6iQ A. D. 1777. 



commerciul tovens of Briftol, Liverpool, and Hull, between which goods 

 can be conveyed without any trouble of unloading and refhipping. This 

 work was alfo planned and executed by Mr. Brindley. 



To this later canal was foon after added another of 26 miles: and 

 thereafter fo many other branches were conneded with it, for extend- 

 ing the communication through a wide range of the country, that it 

 would be tedious to recount them all. 



May 27'" — Meffieurs Clark and Berkenhout appHed to the lords of 

 trade for a reward for an invention, whereby they can dye cotton in 

 fcarlet and crimfon colours, both in grain : and their lordfliips recom- 

 mended their invention to the king, as worthy of a reward, in order 

 that it might be made public for the benefit and e.xtenfion of the ma- 

 'Aufachires of the kingdom. 



Grenada, and fome of the other iflands in the Weft-Indies had for 

 feveral years been infefted with the carnivorous ants {x.\\e forinicte omni- 

 vora of Linnaeus) in fuch inconceivable numbers, that the furface of 

 the ground was often entirely covered with them, and carcafes of large 

 animals were reduced to {keletons with aftonifhing difpatch. The ra- 

 loon canes*, Hme trees, and, in general, all plants, which form a ftool, 

 or arched affemblage of roots, under ground, were totally deftroyed by 

 their burrowing under them : and fome planters were adually obliged 

 totally to abandon the cultivation of fugar, and put their lands in cot- 

 ton and other produdions exempted from the ravages of that tremend- 

 ous fcourge. Many attempts were made to extirpate them ; and Mr. 

 Phillips of Grenada, who had difcovered a powder to deftroy them, ap- 

 plied to the lords of trade for a reward, who recommended it to the 

 treafury to give him a proper recompenfe, in confequence of which, the 

 houfe of commons voted him a reward of ^^3,600 for his invention in 

 the year 1781 f. But as it was impracticable to cover the whole fur- 

 face of an ifland with his powder, and thofe ants, which were at a con- 

 fiderable depth under ground, were totally inacceffible by it, it was foon 

 found, that the operation of the remedy muft ever be too limited to 

 produce any important efFed: and thofe deftructive little animals con- 

 tinued to diftrefs and ruin the planters in feveral iflands, and particu- 

 larly in the French ifland of Martinique, till the year 1780 J, I ought 



* Ratoon canes are thofe which fpring up from of Martinique, who, notwithftanding a moft dread- 



the roots of the canes, after they are cut. The ful hurricane in the year 1766, had been eleven 



ground, according to its ftrength, will prbduce ra- years fuffering from the deftruftion occafioned by 



toons for more or fewer years, each fucceeding thofe vermin. But before that time Mr. Defvou- 



year's ratoons, howtver, yielding lefs and lefs fu- ves, a planter of that ifland, had difcovered, that 



gar. by burning the cane trafh in which the ants har- 



■J- That is, after the ants in Grenada, then a boured, uiing plenty of manure, planting his canes 



French ifland, were deftroyed by the aft of Pro- anew every year, allowing room for the free circul- 



vidence in the hurricane of Oftober 1780. ation of air through them, and frequent weeding, 



X According to Raynal, a reward of 666^300 he could obtain good crops of fugar. \.Hijl. phil. 



livres had been offered in the year 1775 for the dif- et polit, F. vii,/. 70, ed. 1782-] 

 covery of a remedy againft the ants by the planters 



