in Spain, where a great quantity of sugar is made yearly, whensoever they apply themselves to the great increase thereof, yet doth every root bring forth not past five or six, or at most seven, of these reeds; whereas, in St. Domingo, one root beareth twenty, and oftentimes 30."-Eng. trans. p. 172. Sugar from St. Domingo formed, for a very long period, the principal part of the European supplies. Previously to its devastation, in 1790, no fewer than sixty-five thousand tons of sugar were exported from the French portion of the island. SOURCES FROM WHENCE THE SUPPLY OF SUGAR IS DERIVED.-The West Indies, Brazil, Surinam, Java, Mauritius, Bengal, Siam, the Isle de Bourbon and the Philippines, are the principal sources whence the supplies required for the European and American markets are derived. The average quantities exported from these countries during each of the three years ending with 1833, were nearly as follows: British West Indies, including Demerara and Berbice,.. Bengal, Isle de Bourbon, Java, Siam Philippines, &c.,. French, Dutch and Danish West Indies,....... Tons. 190.000 30,000 ......... 60,000 110.000 95.000 75,000 500,000 Loaf or lump sugar is unknown in the East-sugar candy being the only species of refined sugar that is made use of in India, China, &c. The manufacture of sugar candy is carried on in Hindoostan, but the process is extremely rude and imperfect. In China, however, it is manufactured in a very superior manner, and large quantities are exported. When of the best description, it is in large, white crystals, and is a very beautiful article. Two sorts of sugar candy are met with at Canton, viz.; Chinchew and Canton-the former being the produce of the province of Fokien, and the latter, as its name implies, of that of Canton. The Chinchew is by far the best, and is about fifty per cent. dearer than the oth er. Chinese sugar candy is consumed, to the almost total exclusion of any other species of sugar, by the Europeans, at the different settlements throughout the East. There were exported from Canton, in 1831-32, by British ships, 32,279 piculs (38,427 cwt.) of sugar candy, valued at $243,000, and 60,627 piculs (72,175 cwt.) of clayed sugar, valued at $318,256; and, during the previous year, the exports were about fifty per cent. greater (see volume i, page 302–303). The exports by the American are also considerable. At an average, the exports of sugar from Canton may be taken at from six to ten thousand tons; but of this only a small quantity finds its way to Europe. The exports from Siam and Cochin-China are estimated at about twelve thousand five hundred tons. CONSUMPTION OF SUGAR IN EUROPE, &c.-Mr. Cook gives the following table of the imports of sugar into France, and the principal continental ports, in 1831, 1832 and 1833, and of the stock on hand on the 31st of December of each of these years: IMPORTS. STOCK 31ST OF DECEMBER. This table does not, however, give the imports into many of the ports of the Peninsula; but the consumption of Spain, only, has been estimated, apparently on good grounds, by Montveran (Essai de Statistique sur les Colonies, page 92, at 45,000,000 kilog. (41,050 tons). This may appear large for a country in the situation of Spain, but the quantity is deduced from comparing the imports with the exports; and it is explained partly by the moderation of the duties, and partly by the large consumption of cocoa, and other articles that require a corresponding consumption of sugar. Mr. Cook's table also omits the imports into Leghorn, Naples, Palermo, and other Italian ports. Neither does it give those into Setten, Konigsberg, Riga, Stockholm, Gottenburgh. It is, besides, very difficult, owing to transhipments from one place to another, accurately to estimate the real amount of the imports. On the whole, however, we believe that we shall be within the mark, if we estimate those for the whole continent at from 285,000 to 310,000 tons, including what is sent from England. The following table, compiled from the best authorities, exhibits the total consumption of colonial and foreign sugars in France, at different periods, since 1788, with the population, and the average consumption of each individual (see Montveran, Essai de Statistique, page 96, and the authorities there referred to): Years. Consumption. 21,300,000 kilog. Population. Individual Consum'n. .906 kilog. 1788, 23,600.000 1801, 25,200,000 66 This, however, is independent of the consumption of indigenous sugar, and of the sugar introduced by the contraband trade, both of which are very considerable. The entire consumption of all sorts of sugar in France, in 1832-including from 8,000,000 to 9,000.0 0 kilog. of beet-root sugar, and allowing for the quantity fraudulently introduced, may be estimated at about 88,000,000 kilog., or 193,000,000 lbs.; which, taking the population at 32,000,000, gives an average consumption of six pounds to each individual-being about one-fourth part of the consumption of each individual in Great Britain! This extraordinary discrepancy is no doubt ascribable to various causes: partly to the greater poverty of the mass of the French people; partly to their smaller consumption of tea, coffee, punch, and other articles that occasion a large