itself, or at the furnace doors. I saw that no boys or girls
were in the mill--none but full-grown persons. The very small children
do absolutely nothing all day, and the older children tend the cattle
and run errands. And the engineer tells me that in the long run this
liberal system of treatment, as to hours and duties, yields a better
return than a more stringent rule.

He thinks the crop this year, which has been a favorable one, will
yield, in well-managed plantations a net interest of from fifteen to
twenty-five per cent on the investment; making no allowance, of course,
for the time and skill of the master. This will be a clear return to
planters like Mr. Chartrand, who do not eat up their profits by interest
on advances, and have no mortgages, and require no advances from the
merchants.

But the risks of the investment are great. The cane-fields are liable to
fires, and these spread with great rapidity, and are difficult to
extinguish. Last year Mr. Chartrand lost $7,000 in a few hours by fire.
In the cholera season he lost $12,000 in a few days by deaths among the
Negroes.

According to the usual mode of calculation, I suppose the value of the
investment of Mr. Chartrand to be between $125,000 and $150,000. On
well-managed estates of this size, the expenses should not exceed
$10,000. The gross receipts, in sugar and molasses, at a fair rate of
the markets, cannot average less than between $35,000 and $40,000. This
should leave a profit of between eighteen and twenty-two per cent.
Still, the worth of an estimate depends on the principle on which the
capital is appraised. The number of acres laid down to cane, on this
plantation, is about three hundred. The whole number of Negroes is one
hundred, and of these not more than half, at any time, are capable of
efficient labor; and there are twenty-two children below the age of five
years, out of a total of one hundred Negroes.

Beside the engineer, some large plantations have one or more white
assistants; but here an intelligent Negro has been taught enough to take
charge of the engine when the engineer is off duty. This is the highest
post a Negro can reach in the mill, and this Negro was mightily pleased
when I addressed him as maquinista. There are, also, two or three white
men employed, during the season, as sugar masters. Their post is beside
the caldrons and defecators, where they are to watch the work in all its
stages, regulate the heat and the time for