406 
His Lordship is glad to observe that the valuable services rendered by 
your department to the Fees Indies are noticed by Sir R. Hamiiton on 
Hn rtm qo and 15 of his rep 
add that a copy neh ‘this letter will be sent to the First Com- 
scien ical Works. 
m, &c. 
( Signed) x EDWARD WINGFIELD. 
The Director, Royal Gardens, Kew. 
In this report Sir Robert rs C. Hamilton, K.C.B., the Royal Com- 
missioner, has presented a very complete account of the condition of the 
lony. The portion vies doi: with the natural resourees of the 
island and the s whereby they might be more fully developed, 
n the work undertaken by Kew in ee. to encourage a 
wider range of cultural industries in the West Indie 
Dominiea is undoubtedly a most fertile island, aud suitable for rais- 
ing almost every description of tropical produce. Very strong evidence 
m given to abs eid by Dr. Ed who speaks with authority on 
t iselt the -a text-book on tropical 
indard work on thé Fabfeot- ‘Rather more = Si] 
100 years ago the island was very d cate boul euam 
was coffee, of which theannual export amounted in 
four and five miilion pouads weight. "But this pr ropert ake ea 
continue. In the closing years of the last century many of the planters, 
who were French, were hostile to British rule, and political disturbances 
were frequent. These disturbances led to the de sportation of man 
French residents, and the numerous serious outbreaks and depredations 
of runaway slaves caused other planters to leave the island and abandon 
their estates, or place them in the bands of attorneys, who often mis- 
mana. hese bere “seriously interfered with the staple 
industry of the island, and its output diminished. nother cause 
which operated in the same liros was the denudation of the forest- 
lands, which was going on in some of the western districts of the 
island, where coffee was principally grown. This injuriously- affected 
its cultivation, especially. on steep hillsides. Moreover, as a rule, 
manure was not used at ali, or only in insufficient quantities, and the 
soil of many of the earlier plantations — became exhausted. 
Then, early in the present century, an insect blight made its appearance 
in the coffee plantations, aud inflicted considerable ravages, and in 1834 
a hurricane occurred which created great havoc among the trees. 
The high price of sugar, mete ts induced MARE ' the coffee planters 
to root up their coffee trees avd to plant canes. But the result, as a 
rule, was not successful, for where cole had grown well, planters often 
failed to grow sugar, as the same soils and situations are not suitable 
for the growth of both these products. 
Afterwards came negro emancipation, and with it the impossibility, 
many cases, > obtaining sufficient e at the right moment for 
taking in the erop. These causes all combined practically to ex- 
tinguish the dalles eultivation of the i tend. Owners finding their 
estates unprofitable, got rid of them as best they abate "Roto few sold 
them, generally for small sums, and to persons without adequate capital 
hem. Others divided them up among their conuexions or 
dependents or former slaves. Some abaudoned - them altogether, and 
the peasantry appropriated them. Thus the class of peasant proprietors 
