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The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom: Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c.Simmonds, P. L. (Peter Lund)

Science

The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom: Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c.

Name: The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom: Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c.
Author: Simmonds, P. L. (Peter Lund)

Simmonds, P. L. (Peter Lund)

Botany, Economic

The greatest expense, you will perceive, is the article of tops for
    planting; but this ought not to discourage persons. The plants which
    I imported from the Mauritius some years ago, cost me, on account of
    many of them not vegetating, at the rate of £30 per acre. Parties
    who begin planting now have the great advantage that they can get
    plants, every one of which, if properly treated, will grow, at
    one-sixth of that price.

    How many crops cane will give on good soil in Natal, I am of course
    unable to state, as the oldest cane I have got has been cut only
    three times--the last yield (second ratoons) was much finer than the
    preceding ones, and by adopting the improved manner of cane
    cultivation, viz., returning all but the cane juice to the soil, I
    am confident that replanting will be found quite unnecessary; the
    expenses for the second and following years will therefore be very
    trifling.

Comparative Statement of the ruling Prices at Natal and the Mauritius
of Land, Live Stock, Implements, Labor, and other requirements
connected with the cultivation of the Sugar Cane.

                MAURITIUS                             NATAL
                             £   s. d. |                        £  s. d.
                                       |
  LAND, per acre, £3 10s. to 20  0  0  | LAND, per acre, 10s.
                                       | to                     1  0  0
  RENT OF LAND. It is not              | RENT OF LAND, 6d. to   0  5  0
  customary to let land at             |
  the Mauritius, except on             |
  the system of an equal               |
  division of the produce.             |
  MANURE. Guano, commonly              | CATTLE MANURE in
  used in its dry state,               | abundance, according to
  also other manures or                | distance, per load,
  composts, per ton, £6 to    7  0  0  | 1s. to                 0  2  6
                                       | (None required on
                                       | virgin soil for the
                                       | first three years of
                                       | cultivation.)
                                       |
  LIVE STOCK. Mules, 5 of              | Oxen, of which 12 are
  which are required to each           | required to each load,
  load of 3,000 to 4,000               | £3 each               36  0  0
  lbs., £30 each            150  0  0  | Keep of oxen, on
  Keep of Mules each, per              | pasturage               free.
  annum                       7  0  0  |
                                       |
  LABOR. Drivers, each, per            | Colored driver,
  month                       1  0  0  | each, per month        0 15  0
  Coolies, including keep,             | Kafir leader, ditto    0 10  0
  each                        1  0  0  | Kafirs, including
  White labor, each           4  0  0  | keep, ditto            0 10  0

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