Book I. 



AGRICULTURE IN NORTH AMERICA. 



195 



ductive, that a single acre of it will maintain five 



horses for a whole year. The <* Guinea-grass" 



(P. polt/gonum, fig. 199 b.) is next in importance 



to the sugar-cane, as the grazing and breeding 



farms are chiefly supported by it. Hence arises 



the plenty of homed cattle, both for the butcher 



and planter; which is such, that few markets in 



Europe furnish beef of better quality, and at a 



cheaper rate than that of Jamaica. Mutton also ] 



is cheap and good. The seeds of the Guinea- 

 grass were brought from the coast of Guinea, as 



food for some birds which were presented to 



Ellis, chief justice of the islands. The several 



kinds of kitchen-garden productions, that are 



known in Europe, thrive in the mountains of this 



island ; and the markets of Kingston and Spanish 



Town are supplied with cabbages, lettuces, carrot?, 



turnips, parsnips, artichokes, kidney-beans, green 



pease, asparagus, and various sorts of European 



herbs, in the greatest abundance. Other indi- 

 genous productions, that may be classed among 



the esculent vegetables, are plantains, bananas, 



yams of several varieties, calalaa (a species of spin- 

 age), eddoes (Arum and Caladium), cassavi, and 



sweet potatoes. Among the more elegant fruits 



of the island we may reckon the anana, or 



pine- apple, tamarind, papaw, guava, sweet-sop, 



cashew-apple, custard-apple, Akee tree f^^. 200.), cocoa-nut, star-apple, grenadilla, 



avocado-pear, hog-plum, pindal-nut naesberry, 

 mammee-sapota, Spanish gooseberry prickly-pear, 

 anchovy-pear {Jig. 201 o.), and some others, for 

 which Jamaica is probably indebted to the bounty 

 of nature. For the orange, the lemon, lime, shad- 

 dock, vine, melon, fig, and pomegranate, the 

 West India islands are perhaps obliged to their 

 Spanish invaders. The cinnamon has been lately 

 introduced, and the mango {fig. 201 b.) is become 

 almost as common as the orange. The mountains 

 are generally covered with extensive woods, con- 

 taining excellent timber ; such as the lignum vitae, 

 log- wood, iron-wood, pigeon -wood, green-heart- 

 braziletto, and bully-trees ; all of which are to a 

 great degree heavy, as well as compact and 

 impenetrable. Of softer kinds, for boards and 

 shingles, the species are innumerable; and there 

 are many beautiful varieties for cabinet-work; 

 and among these we may enumerate the bread- 

 nut, the wild lemon, and the well-known mahogany. 



O 2 



