CHAPTER VI. 



Sugar-cane cultivation. Its introduction. Cost of production. Causes of 

 decline of sugar industry. How to be revived. Muscavado sugar. 

 New varieties of canes to be introduced. Banana cultivation. Hints 

 to cultivators.' Abundant land for bananas. Present position of the 

 industry. Cacao. Advantages possessed by British Honduras. Nature 

 of land. How to start a plantation. Shade plants required. India- 

 rubber-tree Liberian coffee. Market value in America. Topping 

 and pruning. Pulping machines. Oranges, limes, and lemons. Coco- 

 nuts : prolific yield. How to plant. Planting distances. Cost of 

 plantations. Export trade. Eice. Indian corn. Tobacco. Pine- 

 apples, how to cultivate. Cinchona. 



AMONG the most important plants now under cultivation in 

 the colony, possibly sugar-cane, bananas, and coco-nuts take the 

 leading place. 



The present position of sugar-cane cultivation may not 

 compare favourably with what it was a few years ago, both 

 the number of estates, as well as the area actually under canes, 

 having greatly diminished. According to Mr. Fowler, " The 

 cultivation of the sugar-cane was introduced into the colony by 

 the Yucatecans, in 1848, who crossed the border on being ex- 

 pelled by the Indians from the southern part of Yucatan. The 

 success they achieved was remarkable, and the northern district 

 of the colony became the scene of many small nourishing plan- 

 tations. The American Civil War caused some Southern planters 

 to become settlers in the colony, and the attention of proprietors 

 in the colony was drawn to the subject, when a large amount of 

 capital was embarked in sugar plantations. 



