32 TIMEHRI. 
distance in 2 or 3 years to less than half, after land has 
been in plantains for 10 or 12 years, it is eligible for 
canes which if planted before this preparatory step are 
so rank and watery that the sugar is dark and of very 
bad quality. 
When plantains are a year old, they afford sufficient 
shade to plant coffee or cacao in the intervals, the former 
in rows of 8 feet distance, the latter 16. In ground that 
is well drained and sufficiently elevated, the least breadth 
for a bed is 48 feet, but in low spots, and all estates 
abound with these, it is frequently necessary to reduce 
them to 30 feet with a trench of about 2 feet wide and 
as many deep, the ground out of which being levelled 
over the centre of: the bed, raises it and accelerates the 
drainage. Bad work in this stage is easily dete€ted, when 
the earth remains heaped at the side of the drain instead 
of being levelled over the centre of the bed, and occurs in 
every instance where the white overseer is not present 
on the spot to prevent it. 
Small drains which separate the beds are oaltacaelle 
deep at two feet below the general level of the surface, 
but five feet is always required for the main or sideline 
drains, whatever be their breadth, in order to ensure a 
current from the small drains into them. A sluice or 
koker, to drain 500 acres of land should be 8 feet by 6in 
the aperture if of wood, but if a cylinder of cast iron 4 
teet in diameter will be sufficient. The bottom of a 
wooden koker should be within a foot of low water mark 
or it will be speedily undermined by the crabs. The top 
of an iron cylinder should be level with the bottoms of the 
small drains. 
In February it is | prudent to stop the valve doors of 
