4 TRACTS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, &c. 



of coals. The mischief occasioned by the goats, added to the 

 neglect of fencing-, and planting trees, has greatly encreased the 

 demand for iniported fuel ; and the loss to the Company upon 

 the article of coals, in 1808, amounted to no less a sum than 

 £2729.. 7.. 8. 



To obviate, as much as possible, a further increase of this ex- 

 pense, it is become absolutely necessary that the utmost attention 

 should immediately be given to those ordinances that regard 

 fencing and planting. It is indeed fortunate there are here some 

 trees or shrubs, of a very rapid growth, peculiarly adapted to the 

 purpose of fences, as well as fuel. Of those, the most valuable 

 for both purposes, is that hitherto despised plant the Palma 

 Christi. It intrudes itself every where, and is turned out of every 

 garden and plantation, being considered in no other light than 

 a troublesome weed. — But having remarked how rapidly it 

 becomes a tree, I naturally concluded it might be useful in the 

 formation of fences ; and accordingly I commenced an experi- 

 ment in September, 1809. The seeds were sown and intermixed 

 with some wild brinjal (a species of solanum), upon an elevated 

 bank four feet high, and about six feet in breadth. In the short 

 period of twelve months I have now a beautiful and impenetrable 

 fence about five feet in height. The stems of the Palma Christi 

 are already about two inches in diameter, and the branches are 

 covered with nuts. The success of this trial has determined me 

 to improve the old fences, and to form new ones at Plantation- 

 house-farm, of the above description, about eight or nine feet in 

 thickness. The addition of the blackberry, entwined among the 

 strong stems of the Palma Christi, would undoubtedly make a 

 fence not inferior to the best hedges in England. 



What an advantage it would be to the land-holders, and what 

 an improvement in the aspect of the island, to substitute this 



