184 SUGAB. 



instances pieces of laud heretofore covered by the salt water at the 

 How of the tide, have been laid dry by means of draining for the 

 same purpose ; but the desired success has not attended the plan, 

 for the canes have been found to be unfit fot making sugar ; the 

 syrup does not coagulate, or at least does not attain that con- 

 sistence which is requisite, and therefore it can only be used for 

 the distilleries. 



The general mode of preparing the land for the cane is by 

 holing it with hoes. The negroes stand in a row, and each man 

 strikes his hoe into the ground immediately before him, and 

 forma a trench of five or six inches in depth ; he then falls back, 

 the whole row doing the same, and they continue this operation 

 from one side of the cleared land to the other, or from the top 

 of a hill to the bottom. The earth which is thrown out of the 

 trench remains on the lower side of it. In the British West In- 

 dia colonies this work is done in a manner nearly similar, but more 

 systematically. The lands in Brazil are not measured, and every- 

 thing i& done by the eye. The quantity of cane which a piece will 

 require for planting is estimated by so many cart-loads; and 

 nothing can be more vague than this mode of computation, for the 

 load which a cart can carry depends upon the condition of the 

 oxen, upon the nature of the road, and upon the length of the 

 cane. Such is the awkward make of these vehicles, that much 

 nicety is necessary in packing them, and if two canes will about 

 fit into a cart lengthways, much more will be conveyed than if the 

 canes are longer and they double over each other. 



The plough is sometimes used in low lands, upon which drain- 

 ing has not been found necessary ; but such is the clumsy con- 

 struction of the machine of which they make use, that six oxen are 

 yoked to it. A plough drawn by two oxen, constructed after a 

 model which was brought from Cayenne, has been introduced in 

 one or two instances. Upon high "lands the stumps of the trees 

 almost preclude the possibility of thus relieving the laborers. The 

 trenches being prepared, the cuttings are laid longitudinally in 

 the bottom of them, and are covered with the greatest part of the 

 mould which had been taken out of the trench. The shoots begin 

 to rise above the surface of the ground in the course of twelve or 

 fourteen days. The canes undergo three cleanings from the weeds 

 and the sprouts proceeding from the stumps of the trees ; and 

 when the land is poor, and produces a greater quantity of the for- 

 mer, and contains fewer of the latter, the canes require to be 

 cleaned a fourth time. The cuttings are usually 12 to 18 inches in 

 length, but it is judged that the shorter they are the better. If 

 they are short, and one piece of cane rots, the space which re- 

 mains vacant is not so large as when the cuttings are long, and 

 they by any accident fail. The canes which are used for planting 

 are generally ratoons, if any exist upon the plantation ; but if 

 tlu-ro are none of these, the inferior plant canes supply their 

 places. It is accounted more economical to make use of the ra- 

 toons for this purpose ; and many persons say that they are less 



