252 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, 1884. 



cases, that promotes the formation of alkaloids in the living 

 bark, ami so nobody can positively affirm "from these seeds 

 you will rear trees, that will furnish bark of so much per- 

 centage of quinine." 



And however favourably one may think of the constant 

 value of slips, grafts, etc., even very early disappointments 

 are recorded in this respect, which we are now apt to ascribe 

 to the imperfect analysis of the time, but which we cannot 

 con ider altogether as impossible. Besides this, few planters 

 will be sufficiently lucky to propagate, by exclusively arti- 

 ficial ir.eu.s, and it will have to be proved in a proximate 

 future, whether the growth and vigour of the artificially 

 reared cinchona plants are and remain as favourable under 

 all circumstances. 



Courageous and hopeful planters in India reckon upon' 

 America being unable to bear up against the competition, 

 considering the great expense's of exploitation and trans- 

 port here. This is specially a question of means of 

 communication, and history teaches us how these are affected 

 ami improved according to requirements. To save costs of 

 transport it has been proposed to work out ths material 

 in India to the alkaloid; but if need presses, is it likely 

 that such a resource would be neglected in America: 1 



Ceylon is not dieaded as a rival, becuuse the plantations 

 die away there prematurely. But in Ceylon they continue 

 planting, and skilful planters have there too brought to 

 light: "why this pre nature ripening'' is a lamentable fact, 

 and by what means it is to be combated. 



\Ve do not wish to discourage our present cinchona 

 planters, but we wish to warn them against exaggerated 

 representations aul dangerous illusions, as we are absolutely 

 of opinion that presistence in the way of extravagance 

 adopted of late years, will inevitably lead to the ruin of 

 all. New concerns are nonsense, al long as the yearly eon- 

 sumption of the article does not increase immensely more 

 than has been calculated hitherto. — Van Gobkom. — Indian 

 Mercury. 



COFFEE AND SUGAR IN DEMERARA. 

 From a piper on 'The R'ver B-rb'ce and its Tri. 

 lnt'ario', " by Alexander Winter, in Timehri, Vol II., 



Pt. II , we quote as follows : — 



* * * * 



Berbice has suffered much socially from the transfer of 

 tie' seat of government to Demerary, and by the 

 system of centralisation which has followed this, as well 

 as from the removal of the troops and from the cessation 

 of the coffee cultivation ; yet the town of New Amsterdam 

 has gone on increasing in size and number of inhabitants. 

 The population by the census of 1881 was 8,386, and the 

 amount of shipping that cleared at the Port last year 

 was 26,085 tons. 



The liver opposite the town is broad but shallow. On 

 the west bank was formerly a continuous line of estates 

 for some fifteen miles up. Now, excepting plantation 

 Blairmont, there is not a single estate in ctdtivation on 

 that side of the river. On the town side about two miles 

 up is a fine sugar estate called Providence. This is the 

 only sugar estate in the country that remains in the 

 possession of the same family that owned it at the time 

 of emancipation in ls.34. 



About three miles further, at Plantation Bellevue (happily 

 so named), the river takes a bend and a fine reach opens 

 up. giving a somewhat lake-like character to the scenery. 

 This reach is called in the Dutch grants, the "Groote marri- 

 pnam," meaning probably the great estuary, or sea reach. 

 Near the upper end of the Groote marri-paam on the 

 east bank is Plantation Highbury, a fine sugar estate 

 that once belonged to the "Berbice Association.'' The 

 Berbice Association occupied iu this colony very much 

 the same position as the East India Company did in 

 Hindoostan. Although owning allegiance to the Sovereign- 

 ity of the States General in Holland, the members 

 of the association were the virtual proprietors of all tin' 

 country, and had the government of it. They sold out 

 lota of land to private individuals who were willing to 

 cultivate them and establish estates. These lots or grants 

 were all carefully measured by land surveyors, and diagrams 

 of them were, deposited in the Registrar's Office, where 

 they are still to be seen; but the association retained 

 certain portions themselves and established what were 



called "model estates." These were not measured off* 

 and no boundaries fixed, as all the ungranted land be- 

 longed to the association. 



