1884.] PLANTING ENTERPRISE IN THE WEST INDIES. 335 



supplement the indigenous labour, is carried on systematically and 

 successfully, as at British Guiana, Trinidad, Jamaica, &c., the culti- 

 vation of sugar is, and, I trust, always will be, a leading industry. 



But taking into consideration the physical characteristics of the 

 AVest Indies, the great diversity of their soils, the varying altitudes of 

 their lands, and the great differences in their climatic conditions, if 

 viewed aright, all these would betoken agricultural operations as 

 varied and as diversified as the conditions herein indicated. Besides 

 this, the lessons of the past should teach us that we cannot depend, 

 however much we may wish to do so, upon any one single industry. 

 Under the keen competition offered by newer and richer lands in 

 other countries, it is our duty to look more keenly than ever into the 

 nature and character of our resources, and, while estimating them at 

 their proper value, endeavour to assign to each locality, and to each 

 description of soil and climate, the industrial plants best calculated 

 to promote the wealth of the country. As I mentioned lately, with 

 regard to Jamaica, in our endeavours to build up a permanent 

 prosperity for the West Indies, w^e should be guided entirely by 

 their natural capabilities, and the condition of their labour supply : 

 and, in the light of what is done under similar circumstances in 

 other countries, endeavour to turn to advantage all such natural 

 gifts as lie around us. The history of all essentially agricultural 

 communities teaches us there is safety only when we plant many 

 things ; or, in plainer words, in agriculture, as in other commercial 

 enterprises, it is not wise to 'place all our eggs in one basket.' 



If we introduce and cultivate too exclusively any particular plant 

 of commercial importance, it always happens, sooner or later, that 

 some predatory organism, vegetable or animal, fastens upon it, and 

 often entirely destroys our expectations of reward. Such has been 

 the general experience with regard to sugar, coffee, the grape vine 

 cotton, wheat, hop, and the potato. They have all suffered more 

 or less from such visitations, and the moral is that we cannot 

 disturb the natural conditions of their growth — as we often do by 

 injudicious cultivation over extensive areas — and violate the order 

 of nature for our profit, without finding consequences often entailed 

 which are very much to our hurt. 



Possibly' the depression which overtook the West Indian sugar 

 industry, like that which now has overtaken the coffee industry in 

 Ceylon, if viewed aright, was a blessing in disguise. Be that as it 

 may, I believe it is now pretty well understood and acknowledged 

 that the West Indies, to be prosperous, must grow many things 

 besides 'sugar ; and, as it has the capabilities to grow, with profit 

 and success, such valuable products as coffee and cacao, tea and 

 cinchona, spices of all kinds, such as cinnamon and nutmeg, cloves 