consumption of sugar; and partly and principally, perhaps, to the oppressive duties with which foreign sugars are loaded, on their being taken into France for home consumption. The United States consume from 70,000 to 80,000 tons; but of these from 30,000 to 40,000 tons are produced in Louisiana. About 170,000 tons of sugar are retained for home consumption in Great Britain, and 17,000 tons in Ireland, exclusive of about 12,000 tons of bastard, or inferior sugar, obtained by the boiling of molasses; and exclusive, also, of the refuse sugar and treacle remaining after the process of refining. On the whole, therefore, we believe we may estimate the aggregate consump tion of the continent, and of the British islands, at about 500,000 tons a year; to which if we add the aggregate consumption of the United States, Turkey, &c., the aggregate will be nearly equivalent to the supply. The demand is rapidly increasing in most countries; but, as the power to produce sugar is almost illimitable, no permanent rise of prices need be looked for. Taking the price of sugar at the low rate of £1 4s. a cwt., or £24 à ton, the prime cost of the article to the people of Europe will be £12,000,000; to which adding 75 per cent. for duty, its total cost will be £21,000,000. This is sufficient to prove the paramount importance of the trade in this article. Exclusive, however, of sugar, the other products of the cane-as rum, molasses, treacle, &c.-are of very great value. The revenue derived by the British treasury, from rum only, amounts to nearly £1,600,000 a year. PROGRESSIVE CONSUMPTION OF SUGAR IN GREAT BRITAIN.-We are not aware that there are any authentic accounts with respect to the precise period when sugar first began to be used in England. It was, however, imported, in small quantities, by the Venetians and Genoese, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries;† but honey was then, and long after, the principal ingredient employed in sweet * Continental system and empire. In Martin's Storia del Commercio de' Veneziani (vol. v, page 306), there is an account of a shipment made at Venice for England, in 1319, of 100,000 lbs. of sugar, and 10,000 lbs. of sugar candy. The sugar is said to have been brought from the Levant. ening liquors and dishes. Even in the early part of the seventeenth century, the quantity of sugar imported was very inconsiderable, and it was made use of only in the houses of the rich and great. It was not till the latter part of the century, when coffee and tea began to be introduced, that sugar came into general demand. In 1700, the quantity consumed was about 10,000 tons, or 22,000,000 lbs. At this moment, the consumption has increased (bastards included) to above 180,000 tons, or more than 490,000,000 lbs.; so that sugar forms not only one of the principal articles of importation and sources of revenue, but an important necessary of life. Great, however, as the increase in the use of sugar has certainly been, it may, we think, be easily shown, that the demand for it is still very far below its natural limit; and that, were the existing duties on this article reduced, and the trade placed on a proper footing, its consumption, and the revenue derived from it, would be greatly increased. During the first half of last century, the consumption of sugar increased five fold, and amounted, as already stated, In 1700, to... In 1731, to... Tons. Pounds. Tons. Pounds. .10.000 or 22,000.00 | In 1754, to.......53,270 or 119,520.000 .14.000 or 31,3: 0,000 | In 1770-1775, to...72,500 (average) or 162,500,000 .42,000 or 94,080,000 | In 1786-1719, to...81,000 or 181,500,000 In the reign of Queen Anne, the duty on sugar amounted to 3s. 5d. per cwt. Small additions were made to it in the reign of George II; but, in 1780, it was only 68. 8d. In 1781, a considerable addition was made to the previous duty, and, in 1787, it was as high as 12s. 41. In 1791, it was raised to 15s.; and, while its extensive and increasing consumption pointed it out as an article well fitted to augment the public revenue, the pressure on the public finances, caused by the French war, occasioned its being loaded with duties, which, though they yielded a large return, would, there is good reason to think, have been more productive, had they been lower. In 1797. the duty was raised to 17s. 6d.; two years afterward, it was raised to 20s.; and, by successive augmentations in 1803, 1804 and 1806, it was raised to 3 s.; but, in the last mentioned year, it was enacted, that, in the event of the market price of sugar in bond, or exclusive of the duty, being, for the four months previous to the 5th of January, the 5th of May or the 5th of September, below 49s. a cwt., the lords of the treasury might remit 1s. a cwt. of the duty; that, if the prices were below 48s., they might remit 2s; and, if below 47s., they might remit 3s., which was the greatest reduction that could be made. In 1826, the duty was declared to be constant at 27s., without regard to price; but it was reduced, in 1830, to 243. on West India sugar, and to 22. on East India sugar. DEPARTMENT OF MANUFACTURES. 1. SOUTHERN GRANITE.