These estates are vailed " Society's ground." or " Soci- 

 ety's Plantations " in the Dutch charts of the colony ; 

 and iu Downer's map of Berbice tlt^y are marked as 

 "Colony Estates." At the time of the capture of the 

 colony by the English, there were four of these estates 

 in cultivation iu the hands of the association ; and it was 

 specially agreed that they should be treated as private 

 and not as government property. In the Act of Capitul- 

 ation of the ( 'olony of Berhice in September 1803, it 

 was stipulated in Article 2 that "The Plantations, Lands, 

 " Manufactories, Workshops, Slaves, Effects and Poss- 

 " essious of the Berbice Association of whatever nature 

 " shall be considered as Private Property in the same 

 " manner as is agreed to by the Capitulation with General 

 " Whyte in May, 1796." 



The' estates reserved to the association under this article 

 were Dageraad, St. Jan, Dankbaurheid and Sandvoort. 

 The association carried on the cultivation of these estates 

 until the year 1818, wdien they sold them to English 

 proprietors. 



Prom the earliest days of the occupation of Guiana by 

 the Dutch, there had" been some English settlers, but 

 these were much increased in number after 1S14, iu which 

 year the colonies of Demerary, Essequibo and Berbice were 

 finally ceded to Great Britain by the Government of the 

 Netherlands. Soon after many estates were bought by the 

 merchants of London, Liverpool, Bristol and Glasgow; and 

 in 1818 estates in Berbice seem to have attracted the at- 

 tention of British capitalists to a considerable extent, and 

 the Dutch Berbice Association availed themselves of it to 

 dispose of their estates. The purchasers were Messrs. D. 

 < '. ( lameron, Henry Davidson, and Jineas Barkly. _ The 

 directors of the association were represented on this oc- 

 casion by their attorney, Mr. Thomson Hankey of Mincing 

 Lane, whose power of attorney is recorded in the Registrar's 

 Office of Berbice.* 



The following is the entry in the Highbury books of 

 this purchase: — 



" The Colony Estates, November 1818. 

 " Plantation Account Proper Dr. 



"To Thomson Hankey, 99. 

 "For the purchase of the following Plantations from 

 "him iu August last, viz., Pin. Sandvoort, Pin. 

 " Dankbarheid, and Dageraad with all and every 

 "thing to the same belonging together, with (iS2 

 '•slaves, names and particulars as per Iuveutory 

 " filed-£66,00n @ /12 flWflOQ 



"Thomson Haukey, 99, Dr. 



" To Davidsons, Barkly & Co. 

 " For this sum paid him on signing of contract for 

 "part payment of purchase of said estates — 



"£22,000 @/12 ^264,000 



The partners in this purchase divided their interest in it 

 thus:— Mr. D. O. Cameron, joined by his friend Mr. 

 John Cameron (Ulenevii), took Sandvoort, which was a 

 large coffee estate in Cauje. This they divided in two, 

 and made one-half of it a sugar estate, which they called 

 Lo, hater, after the head quarters of the Camerons in 

 Scotland. The remaining three estates were retained by 

 the other two partners: St. Jan and Dartkliaarheid were 

 united and called Hiffhbury after Mr. Barkly's place High- 

 bury Grove, near London ; Dageraad was continued in 

 cultivation for some time, but eventually was made over to 

 government as an asylum for lepers. 



Both Dageraad and Highbury were worked by water 

 power. The water from the river was admitted by a large 

 brick sluice some six or eight feet wide, which was shut 

 at high water, to retain the water till hall ebb-tide, when 

 it was loosed out at a narrow sluice about two feet wide, 

 thus forming a mill-race in which the wheel worked which 

 drove the cane mill. One inconvenience of this system was 

 that the machinery could only be worked when the tide 

 suited, whether by day or night. 



* A carefully compiled index to the records of this 

 office has been' lately made. It was commenced by the 

 late Registrar, Mr. A. B. Stewart, and completed by the 

 gentlemen now in charge, Mr. O'Meara and Mr. Jas. Walls. 



