APPENDIX. 247 



in the largest proportion, is the ashy loam of Saint Chris- 

 topher's, of which an account has been given in the His- 

 tory of that Island. Next to that is the soil which, in Ja- 

 maica, is called brick-mould ; not as resembling a brick 

 in colour, but as containing such a due mixture of clay 

 and sand as is supposed to render it well adapted for the 

 use of the kiln. It is a deep, warm, and mellow hazzle 

 earth, easily worked ; and though its surface soon grows 

 dry after rain, the under-stratum retains a considerable 

 degree of moisture in the driest weather ; with this ad- 

 vantage too, that even in the wettest weather it seldom 

 requires trenching. Plant-canes in this soil, (which are 

 those of the first growth) have been known in very fine 

 seasons to yield two tons and a half of sugar per acre ; 

 after this may be rekoned the black mould of several va- 

 rieties. The best is the deep black earth of Barbadoes, 

 Antigua, and some other of the Windward Islands ; but 

 there is a specks of f bis mould in Jamaica that is but little, 

 if any thing inferior to it, which abounds with lime- 

 stone and flint on a substratum of soapy marl. Black 

 mould on clay is more common -, but as the mould is generally 

 shallow, and the clay stiff and retentive of water, this 

 last sort of land requires great labour, both in ploughing 



and 



