112 TiMEHRI. 



soils cannot be drained quickly enough to keep the canes 

 from getting chilled, during almost incessant rains of 

 nearly an inch a day. 



Tillage of banks, drilling, &c., helps the land to dry, 

 but neither can be well done until weather moderates. 

 Steam cultivation is undoubtedly the best form of tillage, 

 but although good work can be done, and by dropping 

 the back tine, with a large shoe on it, a mole drain 

 formed. Steam ploughing must depend on tile drainage 

 for its success, I fear this form of cultivation can 

 never become general here, as although much has been 

 done to make tile-drainage a success it has never yet 

 succeeded in Demerara in keeping the land free from 

 water in heavy seasons. Tiles were first tried here in 

 1845, ^"^ though the first year gave splendid results, the 

 second went back below the average of open drained 

 fields. 



The only other form of drainage possible, is that of 

 open drains and surface drainage, which, though wrong 

 in theory, is almost universally adopted here. Lind is 

 drained not only to let the water out of the soil, but to 

 let in air, and allow the fertilizing rains to filter through 

 and leave in it some part of the nitrogen contained in 

 the rainfall. 



When the land gets water-logged all air is excluded 

 and the aftivity of the land as a plant producer ceases. 

 Under draining deepens the soil by lowering the line of 

 water beyond injury to the roots, and it must have struck 

 us all in late years how the cane roots have run across 

 the banks without going down so deep as in other seasons 

 when the soil from better drainage was good for some 

 distance down. 



