APPENDIX.
iii.
slavery, a general failure both of the crops of sugar and provisions, in successive seasons, occurring, as this has done, simultaneously with the scarcity and excessive prices of those imported supplies from British. America on w h i c h the island depends, would have given the final blow to the embarrassed fortunes of a majority of the planters. This will appear more evident from the fact that supplies of meal and fish, when purchased at a credit of a few months only, were charged by the merchants at an advance of one-third upon the cash price. From the statements we have already given of the opinions of practical planters it appears, that the cultivation of the greater number of estates is carried on at a less expense than during slavery. W e are not disposed to insist too strongly upon the saving which has thus been effected ; because several of those estates have yielded the largest revenue since 1834, on w h i c h there has been a judicious increase of expenditure, and also because a statement of comparative outlay, even if it could be obtained for the whole island, would afford too narrow a basis, on which to form a judgment of the respective merits, in an economical point of view, of free and slave labor. The following statements there fore, selected from a number kindly put into our hands by several planters and managers, are subjoined rather as illustrations than as proofs in addition to what has already been advanced on this subject. The amounts are given in currency. COMPARATIVE V I E W OF T H E E X P E N S E S
ON
ESTATE. Expenses from Isi. January,
to 31st December, 1833. £ s. Nourishment, &c. for sick 18 14 57 Barrels of Herrings 155 9 40 Puncheons and 92 barrels of Meal and Flour 771 7 * 139439 lbs. of Yams, at 7s. per 100 lbs 488 0 *14880 lbs. of Sweet Potatoes, at 7s per do 52 1 4 Hogsheads of Codfish 44 7 Wine, &c. for the sick 2 10 9 Barrels of Pork for christmas 81 0 10 Ditto of Flour ditto 45 0 Cotton for Nurses 119 Osnaburghs and Blankets 95 14 Caps 30 0 Paid to women for bringing out children 2 12 To Parish Taxes on 321 Slaves 44 2 To deficiency Tax on ditto 80 0 To Medical care of ditto 136 4 £2049
3
•* These are grown on tho plantation, and are charged at the market price. A* 2
d. 10 6 U S 7 6 0 0 0 Q lOJ 0 0 9 0 0 8i