IMPORTANCE OF RETURNING THE ME0ASS TO THE SOIL. 47 



does not seeni, however, to be aware of the advantages 

 which it would present, as a shield from the effects of 

 droughts, for he speaks of burying it in the earth, and 

 allowing it to rot, which would be a troublesome as well as 

 a useless operation, because it would as surely resolve itself 

 into its elements, although more slowly, if placed on the 

 surface, as if buried under it. 



I remember a remarkable instance of the good effect of 

 covering the banks of cane-holes, in a field pointed out to 

 me on an estate in Barbadoes, which had borne a very 

 large crop of canes in a dry year. The soil of the field 

 was so shallow, that large quantities of stones had been 

 broken up with pickaxes from the bottoms of the cane- 

 holes, and had been disposed upon the banks; and the 

 stone having a sort of schistose fracture, giving flattish 

 slabs, formed a tolerably complete covering for them. 

 This prevented much of the evaporation which would 

 otherwise have taken place ; and many jests were current at 

 the time on the peculiarity of the manure, as it was 

 jocularly called, and its remarkable effects. This circum- 

 stance must be fresh in the recollection of many persons 

 in that island. 



It is supposed by some persons, that placing a thick 

 coat of vegetable substances upon the earth, will give 

 shelter to numbers of insects, and so nurse a source of 

 injury to the young sprouts. We do not, however, find 

 that the thick covering of field trash left upon some of 

 our ratoon fields, is productive of this species of injury. 



