140 



SUGAR. 



newly planted land will give two tons of sugar for the first year, 

 gradually falling off to not more than one-fourth of that quantity as 

 the stocks become old ; and were there sufficient labour in the colony 

 to admit of the land being replanted every third or fourth year, there 

 can be little doubt that the present crops would be nearly doubled. 

 The productive power of the greater part of the soil of British Guiana, 

 indeed, appears to be unlimited. As an instance, it may be men- 

 tioned that, on an estate in Essequebo, the return obtained in 1851 

 from certain lands, which had been properly worked and perfectly 

 drained, amounted to a fraction within 4 tons of sugar per acre. 



The plan on which a sugar estate in this colony is laid out is 

 described in the first 'Eeport on Thorough Drainage,' by the late 

 Dr. Shier, agricultural chemist to the colony, page 16 : 



" The plantations, laid out for the most part by the Dutch, are on a 

 uniform plan. They are generally narrow rectangular strips of land, 

 with a facade or water frontage on the coast, the rivers, or canals. 

 The facade varies from 100 to 300 Khynland rods (12*32 feet). 



"Exceptional cases occur where, from an estate being prevented 

 from extending far back, extra fa9ade has been allowed, giving to the 

 estate more of a square form. Every estate is bounded by four dams ; 

 the front dam, excluding the sea, river, or canal ; the back dam, 

 parallel to the former, and excluding the bush water, which, in heavy 

 weather, is very considerable, and would inundate the cultivation. 

 The clay thrown out in forming the adjacent canals or trenches 

 affords the material of which the dams are formed. Along each of 

 the remaining sides there runs a dam from front to back. These are 

 usually termed side lines. They are common to two contiguous 

 estates, and prevent the influx of water from the sides. Thus the 

 very long rectangular strip of land is surrounded with dams, which, 

 when kept free from bush, answer the purpose of a road round the 

 estate ; but the produce is brought to the buildings (often situated in 

 front) by canals. In fact, water transport of jDroduce is universal. 

 The arrangement of the navigation system is very simple. From 

 front to back, and right in the centre of the estate, there runs a dam 

 called the middle walk, with a canal on each side of it. These are 

 termed centre canals, and are wide enough to admit of two punts 

 passing each other. The dam forms a path for the cattle that draw 

 the punts. At regular and comparatively short intervals branch 

 canals strike off at right angles from the centre canals, and proceed to 

 within a rod of the draining or side-line trenches, which are parallel 

 to the side dams before described, and adjacent to them. These 

 branch canals constitute the transverse boundaries of the fields, and 

 navigation canals thus lie on three sides of every field, and admit of 

 canes being carried by a short path to the punts. On some estates 

 there is only a single centre navigation canal. These canals are 

 principally supplied by the rain, but in protracted droughts, and 

 especially when they are shallow, they are liable to run short of 

 water : hence whenever access can be got to creek, lake, or bush 

 water, it is brought from behind to supply the navigation system. 

 In other instances salt water has to be taken in from the front when a 

 cane crop cannot otherwise be got off the ground. The drainage of 