-No. 2. * BY A CHARLESTON WORKING-MAN. TRUE granite is composed of three substances, each of granular structure, and united apparently without the aid of any intermediate matter or cement. These substances are quartz, feldspar and mi a, each of these being a compound. They are "the type," says Tuomey, "of this class of rocks." But the species of rocks known to geologists as granite, vary materially in their constituent parts, their formation and color. "The infinite variety of proportions (see Maj. Gen. Sir John Burgoine's treatise on blasting and quarrying in which these several elements are united in the mass, occasions the great diversities of color and appearance of the several kinds of granite, and also affects, in a much more important manner, the enduring characteristics of this valuable material. Thus its * Number 1, of these papers, was published in February Number, Vol. viii, 1850, page 169. color varies from a light gray to a dark tint closely approaching black, and is to be found of all shades of red and many green. Instead of mica, another substance, called hornblende, is found in some granites: hornblende is a dark, crystalline substance, composed of flint, alumina and magnesia, besides a large proportion of the black oxyd of iron. Granites in which hornblende exists are Sometimes called syenite, having been first found in the island of Syene in Egypt." "Syenite (see Shaw's Operative Masonry) is related to granite, and resembles it in its general characters. It is somewhat harder than granite, and more difficult to chisel. The Bunker Hill monument consists of this stone. It is found at several places near Boston, and is commonly called the Quincy stone. It is the presence of hornblende as a constituent part which distinguishes this rock from granite." The presence, in undue proportion, of hornblende, detracts from the durability of the stone. Professor Tuomey, in alluding to a certain part of Newberry district, remarks that "the deep ravines in the hill-sides, which were scooped out by the surface water, and the peculiarly broken character of this portion of the district, attest the readiness with which rocks, abounding in hornblende, disintegrate and suffer by denudation from atmospheric causes." Although all granites (says Burgoine) are similar in structure, the difference in the proportions of its constituent substances occasions great difference in its enduring and useful properties. Some varieties are exceedingly friable and liable to decomposition." "We notice in a volume of the transactions of the Institute of Civil Engineers, in England, some remarks respecting the syenite of Guernsey, in which allusion is made to the interior columns of Saint Peter's Port Church, the component parts of which have become "decomposed and their adhesion destroyed." Hornblende, in most common form (says Tuomney, presents a confused crystalline structure, and dark green color, approaching black. 66 The rocks composed of this mineral are exceedingly tough, and yield with difficulty to the hammer-a fact known to the aborigines of the country, who used them as the principal material in the construction of their tomahawks and other instruments requiring much strength. Where hornblende takes the place "of the mica the rock is called syenite, and where mica is also present with the hornblende it is called syenitic granite." Thus it will be perceived that the syenite of Quincy is not only much more difficult to be wrought than the true granites which abound in South Carolina, but is deficient in those lasting quali ties which are of the first importance in the erection of an expensive edifice. By far the larger proportion of the rock formation in South Carolina is of the kind called gneiss. "This rock (says Shaw), like granite, is composed of feldspar, quartz and mica. But there is, in gneiss, less feldspar and more mica than in granite; but even in this substance the feldspar appears in many cases to be the predominant ingredient. Its structure is always more or less distinctly slaty when viewed in the mass, although individual layers, composed chiefly of feldspar and quartz, may possess a granular structure. Gneiss, like granite, never embraces any petrifactions, and is always a primitive rock. This rock assumes sometimes a granular structure, and passes, by imperceptible shades, into granite." "Gneiss (says Tuomey) frequently loses its slaty structure, and then it can scarcely be distinguished from grauite; and hence the name gneissoid granite. Table rock, in Pickens district, is a magnificent example of the occurrence of gneiss in beds of vast thickness." Having thus alluded to the rocks kindred to granite, we now return to a more specific consideration of the varieties of true granite. "It is," says Tuomey, either coarse or fine, generally depending upon the quantity of feldspar. It has various names, derived from the proportions and mode of aggregation of its constituent minerals: it is called micaceous, feldspathic or quartzse, as mica, feldspar, or quartz may predominate. Porphyritie granite has the feldspar disseminated through the whole in large crystals, which are often of a different color from the rest of the mass, and hence the striking appearance of some varieties of this rock." He also mentions graphic granite, a bite granite and photogine, so called respectively from