The sugar cane is cultivated to a great extent in Louisiana, Georgia, and West Florida. In the first of these states, five kinds of the cane have been raised. The first is the Creole cane, which is supposed to have come originally from Africa. The second is the Bourbon cane, from Otaheite. Besides these, are the riband cane, green and red; the riband cane, green and yellow; and the violet cane of Brazil. The latter species was abandoned soon after its introduction, as it proved less productive in our climate than any of the others. The other species are the best suited to the nature of the soil. They are all more or less affected by the variations of the atmosphere, are very sensible to cold, and are killed in part by the frost every year. Experience has demonstrated that the cane may be cultivated in a latitude much colder than was generally supposed; for fine crops are now made in Louisiana, in places where a few years ago the cane froze before it was ripe enough to make sugar.
In the process of cultivation, the ground is ploughed as deep as possible, and harrowed; after it has been thus broken up, parallel drills or furrows are ploughed at the distance of two feet and a half to four feet from one another; in these the cane is laid lengthwise, and covered about an inch with a hoe. Small canals to drain off the water are commonly dug, more or less distant from each other, and these are crossed by smaller drains, so as to form squares like a chess board. These ditches are necessary to drain off the water from rains, as well as that which filters from the rivers, which would otherwise remain upon the plantations. The average quantity of sugar that may be produced upon an acre of land of the proper quality, well cultivated, is from eight hundred to one thousand pounds, provided that the cane has not been damaged, either by storms of wind, inundations, or frost. The strong soil is easiest of cultivation, and mostproductive, in rainy seasons. The light soils require less labor, and yield more revenue, in dry seasons. To these variations, others are to be added, resulting from the different exposure of the lands, the greater or less facility of draining, and also from the greater or less quantity of a weed known by the name of coco or grass nut. Sixty working hands are necessary to cultivate two hundred and forty acres of cane, planted in well-prepared land, and to do all the work necessary until the sugar is made and delivered. The sugar, up to the moment it is delivered to the merchant, costs the sugar planter about three and a half cents per pound, for expense incurred, without reckoning the interest on his capital.
The cultivation of the mulberry tree, and the raising of silk-worms, have occupied considerable attention in different parts of the United States. Before the revolution, the production of silk was attempted in Georgia, but without ultimate success. In Connecticut, and in some other places, for the last seventy years, an inferior kind of sewing silk has been manufactured; but its use has been chiefly confined to the neighborhood in which it has been produced. Of late years, however, efforts have been made to introduce the important branch of agriculture that affords the necessary materials for the manufacture of silk. Societies have been formed in different states for its promotion, and the national government have thought the subject worthy their particular attention.
During the year 1829, a series of essays were written by M. D’Homergue, the son of an eminent silk manufacturer, at Nismes, who had arrived in Philadelphia at the instance of an association for the promotion of the culture of silk; they have since been published in a separate form, and will repay the perusal of those who may feel peculiarly interested in the subject. The report of the committee of agriculture, who were instructed to inquire into the expediency of adopting measures to extend the cultivation of the mulberry tree, and to promote the cultivation of silk, by introducing the necessary machinery, made to the house of representatives, March 12, 1830, represents these essays and the facts contained in them as entitled to high confidence.
‘It appears from them,’ states the report, ‘that American silk is superior in quality to that produced in any other country;—in France and Italy, twelve pounds of cocoons are required to produce one pound of raw silk, whilst eight pounds of American cocoons will produce one pound of raw silk:—that cocoons cannot be exported to a foreign market, from several causes,—their bulk, their liability to spoil by moulding on ship board, and because they cannot be compressed without rendering them incapable of being afterwards reeled. It is further demonstrated in these essays, and in a memorial lately presented by the manufacturers of silk stuffs of Lyons, in France, to the minister of commerce and manufactures, that the art of filature can only be acquired by practical instruction, by some one intimately acquainted with, and accustomed to, that process: that no human skill or ingenuity, unaided by practical instruction, is capable of acquiring that art to any profitable extent. It is made manifest that, although the culture of silk has been carried on for many years in some parts of the United States, and more particularly in Connecticut, it has been conducted very unprofitably, compared with what the results might have been, if the art of filature had been understood. The sewing silk made in Connecticut is from the best of the silk, and is, after all, quite inferior to that of Franceand Italy: in these latter countries, sewing silk is manufactured from imperfect cocoons, or from refuse silk.
‘It appears also, that unless the silk is properly reeled from the cocoons, it is never afterwards susceptible of use in the finer fabrics. It is a gratifying consideration that the benefits from the culture of silk and the acquisition of the art of reeling the same, will be common to every part of the United States. The climate of every state in the union is adapted to the culture of silk: hatching the eggs of the silk-worms may be accelerated or retarded, to suit the putting forth the leaves of the mulberry. That tree is easily propagated from the seed of the fruit, and is adapted to almost any soil. The committee regard the general culture of silk as a vast national advantage in many points of view. If seriously undertaken and prosecuted, it will, in a few years, furnish an article of export of great value: and thus the millions paid by the people of the United States for silk stuffs will be compensated for by the sale of our raw silk. The importation of silk, during the year which ended on the 30th of September, 1828, amounted to eight million, four hundred and sixty-three thousand, five hundred and sixty-three dollars, of which, one million, two hundred and seventy-four thousand, four hundred and sixty-one were exported: but in the same year, the exportation of bread stuffs from this country amounted only to five million, four hundred and eleven thousand, six hundred and sixty-five dollars, leaving the balance against us of nearly two millions. The committee anticipate that at a period not remote, when we shall be in possession of the finest material produced in any country, the manufacture of silk stuffs will necessarily be introduced into the United States. The culture of silk promises highly moral benefits, in the employment of poor women and children in a profitable business, while it will detract nothing from agricultural or manufacturing labor. The culture of silk will greatly benefit those states which have abandoned slave labor, the value of whose principal productions, particularly in the article of cotton, has been depressed by overproduction.’
The vine grows in most parts of the United States, and yields a plentiful return for the labor of cultivation. We have already alluded to the vineyards in the vicinity of Vevay. A large grant of land, in the territory of Alabama, was made by the general government to a French association under M. Villar, for the purpose of encouraging the cultivation of the vine and the olive. About two hundred and seventy acres had been occupied with vines in 1827, and nearly four hundred olive trees had been planted. The latter, however, do not thrive, and it is apprehended that they will not attain an available degree of perfection in that climate.
Horticulture has not been entirely overlooked in the United States, though it has not yet received the attention that is paid to it in other countries. Some idea of the varieties of fruits and of flowers which the climate will admit of, may be formed from the following statement of the contents of a garden in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, which may be relied on as authentic, being extracted from the report of the committee, appointed by the Pennsylvania Horticultural society for visiting the nurseries and gardens in the vicinity of that city: ‘Here are to be found,’ say the committee, ‘one hundred and thirteen varieties of apples, seventy-two of pears, twenty-two of cherries, seventeen of apricots, forty-five of plums, thirty-nine of peaches, five of nectarines, three of almonds, six of quinces, five of mulberries,six of raspberries, six of currants, five of filberts, eight of walnuts, six of strawberries, and two of medlars. The stock, considered according to its growth, has in the first class of ornamental trees esteemed for their foliage, flowers, or fruit, seventy-six sorts; of the second class, fifty-six sorts; of the third class, one hundred and twenty sorts; of ornamental evergreens, fifty-two sorts; of vines and creepers for covering walls and arbors, thirty-five sorts; of honey-suckle, thirty-sorts; and of roses, eighty varieties.’