Book I. AGRICULTURE IN NORTH AMERICA. I95 



by it. Hence arises the plenty of horned cattle, both for the butcher and planter ; which 

 is such, that few markets in Europe furnish beef of better quality, and at a cheaper 

 rate, than that of Jamaica. Mutton also is cheap and good. The seeds of the Guinea 

 grass were brought from the coast of Guinea, as food for some birds which were pre- 

 sented to Ellis, chief justice of the islands. The several kinds of kitchen-garden pro- 

 ductions, that are known in Europe, thrive in the mountains of this island ; and the 

 markets of Kingston and Spanish Town are supplied with cabbages, lettuces, carrots, 

 turnips, parsneps, artichokes, kidneybeans, green peas, asparagus, and various sorts of 

 European herbs, in the greatest abundance. Other indigenous productions, that may 

 be classed among the esculent vegetables, are plantains, bananas, yams of several 

 varieties, coUaloo (a species of ^Vum used as spinach), eddoes (^Vum and Caladium), 

 cassavi, and sweet potatoes. Ainong the more elegant fruits of the island we may 

 reckon the ananas, or pine-apple, tamarind, papaw, guava, sweet sop, cashew apple, 

 custard apple, Akee tree, cocoa nut, star apple, grenadilla, avocado pear, hog plum, 

 naesberry, mammee sapota, Spanish gooseberry, prickly pear, anchovy pear, and some 

 others, for which Jamaica is probably indebted to the bounty of nature. For the 

 orange, the lemon, lime, shaddock, vine, melon, fig, and pomegranate, the West 

 India Islands are perhaps obliged to their Spanish invaders. The cinnamon has been 

 lately introduced, and the mango is become almost as common as the orange. The 

 mountains are generally covered with extensive woods, containing excellent timber ; 

 such as the lignum vitae, logwood, iron wood, pigeon wood, green-heart braziletto, and 

 bully trees ; all of which are to a great degree heavy, as well as compact and impene- 

 trable. Of softer kinds, for boards and shingles, the species are innumerable ; and there 

 are many beautiful varieties for cabinet-work ; and among these we may enumerate the 

 bread nut, the wild lemon, and the well-known mahogany. 



1212. The culture of the sugar-cane in Jamaica in some respects resembles that of the hop in this 

 comitry. The ground being cleared and worked a foot or more in depth, the sets or cuttings of 

 cane, which are the tops of the slioots cut ofi' about a foot long, are planted in rows, generally five 

 feet distant, and from two to five feet apart in the row, according to the quality of the soil ; 

 more plants being allowed for poor soil than rich. The ground is kept clear of weeds, frequently stirred, 

 and some earth drawn up to the plants. From each hill a number of shoots are .produced : in six 

 months or more these will generally be from seven to ten feet high ; the skin smooth, dry, and brittle, 

 heavy with a grey or brown pith, and sweet glutinous juice. In this state the canes are cut, tied in bun- 

 dles or sheaves, and taken to the mill to be divested of their leaves and decayed parts, and then passed 

 through rollers to express their juice, &c. Cane plantations are made either in May and June, or in 

 DecembeY and January, these being the rainy seasons. The first cutting of the canes often does not take 

 place till a year after planting ; but an established plantation is cut over every six months. In good soil 

 the plants will last twenty years : in inferior soils not more than half the time. {Letter to a Young 

 Planter, London, 1785 ; Martin's Essay on Plantership, in Young's Annals, xviii. p. 236. ; Roughley's 

 Jamaica Planter's Guide, 1823.) 



1213. The cotton plant cultivated in Jamaica is a different species from that grown in Italy, Malta, and 

 the Levant It is the Gossypium barbadense Linn., a suffruticose biennial, growing from six to fifteen 

 feet in height, witli lobed leaves and yellow flowers. It is propagated by the seed, which is set in rows, 

 about five feet asunder, at the end of September or beginning of October ; at first but slightly covered, 

 but, after it is grown up, the root is well moulded. The seed is subject to decay, when it is set too deep, 

 especially m wet weather. The soil should not be stiff nor shallow, as this plant has a tap-root. The 

 ground is hoed frequently, and kept very clean about the young plants, until they rise to a moderate 

 height ; otherwise they are apt to be destroyed by caterpillars. It grows from four to six feet high, and 

 produces two crops annually; the first in eight months from the time of sowing the seed ; the second 

 within four months after the first ; and the produce of each plant is reckoned about one pound's weight. 

 The branches are pruned and trimmed after the first gathering ; and if the growth is over-luxuriant, this 

 should be done sooner. When great part of the pods are expanded, the wool is picked, and afterwards 

 cleared from the seeds by a machine called a gin, composed of two or three smooth wooden rollers of about 

 one inch in diameter, ranged horizontally, close and parallel to each other, in a frame ; at each extremity 

 they are toothed or channelled longitudinally, corresponding one with the other ; and the central roller, 

 being moved with a treadle or foot-lathe, resembUng that of a knife-grinder, makes the two others revolve 

 in contrary directions. The cotton is laid, in small quantities at a time, upon these rollers, whilst they 

 are in motion, and, readily passing between them, drops into a sack placed underneath to receive it, leav- 

 ing the seeds, which are too large to pass with it, behind. The cotton thus discharged from the seeds, is 

 afterwards hand-picked, and cleansed thoroughly from any little particles of the pods or other substances 

 which may be adhering to it. It is then stowed in large bags, in which it is well trod down, that it may lie 

 close and compact ; and the better to answer this purpose, some water is every now and then sprinkled 

 upon the outside of the bag, the marketable weight of which is usually three hundred pounds. An acre 

 may be expected to produce from two hundred and forty pounds to that quantity, or two hundred and 

 seventy pounds on an average. {Long's Jam., vol. iii. p. 686, et seq. ; and Browne.) 



1214. The indigo cultivated in the West Indies is the same species as that grown in the East Indies and 

 other places (Indig6fera tinctbria), though there are various species and varieties which afford a similar 

 dye. Indigo thrives best in a free rich soil, and a warm situation, frequently refreshed with moisture. 

 Having first chosen a proper piece of ground, and cleared it, hoe it into little trenches, not above two inches, 

 or two inches and a half, in depth, nor more than fourteen or fifteen inches asunder. In the bottom of 

 these, at any season of the year, strew the seeds pretty thick, and immediately cover them. As the plants 

 shoot, they should be frequently weeded, and kept constantly clean, until they spread sufficiently to cover 

 the ground. Those who cultivate great quantities, only strew the seeds pretty thick in little shallow pits, 

 hoed up irregularly, but generally within four, five, or six inches of one another, and covered as before. 

 Plants raised in this manner are observed to answer as well as the others, or rather better; but they 

 require more care in the weeding. They grow to full perfection in two or three months, and are observed to 

 answer best when cut in full blossom. The plants are cut with reaping hooks, a few inches above the root, 

 tied in loads, carried to the works, and laid by strata in the steeper. Seventeen negroes are sufficient to 

 manage twenty acres of indigo ; and one acre of rich land, well planted, will, with good seasons and proper 

 management, yield five hundred pounds of indigo in twelve months; for the i)laiit ratoons (stools, stoles, 

 or tillers, i. e. it sends out stolones, or new growths), and gives lour or five crops a year, but must be 

 replanted afterwards. {Browne.) 



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