196 



HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part 1. 



1215. Tlie cqffee tree [Jig. 164.) is less cultivated in Jamaica than in Bar- 

 badoes, Domingo, and some other islands : the richness of the soil is found 

 to lessen the flavour of the berry, when compared with those produced in 

 the sandy, dry, hot soil, and arid climate of Arabia. In a rich soil and 

 cool situation in Jamaica, Browne informs us that it produces so great a 

 quantity of fruit, that the branches can hardly sustain the weight : the 

 fruit large and succulent, and the berries lax and clammy. Some affirm, 

 that by keeping these, and other West India berries, for ten or fourteen 

 years, they will become equal to the best now brought from Turkey. 

 Small-grained coffee, or that which is produced in a dry soil and warm 

 situation, will in about three years be as good as that in general use in 

 Jjondon. 



1216. In cultivating the cqffee, the berries are sown immediately after 

 being gathered, as they are found to retain their vegetative quality 

 only a few weeks. In three months they are fit to transplant, either to a 

 nursery cr to a final plantation. In the low lands they are planted five 

 feet apart, and in the mountains ten feet or more. In three years the 

 plants will produce a crop, and continue bearing for a number of years. 

 The berries are gathered when they are just about to drop ; and are imme- 

 diately carried to sheds, where they are dried upon cloths or mats, till the 

 husk shrivels. They are then passed through between wooden rollers 

 turned by a mule, which separates the husk, after which they are win- 

 nowed, sifted, cleaned, exposed to the sun for a few days, and then bar- 

 relled up for sale. The produce of a good tree is from one pound and a 

 half to two pounds' weight. {Browne's Hist, of Jam., p. 161.) 



1217. The cocoa-root or eddoe {A^rum esculdntum) and also.a species of Caladium produce a root some- 

 thing like the Indian yam (Dioscorea safiva) {fig. 165.), but difTer from them in lasting for several years. 



Both the cocoa-root, and yam are cultivated much in the 

 same way as our potato. They have what they call Bourbon 

 cocoas and coimtry cocoas, and Negro and white yams ; the 

 yams have a stake driven in at each hill for the vines to twine 

 on after the manner of hops. 



1218. The plantain {Musa paradis)aca) is cultivated m 

 rows ten feet apart, and the plants seven feet asunder in the 

 row. The following account of the manner of planting and 

 managing will give some idea of the mode in which agricul- 

 tural operations are carried on by a slave population, and 

 how they are described by a writer who has been " nearly 

 twenty years " at the business. " The ground being all 

 cleared from grass, bushes, and weeds, and lined out and 

 pegged every seven feet, the great gang should be put in with 

 hoes to dig the plantain holes at every peg, a Negro to each 

 row. The holes should be dug deep, two feet long by sixteen 

 inches broad, to give room for the large ponderous plantain 

 sucker to be placed in them. The mould must be hauled 

 up to the edge of the hole, and broken if too large. The 

 plantain suckers being ready and trimmed, each negro 

 should take some, and place one good sucker at every hole 

 in the piece, and begin to plant them, by taking a sucker, and 

 placing it with the but, or rooty end, in the bottom of the 

 hole ; make the sucker lie in a leaning, reclining, or half- 

 horizontal position in the hole, with the small, or sucker, 

 end of the plant a little above the ground ; and when thus placed, draw the mould from the bank, and 

 cover the plant well with it, leaving a little of the plant above the ground. In this manner the plantain 

 walk should be formed. In a few weeks (if the weather is favourable) the young plantain shoot will be 

 seen rearing its perpendicular head, perhaps three or four growing from the same stock. They should 

 then be carefully moulded, and cleared of grass and weeds when they are a few inches high. No 

 cavities, or water-logging holes, should be near them. The banks must be levelled about them, the holes 

 filled and properly closed up, and some fine mould given them to encourage their growth. There will be 

 no occasion to give them more than two mouldings till they are established ; but they must be care- 

 fully kept clear from weeds or grass ; and when any dry trash happens to be hanging about them, it 

 should be gently cut off with a knife, and placed about their roots, to keep them free from either too 

 much sun or chill. A plantain walk well taken care of will be in bearing in twelve months after 

 it is planted, amply repaying f >r the labour and trouble of planting it, and giving an almost 

 inexhaustible supply of fine provisions, if the vicissitudes of hurricanes or storms (which this climate 

 is unhappily subject to) do not destroy it, which no human foresight or care can prevent. 

 When a plantain walk is made, there may be a row of cocoas (1217.) in the middle of the ten feet 

 spaces, which will yield a crop by the time the plantain walk bears fruit, but they must then be pulled 

 up. A few banana (Musa sapit^ntum) suckers can be planted in the plantain row, instead of plantain 

 suckers; sometimes they are much in request, as a luscious wholesome fruit, and for the strong fine- 

 flavoured vinegar which is produced from them. After this piece of ground is thus planted, the whole of 

 it may be sown with corn (maize), which will not injure the plantain suckers or trees, if it be not too 

 close or thick. " {Roughley, p. 413, 416.) 



1219. The Indian arrow-root {Marunta. arundindcea) is cultivated, and yields an annual supply of roots, 

 which, being washed, bruised, and compressed, yield a starch esteemed as a very light wholesome food 

 for invalids. 



1220. Other plants, in great variety, are cultivated both for culinary and medicinal purposes, and in the 

 gardens of the overseers and agents almost every fruit in the world may be raised. 



1221. Thepinguin {Bromelia Pinguin) is grown on the tops of ditches, and forms an impenetrable fence. 



1222. Maize is grown among the canes, and in fields by itself in rows four feet and a half apart, and the 

 corn dibbled or set in patches of four seeds in a space of six inches square. 



1223. Guinea grass {Vdnicum polygamum) {fig. 163. b) and Scotch grass {fig. 163. a) are the clovers or 

 artificial herbage plants of Jamaica. They are perennial, and grow in small enclosures, which are either 

 eaten down or mown. Cane tops, the leaves of maize, millet, and a variety of other herbage, are given to 

 the mules and cattle. 



1224. Rals, ants, and other vermin, greatly injure the canes; ticks (Icarus) of dif- 

 ferent kinds and flies very much annoy the cattle ; and a great variety of evil propensities 

 and diseases assail the negroes and their children, among others Obea, and what Rough- 

 ley calls " eating dirt," which he thus characterises: " Too much tenderness gives the 

 child a fretful longing for the mother, and her scanty milk engendering disease, and, 

 what is worse than all, often (though secretly) giving it a growing liking for the hateful 



