Proceedinos of the Farmers' Club. ' 343 



with Prof. Agassiz in his travels. He took the platform with polite- 

 ness and perfect self-possession, and, in good language, addressed 

 the Club on farming in his native country. The speaker was 

 brought to Boston from Nubia, when a child, and was assisted in 

 educating himself, by the Hon. J. V. C. Smith, ex-mayor of Boston, 

 the Hon. Edward Everett, Pi'of. Agassiz, and others. Recently he 

 has lived in Liberia. The Lieutenant said: 



" It is needless for me to describe the geographical position of 

 the country from whence I come. Mr. President, knowing that 

 but a few moments will be allowed me, I shall at first explain the 

 method of cultivating the sugar-cane in Africa. The climate is 

 divided there into but two seasons, the wet and the diy. The first 

 of December is the commencement of our summer, and the fii'st of 

 May the beginning of our winter, which is the wet season. In 

 December and January we usually fell the large trees, and about 

 the first of February we cut the undergrowth, which is perfectly 

 dry in a few days, and is then fired and burned ofi". The larger 

 timbers ai-e cut and used for fuel, in boiling the cane. We then 

 open holes from six to ten inches in depth, into each of which 

 several joints of the cane are laid horizontally, then covered; this 

 completes the process of planting. The product is from five to 

 eight stalks per hill, and the time required for the perfection of 

 the growth is from ten to eleven months. The quantity of sugar 

 produced per acre, averages from fifteen hundred to two thousand 

 pounds; but there are choice lands that have yielded as high as 

 three thousand pounds per acre. Before the war, sugar from 

 Liberia brought from five and a half to seven and a half cents per 

 pound, but since, it has brought from nine and a half to twelve 

 cents per pound. New lands can be cleared and planted at a cost 

 not exceeding twenty to tliirty dollars an acre; but the want of 

 capital to pay the native laborers has prevented many from extend 

 ing this branch of agriculture; for the natives will not work and 

 wait for their pay until the maturity of the crop. Liberian molasses 

 and sirup bring fair paying prices in both the European and Ameri- 

 can markets. The soil of Africa is as varied and prolific as any on 

 the globe. We have commenced the cultivation of cofiee on a 

 much larger scale than heretofore. Crops of cofiee can be pro- 

 duced from the seed in six years, but the impulsive and passionate 

 nature of the son of the tropics renders him impatient; conse- 

 quently, before the war, but few were engaged in its cultivation; 

 but the high prices which the staple commanded during the rebel- 



