218 TIMEHRI. 
exertion for these desirable ends. Many of its members 
and associates, prompted by a laudable desire to 
see the colony flourish, and by the aid of science 
to compensate in some degree for the scarcity of manual 
labour, had turned their attention to the nature of our 
soils and improved methods of drainage. To overcome 
the obstacles to a free exit of the surface water several 
plantations on the East and West Coast of Demerara 
had been obliged to have recourse to machinery, It 
frequently happened that a great deal of labour, which in 
many cases it was very difficult or almost impossible to 
procure, was required to keep open the drainage on the 
coasts, and from the want of such labour serious injury 
was often caused to the cultivation. On those estates 
where steam engines had been ere€ted drainage had been 
successfully accomplished and the proprietors of other 
plantations were then taking measures for securing to them- 
selves like advantages. It appeared to the Committee that 
if several adjoining estates were to unite in paying for 
draining engines of greater power, better results could be 
obtained at less cost and the increased wash of the large 
stream of water be more effe€tual in removing obstruétions. 
The great advantages derived from underground 
drainage in the Mother Country were not likely to be 
obtained in this colony, for besides the want of a sufficient 
fall of the land, it was doubtful whether the water would 
percolate quickly enough to prevent the canes being 
chilled. The experiment was however being tried and 
would be duly reported on.* They were aware of 
* This was done at La Penitence and proved a failure on account of 
the water flowing back into the pipes and depositing until they were 
obstructed. Even with a pumping engine these could not be kept clear, 
as the water never ran Off as fast as it fell. 
