PREFACE. li 



The complete success which has attended my eftbrts to im- 

 prove the husbandry of St. Helena ; and, above all, to substitute 

 the plough for the spade and hoe, are circumstances not unde- 

 serving the attention of those who have valuable estates in the 

 West India islands. According to Mr. Bryan Edwards's state- 

 ment, founded upon his own experience, it appears, that by 

 using the plough, in the operation oi holing a sugar plantation, 

 the labour of slaves is only about one-twentieth part of that 

 which is required when the same work is performed by the hoe. 

 In breaking up lands, and preparing them for corn and potatoe 

 crops at St. Helena, it might easily be proved, that the reduction 

 of manual labour, by the use of the plough, has been in a much 

 greater proportion. 



If, then, the plough were employed wherever the nature of 

 the lands will admit, in all those countries where the hoe i« .^n 

 general use, and consequently where the demand for manual 

 labour is excessive, it seems reasonable to infer, that such a 

 change would be productive of infinite advantage. The neces- 

 sity for manual labour would thereby be reduced, and the bodily 

 fatigue of the unfortunate slaves would be lessened ; which 

 would, in all probability, lead to a greater increase of the 

 present stock. By such means, all those inconveniences, whe- 

 ther real or imaginary, that are apprehended from the abolition 

 of the Slave Trade, might, in the course of a iew years, be effec- 

 tually removed. 



Since the abolition of slavery at St. Helena, which took place 

 in the year 1792, there has been an augmentation in the black 

 population, which consists of three classes : the slaves of indivi- 



