FARMS — CROPS. 139 



Buperior to tlieir brethren of tlie bnsli, with whom, 

 however, they seemed to be on terms of the utmost 

 equality. I was informed by a resident, that several 

 of the females had been transformed into excellent 

 house-servants ; but that they could not depend on 

 retaining them, from their unconquerable predilection 

 for a bush life. 



On the outskirts of the town is the barrack, where 

 a company of infau-try is stationed, to whom, in a 

 measure, the general good order prevailing is due — 

 their presence intimidating peace-breakers. These 

 red-coat gentry, stationed in a town in time of peace, 

 and enforcing the strictest discipline, appear rather 

 strange to an American ; but the state of society 

 renders them a necessary evil, and companies of 

 them are distributed throughout these colonies. 



Within a circuit of a few miles there are a num- 

 ber of excellent farms, on which neat buildings are 

 erected for dwellings and dairy purposes. The prin- 

 cipal products of these farms are potatoes, onions, 

 cabbages, and the various garden vegetables, wheat, 

 rye, and oats. Their wheat is good and sweet, but 

 dark. Their oats, as they acknowledge themselves, 

 scarcely deserve the name. They informed me that 

 they raised three crops of potatoes during the year. 

 Indian corn, too, is cultivated, but not to any extent. 

 These farms are surrounded by the ordinary post and 

 rail fence, made of the native mahogany — as it never 

 requires renewing on account of dacixj. The rasp- 

 berry-jam, a wood resembling in smell the berry of 

 that name, and susceptible of a beautiful polish, is 

 found abundantly in the neighborhood: this is a 

 handsome wood, and when recently fractured or 



