SUGAR. 265 



dom exceeded two or three inches; they 

 have consequently been found very produc- 

 tive, and their sugar also of a superior qua- 

 lity. An acre of them, in good land, has 

 been found to produce from four to five 

 hogsheads, of which the same quantity in 

 common canes would only produce one. The 

 juice of the Bourbon canes is of a paler co- 

 lour, and they are ripe enough to grind in 

 ten months ; if allowed to remain a longer 

 time uncut, they lose part of their juices. 

 From their size they resist dry weather much 

 better than any other cane, and are not near 

 so subject to suffer from that destructive in- 

 sect the borer. With all these seeming ad- 

 vantages, it is no wonder if they entirely 

 superseded the use of all other varieties of 

 the sugar-cane in Jamaica. They, however, 

 more speedily exhaust the soil ; and it may 

 be questioned, whether, in the course of 

 time, they will not themselves dwindle, from 

 repeated transplantation in a foreign soil, 

 which all exotics do ; and which, indeed, 

 has already been found the case, in a con- 

 siderable degree, on many plantations. The 

 old cane, it is acknowledged, possessed 

 richer iuices than the new, and its tops af- 

 forded a much greater fodder for cattle. 



