BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 525 
loam, and watered by the Plantain Garden River, a very 
appropriate name. The stream is bounded by noble groves 
of this useful plant, the fruits of which are roasted green as a 
substitute for bread ; several varieties are raised. Costus Ara- 
bicus is plentiful along the banks, with Pancratium speciosum. 
Cyperus elegans, and some smaller Cyperacee, appear to 
occupy the place of Carex in the ditches and wet places in 
Europe. This lovely valley put me much in mind of the 
Carse of Gowrie. It is bounded on both sides by hills of no 
great elevation, and which are clad with forest, abounding, 
among other trees, with the Cabbage-Bark (Andira inermis) 
covered with its delicate rose-coloured flowers. This is an 
esteemed timber and is certainly a showy tree. On ap- 
proaching Wheelersfield Estate, the rain fell in torrents; but 
we were very kindly received by Mr. Blunt, the intelligent 
overseer of this desirable property, where the rearing of the 
Sugar Cane is carried on, in the utmost perfection. The 
process of sugar-making is interesting and simple; the canes 
are planted in rows about four feet asunder; the ground 
turned up by the plough, in a way similar to the European 
mode of preparing land for turneps or potatoes ; about a foot 
of the top of the cane is selected and laid in the furrows at 
regular intervals, and covered with the plough. This is, I 
believe, an improvement upon the original system of digging 
cane-holes by manual labour. The canes are fit to cut in 
about nine months, they are then cut by the hand and passed 
through rollers, propelled by a water-wheel, or by cattle, to 
express the juice, which is conveyed to the boilers by means - 
of a leaden trough, and boiled as soon as expressed, with 
the addition of a little lime. The boiling-house is a well 
ventilated building, with a row of coppers, where the liquor 
is passed from one to another, until it begins to granulate, 
when it is run into coolers, and when about half cold is 
put into hogsheads for exportation, The molasses are 
drained off by means of a few of the foot-stalks of the Plan- 
lain: a mixture of molasses and water, allowed to ferment a 
short time, is distilled into rum. The fires are made of the 
