23 
attended to; and I would particularly mention the Sarsaparilla 
(Smilax Sarsaparilla) a plant, so indifferent as to soil, so easy of 
cultivation, and so valuable as a remittance home, that too much 
care can scarcely be bestowed upon it: much waste land might 
be profitably cultivated with it, especially where labour is scarce, 
and the economy of it an object. 
“ Another plant that deserves to be noticed is the Cotton: any 
rupture of the amicable relations now existing between the 
United States and Great Britain, would at once cause a great 
demand for it in the British Colonies. The attention of many 
individuals has already been deservedly turned towards its culti- 
vation ; and there is no reason why a plant that flourishes so 
luxuriantly should not be one of general and profitable pro- 
duction. That variety, from the undyed wool of which the 
article commonly known as Nankeen is manufactured, has been 
introduced into Jamaica ; and it will afford me much pleasure 
to distribute seeds to any person desirous of rearing it. The 
wild Cinnamon (Canella alba) and the St. Lucia Bark (Ezostemma 
Caribeum), articles in demand at home, and exported from other 
parts of the West Indies, are unheeded and but little known here, 
though frequently found growing about our doors, and com- 
manding a remunerating price. 
“ Trusting that I shall not trespass too much on your time, I beg 
to direct your attention to one other subject,—our quick Fences. 
These must always be matter of interest to the agricultural popu- 
lation of this island; but though of vast importance they have 
been generally subject to much ill management in several 
ways, principally from the mode of treatment they are subjected 
to in training and pruning, and not unfrequently from the inap- 
plicability of the species of plant to a peculiar locality. Hedges 
when young should be cut back to within a little of the root, 
and the plants left at regular distances from each other, a process 
which is sure to produce a growth of strong, healthy, upright, and 
lateral shoots ; instead of which a young fence is cut to the height 
it is intended to remain, and lopped once a-year afterwards (instead 
of pruning), thereby causing a flow of sap to the extremities, 
which results in a growth of weak wood at the top, and bare and 
naked stems at the bottom. The logwood, orange, and lime have 
usually been the materials for fences here. In the East, the 
“ Gmelina Asiatica,’ the “ Cesalpinia sepiaria,”’ and the “ Ses- 
bania Aiyyptiaca”’ are chiefly employed for that purpose,and as 
these are all introduced, it would be well to have their respective 
merits tested by comparisons with the logwood, &e. The formet 
have no doubt, is superior to any thing that has been yet tried. 
