July i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



31 



was empty that a key with a k-athern thong 

 waa found at the bottom of the cask ! I admit at 

 once th (. it 13 a hard problem, liow an authority 

 in tea can recommend, as a good jat, plants grown 

 from seed of trees so Vrry worthless as to be worthy 

 only of being rooted out : still, I 'm "agin" all ir- 

 reverencef and on the side of authority, 



I was sorry to hear the otlier day that on one 

 tea place two tiushes bad been lost by hetopellis.* 

 It is to be hoped that this sort of thing won't go on. 

 It is bad enough in cacao, giving uo end of trouble, 

 and it is much to be debired that to the multituii in- 

 cus duties of the tea planter there won't be added 

 the hunting-down of this lly. 



I heard of one man, who ought to know what he 

 is about in regard to cacao cultivation, having gone 

 in for planting his young cacao place with areca 

 palms. Wind and hehpeUlf were tht= r*?asi>iis given. 



So far we are havmg a real houest old-fashioned 

 S. W. monsoou, minus the wind. The absence — 

 or rather comparative absence — of the latttr is very 

 marked, and few I think will regret it. Such a spell 

 of planting weather we have not had for long, and 

 if the tea plants don't come on which are being 

 put out by the thousand now, it will be 

 through "sheer cussedness." I take it that every 

 planter does his honest best to have this work 

 carefully looked to. 



Peppercorn, 



THE NEGROES AND PLANTING IN JAMAICA. 



Iter Boreale estate is a famous place for good water 

 for drnking and good bathing places. A favourite place of 

 mine was under a culvert on the cart-road where the 

 old millrace for driving an under.'jhot water-wheel used 

 to be. The wheel is still there about 40 feet in diameter 

 or 120 in circumference, but it is rotting with the roof 

 over it, and would be better used for tin-wood ; in parts 

 of the dam there are good bathing holes, and Mr. Forrest 

 and self go down nearly every evening and batlie in a shaded 

 place, where fastoons of hanging climber.s touch the waler, 

 and the wall of the dam protects us from the view of the 

 public road. Tliero are a great number of rock etr, ams 

 and springs a'usliing ont along the boundary of Iter Boreale. 

 The Mills and Trash Houses on Iter Boreale estate cover 

 an area of about three acres. Si.x buildings in all ; 



1st. — The Boiling House. 



2nd. — Sugar House and Store. 



3rd. — Distillery and Fermenting House, Kum Store. 



4th.— Trash House. 



5th.— Do. do. 



6th. — Carjienter, 'Wheelwright, and Cooper's Shed. 

 The machinery of a sugar-houso is very interesting. 

 Three heavy cjUnders or crushers driven by a steam- 

 eugine draw in the cane as it is placed ou the table to 

 feed the crushers and the Creole man employed pas-;ing 

 the cane is called " the feeder." He generally has an old 

 woman to help him " feed, " and on the off side another 

 couple of h^nds are necessary to clear away the " trash " 

 quick enough so that the machinery may not be impeded, 

 pressure being put on of Clj', and the machinery should 

 bo kept regular, without blocking the " trash." A 

 heavy cog-wlieel revolving steadily and regulated by 

 a large fly-wheel not oidy turns the shaft of the con- 

 necting crushers but pumps the cane liquor (flowing from 

 the gutters into a cistern) up into the boiling pan, receiv. 

 ing boiler or vat. A small quantity of lime is mixed 

 with the cane juice in No. 2 cistern or vat and then it 

 is let off into the boilim; coppers below, hve of which are 

 kept boiling and a staff of men uudi-r a "chief boiler" 

 employed skimming off the froth and refuse floating on 

 the surface of the boiler. They are widebladed pieces of 

 wood used for this purpose, like canoe p.addles ; for mani- 

 pulating the sugar other men are armed with heavy ladles. 



» la this hearsay ? In two cases, we know, of alleged 

 helopeltis, it has been proved that this insect was not to 

 blame.— Ed. I 



After the sugar is pressed out of the cane trash it is dried 

 in the sun and used for fuel for the engines. The pressure 

 of steam was 51, and there is disconnecting gear to use 

 at times of block. Old Brown has been engineer for 22 

 years on Her Boreale ; he is fifty years old and son of 

 the old lady working at the " Great House. '• Heading 

 out cane in the cane-field ready for the wains requires 

 supervision, and the wainmeu come along at a good rate 

 with their teams of cattle, caUing them by their respective 

 names, such as " Prince," " Dashwood," " Eover," &c. 