their distinctive qualities and appearances. "The Monticello granite (of Fairfield), with base of white feldspar, has black mica so disposed as to give the rock the appearance of marbled paper." We find allusion made by other writers to globu.ar granite, composed of large globular distinct concretions, which are sometimes several feet in diameter; to scr penline granite, which is distinguished by the variety and richness of its colors; and Professor Tuomey mentions the crystalline gran te, which may be found on Twelve Mile Creek, near Lexington, and elsewhere in the State. "The granite of Kershaw is noted for its great beauty and remarkable crystalline structure.' "The predominant color," says Shaw, "of granite usually depends on that of the feldspar, which may be white or gray, sometimes with a shade of red, yellow, blue or green, and sometimes it is flesh red." The quartz may be grayish white or gray, sometimes very dark; but it is usually vitreous and translucent. The mica may be black, brown, gray, silver, white, yellowish or violet. "At the factory, near Columbia," says Tuomey, "broad veins of red granite resembling the Egyptian variety, penetrate the rock." "The shaft of Pompey's pillar in Egypt," says Shaw, "which is sixty feet high, and of a single piece, is said to be of the red granite, but is possibly syenite." "In the eastern part of the United States, white granite is found in various places, and is now introduced into building." With these hints respecting the general nature, variety and adaptation to building purposes, of the various species of rocks generally recognized in utilitarian parlance as granite, we proceed to indicate the particular kinds to be found in this State, located at such points as may render them available for the purposes of commerce. Such persons as may desire to pursue the inquiries we have suggested in this connection, will be much interested and instructed by carefully examining such portions of the works already alluded to as treat of granite, as also the Encyclopedia Americana, Rees's and the Penny Cyclopedias, the Dictionaries of Nicholson and of Gregory, and Silliman's Journal, which contain much useful information respecting granite and the quarrying of it, and nearly all of which are within the reach of most readers. Graniteville," says Tuomey, "on Horse Creek, is the most southern locality of granite in the State." But Horse Creek, which can hardly be regarded as navigable for the granite trade, empties into the Savannah river, and, if available, can only be so for conveying it to consumers on that river; and Graniteville being more than a mile from the nearest point on the railroad, and this above the inclined plane at Aiken, the ascent of which with heavily loaded granite cars would be difficult, can only embrace that mode of conveyance by building a connecting road of similar length. The granite there is thus described by Professor Tuomey: "It is a hard, compact, blueish rock, composed of quartz and feldspar, with very little mica, the feldspar generally predominating. On the right bank of the creek it is much disintegrated; the feldspar is white, and in a state of decomposition, and even where the rock is solid it seems to have lost its peculiar luster." In relation to Edgefield District he remarks: "For the most part the granite is only seen where the lower tertiary beds are removed, as on Horse Creek, and again on Cloud's Creek. The granite of this latter locality is coarse and crystalline, with black mica. It appears on the surface, and is, in every case, much weathered." The next most southern locality of granite is the vicinity of the town of Columbia. A glance at the geological map of the State will show that on the left bank of the Broad river, extending many miles above Columbia, and of the Congaree to about an equal distance below the junction of the Saluda, as also on the right bank of the Congaree below the junction of the Saluda-this latter being in the District of Lexington-an immense body of granite lies in the most eligible situations for water carriage, constituting as it does the very banks and beds of those rivers. The Columbia and Greenville railroad, now in course of erection, passes over some of the most desirable granite localities, and this affords the means of convenient transfer from the quarries to the cars. That portion of the granite region, as well as the vast talcose slate formation-which extends without interruption over the space embraced between the banks of the Broad and Saluda rivers, from their junction quite up to the Newberry line, and which lies above the falls at Columbia--may be opened to boat navigation by renovating the now decaying Saluda canal, which was constructed by the State at great expense, for the purpose of overcoming this obstacle to navigation, and which, if not applied to the use of water-power factories, for which it is most admirably adapted-as much so as the canal recently made at Augusta for that especial purpose-ought to be restored to the uses for which it was originally intended. It is not unlikely that on the line of the South Carolina railroad, or near it, at some point below the town, good sites may be found for the quarrying of granite. It is the |