202 A TREATISE ON THE CONNECTION OF 



very considerable. Those exported, consisting chiefly of 

 valuable manufactured goods, are of small weight when 

 compared with the weight of the sugar, &c. imported ; 

 and of so little value is the freight of outward-bound 

 ships, that they are frequently either entirely laden with 

 bricks, lime, &c. or partly so by way of ballast: in 

 which last situation most of our West Indiamen perform 

 their outward-bound voyage. 



As dung is also said to be sent from Britain to the West 

 Indies, this circumstance, (together with the chemical re- 

 marks and observations on the nature of peat) has 

 'pointed out peat as an article capable of being sent 

 in certain states of preparation to the West India 

 Islands, with a view to supply the annual consumption 

 and deficiency of vegetable matter, which may take 

 place in the soil by the cultivation of the sugar- 

 cane. 



Thifs idea originated from knowing that the soreline 

 acid, the acid most abundantly contained in peat, and 

 the acid of sugar, were identically the same. 



There 



