INTRODUCTION. 1 5 



cifully treated, and without regard to the peculiarities of their 

 position by those who had written or spoken on the subject. 

 They were then so recently slave-holders, and must bear the con- 

 sequences of an unenviable position indeed, and endure the odium 

 attached to the institution. I am ready to recognise that the 

 situation is now different, and that public opinion has undergone 

 a change; yet I believe that the time has not come yet when 

 we should consider as buried in oblivion the many accusations 

 which were heaped on us, especially as there still exists a tendency 

 occasionally to revive them in one shape or the other. I trust, 

 therefore, that I will be excused for insisting in this new edition 

 on what took place as a consequence of the abolition of slavery, 

 and the causes that brought on the ruin of so many families. 

 We are but too easily inclined to judge of the present by what 

 we actually see, without reference to the past, or without taking 

 into account grave difficulties which may no more exist, but 

 which, whilst prevailing, had their effects. 



When the West Indians were judged as agriculturists, for 

 instance, neither the climate nor the conditions of inter-tropical 

 agriculture were ever taken into consideration. Their system 

 was weighed according to the rules which were found most 

 applicable to European tillage; and yet the climate and the 

 very nature of inter-tropical cultivation have a very great influ- 

 ence on the most superior methods of conducting agricultural 

 operations. 



The almost uncontrollable luxuriance of vegetation within 

 the torrid zone renders it necessary to have labourers constantly 

 engaged in field-work, whilst under temperate zones vegetation 

 is dormant for four or five months in the year, during which 

 recess the labourer may be employed under shelter, and in 

 various occupations. Moreover, under our zone heavy rains or 

 extreme droughts act as an obstacle to certain agricultural 

 operations. Again, nearly all our crops require weedings, an 

 operation which is but seldom performed in Europe, for the cereals, 

 which form the basis of European agriculture, once sown are 

 allowed to grow and arrive at maturity undisturbed; so that 

 the same extent of land requires in these colonies more constant 

 care and attention than, for instance, in England or France. 

 Nearly all our cultivated plants are perennial, which makes it 

 very difficult — if not impossible — to establish a system of rota- 

 tion of crops, as where annuals are raised. Some of our plants 

 even, such as the cacao and coffee, do not begin to yield a 

 regular crop except after a term of five or eight years'' growth ; 

 so that, even should an agricultural article become almost value- 

 less in the market, the planter is still under the obligation of 

 continuing its cultivation. And with regard to a sugar estate, 



