52 



CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR CANE. 



cane, or the same dried and half-rotten, or a scanty bundle 

 of dry and old grass, which is more than half lost in the 

 surrounding filth. For this reason, we find that eis;ht 

 oxen are often inadequate to do the work which four, in 

 good condition and well fed, could do with ease. This state 

 of things is too generally the case, and the mortality which 

 ensues is clearly evident by the heavy item in the annual 

 expenses of the estate, for the supply of this deficiency. 

 Mr. "VTray, in speaking of the mortality among the cattle 

 on estates in Jamaica, says, " These little circumstances 

 may seem very trivial, but indeed they are not so, they 

 serve to swell the number of reasons why Jamaica estates 

 do not pay, and account for the heavy losses sustained in 

 the numerous cattle that die off, or rather that are ignor- 

 antly killed every year. Is it not to be expected that cattle 

 so abused will die ? Is it not indeed a matter of surprise, 

 that any of them survive such shocking treatment? g It 

 really is. And when we consider that good young oxen 

 or steers cost in Jamaica from £10 to £16 sterling each, 

 we cannot fail to perceive, that every possible reason is 

 in favour of a proper selection and management of cattle. 

 * * * But this is by no means the plan pursued in 

 Jamaica. On almost every estate in the island, the cattle 

 may be seen hung at nights, all the year round, in open 

 and exposed cattle-pens, often knee-deep in muck and 

 mire \ at one season of the year bloated with green grass, 

 at another half-starved, miserable, and swarming with 

 ticks — hard worked by day, and wretchedly fed at night. 