 One has got to lookout in the caneyard when four wains 

 are dragged in with a rush drawn by sixteen heavy steers. 

 In the distillery tliere are eight large vats for ferment- 

 ation and a syphon worm wound round a cistern filled 

 with water. Sugar boiling and rum distilling are not learned 

 iuj a day any more than tea jpanufacture, and your cor- 

 respondent is rather " fuddled " with the rum business, 

 and considerably mixed up with the " duuder '' and the 

 "lees" and the "high wines" the saccharometer and 

 the " beads " to test the " above proof. " It appears to 

 me that a " Doctor " or still-house book-keeper is indis- 

 pensible, and yet ours was dischaiged shortly after the 

 " field book-keeper, "and now " Bushajini " is discharged 

 to reduce the expenditure and left me "the Chinese book- 

 keeper" to look after the hanana.s until Mr. Brongliton took 

 charge of over he whole estate and is about to hand over to 

 Mr. Ed. Forrest (late of Dimbula) ; so thathke the Govern- 

 ment of Jamaica we are to have a "new departure." 

 MeautimeMr. Forrest is to be."Busha" field hook-keeper, 

 stillhouse book-keeper or " doctor " banana cultiv- 

 ator and penu-keeper all rolled into sue. My "new departure" 

 will prob;ibly be to the City of New Orleans in the Southern 

 States of America. Since writing to you, I visited the great 

 Gray's Inn sugar estate in Annatto Bay. The day was 

 Saturday, the Creole market day so there was no work 

 going ou. There is a manager or "Busha" (sometimes 

 called overseer) a field bookkeeper and stillhouse book- 

 keeper, also a " boiling house hook-keeper " ou Gray's Inn 

 sugar estate. The fields of cane stretch along both sides 

 of the cart-road and even the low hill land is under cane, 

 the outturu of sugar last year was between 500 and 

 600 hogsheads of sugar ! What a pity such fine pro- 

 perties should be :it a discount just now through the 

 Frenchmen and Germans growing so much beetroot. (Goak 

 Why don't John Bull " beet " them with his " cane " f) 

 That bounty business is ruining all the West Indies and 

 some want to go over to the United States and others 

 to the Dominion Government of Canada. The Yankees 

 say the West Indies are no good and call the negroes 

 lazy and good for nothing. Meauwhde oft' goes " Quashie" 

 to cut the Panama Canal and leaves all the Creoles 

 to shift for themselves. This is another view of the " new 

 departure." Lord Derby promised the West Indians ! The 

 new members of the Legislative Council at Kingston have 

 tried to reduce the expenditure but failed to do so, toany 

 extent, without disorganizing some of the departments. 

 The new railway extension will soon be oijoued to the public 

 and when the country is more opened u]), by roads and rail- 

 ways aud the Panama Canal is in working order, Jamaica 

 will stand a good chance as a coaling-station and place 

 of call convenient to vessels plying the Canal. People in 

 Jamaica are too fond of saying everything is " going to 

 the dogs" Now why don't they go in for all liinds of new 

 products suitable to the cliiuate aud soil of the country. 

 You may depend upon it Ceylon will come off with fly- 

 ing colours by and bye, when the Tea boxes are shipped, 

 and eardamons, cinchona, coffee, cacao, tobacco, &c. 

 are all up again, fetching high prices. I read your speech 

 in the Colonial Institute and glad to hear the new pro- 

 ducts are putting old Ceylon ou her feet again. As far 

 as I can see you will not have the competition in the 

 future you have had in the past, aud borne so patiently. 



What is llie use of repining ? 

 For where there 's a will there "s a way. 



Tomorrow the sun may be shining 

 .\lthough it is cloudy today. 



H. C. 



^ 



BP>AZIL SLAVKS AND COFFEE CROPS. 

 The Qazp.ta de Noticias has collected and printed 

 some very interesting statistics in relation to the slave 

 population of the empire. From these we beg to ox. 



