20 1I0RTUS JAMAICENSIS, sugar 



sessed richer juices than the new, and its tops afforded a much greater quantity of fodder 

 to. c ttle, which considerations, added to that of their not impoverishing the soil so 

 much as the other, renders it very doubtful whether the ultimate benefit will be so great 

 as was expected. 



The manner of planting the sugar-cane, an 1 the manufacture of it, are so well known 

 as to require no lengthy description. The soil should be rich, deep, and free, the si- 

 tuation warm, and such as has, at levst, moderate seasons. 



Previous to digging the caneholes the land is lined into small squares of three feet 

 and a half, marked by pegs, and a negro is placed opposite to each square to dig up 

 the mould, and fotm a tiench six or eight inches deep, throwing the mould into a bank, 

 forming ridges like the plough, which instrument of agriculture has been successfully 

 introduced on many plantations, where the nature of the Ian J will admit. These ridges 

 of earth are afterwards gradually drawn round the roots of the canes as they grow. The 

 cuttings or plants of the canes, containing each five or six gems or eyes, are placed ho- 

 rizontally at the bottom of the holes, and covered with mould from the banks about two 

 inches deep. .In twelve or fourteen days the sprouts appear, and, being moulded as 

 thc\ grow, the ridges of earth are entirely levelled in four or five months. It is scarcely 

 necessary to mention that the ground should always be kept clear of weeds, which will 

 ensure the plants arriving at perfection, unless attacked by uhat is called the blast, 

 which, often destroys whole fields of canes, anil is occasioned by myriads of an invisible 

 insect, appearing like white spots or blotches upon the cane, supposed to be the aphis 

 of] in ens, for which no effectual remedy has yet been found : Edwards mentions, 

 indeed, the Yaffle ant, which, he says, will also clear a plantation of these destructive 



i ajsrats*, a ruinous enemy to the sugar-cane; he, however, has his doubts The 

 same author enumerates the most convenient and proper manures for cane fields, as 

 follow: l-r, Of the coal and vegetable ashes, drawn from the fires of the boiling and 

 still houses. 2d, Feculenciej Discharged from the still house, mixed up with rubbislf 

 of buildings, white lime, &c. 3d, Refuse or field trash, i. e. the decayed leaves and 

 stems of the canes, so called in contradiction to cane-trash, reserved for luel. 4th, 

 Dung obtained from the horse and mule stables, and from moveable pens, or small 

 enclosures made by posts and rails, occasionally shifted upon the lands intended to be 

 planted, and into which the cattle are turned at night. 5th, Good mould, collected 

 from gullies, and other waste places, and thrown into 'the cattle pens. 



The canes being arrived at maturity are cut and carried to the mill in bundles, the 

 branches at the top being chopped off, and are an excellent food for the cattle. The 

 top shoot, which is full of eyes, is generally preserved for planting The mill con- 

 sists principally of three upright iron plated rollers or cylinders, from thirty to forty 

 inches in length, and from twenty to twenty-five inches diameter; and the middle one, 

 to which the moving power is applied, turns the other two, by means of cogs. Be- 

 tween these rollers, the canes being previously cut short and tied into bundles, are 

 twice compressed; for, having passed through the first and second rollers, the) are 

 turned round the nil Idle one, by ,i circular piece of frame work, or screen, called the 

 dumb returner, and forced hack through the second and third ; an operation winch 

 squeezes them completely dry. The juice is received in a leaden bed, and thence 

 conveyed into a vessel called the receiver. The refuse, or macerated rind of the cane, 



which 



* There is an East-India animal railed mungoet, which hears a natural antipathy to rats; if this animal 

 was introduced here, it might probably extirpate the wuol race of Ujese ooxiou* veimin. 



