she becomes, what it is evident she ultimately must be, the great coffee market of the United States. IMPORTS OF COFFEE INTO NEW ORLEANS From all Foreign Ports, from January, 1834, to January, 1845, compiled from the records of the Custom-house at New Orleans. Years. BRAZIL. Bags. CUBA. lbs. Bags. Value. 102,938... 1,827,249 Value. 1834.. 1,722,860.... 10,768....$181,920....11,326,002.... 70,787...$1,488,678 32,135.... 641,542. .. 16,470,199. 41,884. 777,575 9,087,344 21,073.... 370,977.. 13,601,687. lbs. 1835.. 5,141,751 1836.. 6,701,407. 1837.. 3,371,793. 1838.. 2,665,443. 16,659 1842..12,255,680.. 76,598.... 1843..20,252,460.. 56,795. 1,094,110 85,010.. 1,362,855 258,243....18,420,610....115,122... 1,766,475 1,101,552. .16,143,812.. ....100.898... 1,566,178 441,764. .15,921,964. 99,512... 1,562,646 1,934,633....10,092,221. 63,076... 1,017,626 890,923.... 6,987,265. 43,670... 587,634 126,577. .1,403,013.. 9.124,898.. 57,031... 681,155 1844..21,290,561. .126,816. 1,355,927.... 6,365,325.... 39,784... .... 411,454 IMPORTS OF COFFEE INTO NEW ORLEANS FROM OTHER FOR. PORTS. lbs. 1834..2,191,748....13,698... $270,598 1810.. 514,192.... 3,213.... $50,898 1835..1,350,094. 8,437.... 143,544 1841..3,567,757....22,298. 1836.. 205,522.. 1,247... 28,603 1842..1,912,909....11,956.. 12,113 1843.. 785 583. 57,502 1844.. 102,000.. 74,094 1837.. 103,984.. 649.. 1838.. 621,991. 3.887... 1839.. 690,462.... 4,315.. From these tables we observe an increase in the imports from Brazil from 1834 to 1837 varying but slightly; in 1838 there was a decline manifest in a very marked degree upon the imports of any previous year, 1834 excepted. In 1839 the imports extended to 75,347 bags, or over four times those of the previous year. In 1840 they fell off again, but in the next year reached a point higher than they had yet attained, amounting to over four times the imports of '40. There was but little variation in the imports of 1843 and 1844, as compared with each other. In Cuba the facts are otherwise. The largest imports were in 1835, 1838, and 1839, each year furnishing a supply amounting to over 100,000 bags. The decrease was gradual till we reach 1844, when we find them amounting to no more than 39,784 bags. It is not difficult to account in a measure for the diminished exports of this island, if we regard the new direction which has been given to capital and labor in the cultivation of sugar. But to what cause soever we may assign it, the fact is too obvious to escape our observation. The largest imports into this city were in 1841, amounting to near 214,000 bags. For the last two years, taking in the four months included in the tables above, the imports were from * From a Circular of H. E. Lawrence, Esq., of this city. showing a decrease of the last under the previous year of 5,833 bags. The accounts received here of the great scarcity of the article and its probably advanced price in the Brazil market, undeniably had their effects upon the trade of our city. The coming crop promises to be a very large one, and will more clearly exhibit the relative positions occupied by New Orleans and New York in the scale of consumers, as many of the causes which have contributed to the depression of our trade during the last year, will have ceased to exist. A comparison of our imports with those of New York, strongly evidences the increased consumption of Rio coffee in the South and West; for though our import coastwise in 1846, only amounted to 40,000 bags, it is an inference we have no doubt the facts will sustain, that much of it was derived from New York and Baltimore, the imports into Boston having been shown to be very inconsiderable. From the 1st January to 30th September, 1846, the imports of coffee into New York amounted to 270,520 bags, but we must consider that she receives large quantities of Mocha, Java, and the finer grades of coffee, for which we have but a small consumptive demand. Every possible aspect, therefore, in which we can veiw this question, brings us to the conclusion that while the present imports into New Orleans follow hard upon those of New York, the day is not distant when the former will find herself without a rival in that branch of this trade, to the employment of which her capital and energies will for the future be directed. It is necessary there should be one large commercial mart to which the Southerner may point with pride and exultation, as a standing monument of the wealth, industry, and enterprise of this portion of the Union. The Northern coast is studded with cities rich in the commerce of "a hundred seas," from each of which is yearly poured into their laps all that can please the fancy, contribute to the taste, and add to the enjoyments of life. And where, in all our vast extent of seaboard, can the mind be directed to a single city, great in the elements of a large and extended foreign commerce? To NONE. NEW ORLEANS must then, as time develops her giant resources, prove to the South and West what Tyre, and Carthage, and Thebes were to other nations and to other times. Art. III.-LOUISIANA SUGAR. J. D. B. DE Bow, Esq., Dear Sir:-I yield to your request that I should give you the result of my studies on the cultivation and manufacture of sugar in this State. I do it the more cheerfully as I indulge a hope of eliciting communications from others on a subject so vitally interesting to Louisiana, and in this way that any errors into which I may fall from want of experience or defective information, will be pointed out and corrected. The subject is vast; volumes have been written upon it, and any survey, however general, must make my communication extend over more space than you may be able to accord it in your pages. If so, hesitate not to retrench any portion that you may deem less likely to afford interest and information. To a person accustomed to regard the bountiful returns which nature yields to man's labor in the cultivation of other crops, no fact strikes with more surprise than the small comparative return obtained from the cane. The seed seldom yields more than fourfold, hardly ever more than fivefold. The very smallest quantity of cane required for planting one hundred acres, is twenty acres of the finest cane; and if, as too frequently is practised, the smallest and poorest cane is saved for planting, it is necessary to put up thirty, forty, and sometimes even fifty acres of cane in order to plant one hundred acres. If in the cultivation of the cane like that of the grains, it were necessary to plant the entire field each year, the large portion of each crop required for seed would form a very serious drawback, and in some instances might even cause the abandonment of the culture. But fortunately the cane is not an annual plant. Each year fresh shoots spring from the stubble which remains after cutting the crop; the cane ratoons,* as it is termed. In the West Indies, where no frosts interfere with this natural re-production, it is said that the cane ratoons sometimes for a period of eighteen or twenty years, although I am inclined to believe this an exaggeration, and that it is in general, necessary to replant every ten or twelve years. In Louisiana, as a general rule, the fields are divided as near as may be into three equal parts, one of which is planted each year, so that in a plantation with six hundred acres of cane in cultivation, two hundred acres are plant cane, two hundred acres are ratoons of the first year, and two hundred acres ratoons of the second year. After a field of cane has thus yielded three crops, it is usual to plow up the stubble and plant afresh; and if we take this as a general rule, and assume as an average that one acre of cane will suffice for planting four acres, it results that the yield of the seed is twelvefold, or in other words, that one-twelfth of each crop must be reserved for planting the next. In giving an account of the cultivation, I shall commence by describing the process of laying by from each crop the seed for the next. Just before commencing the gathering of the crop, usually about the 1st of October, the planter selects the cane intended for seed. And here, if I may be allowed without presumption to say so, a general and fatal error prevails. Most planters have not the courage to sacrifice, as they term it, their best and finest cane for sced. Selecting the fields of the oldest ratoons, where the plant is sparsest and smallest, they act in direct opposition to those principles of nature which both theory and experience have established for guides in reproduction. In both the animal and vegetable systems all agree in the general maxim, that like will produce like. In sowing grain, in producing * This word is said to be a corruption of the French word "rejeton," a shoot or sprout. |