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Domingo will be practically exhausted in a few years time, as Roots^ 

 will be gathered in these countries probably only in places easily* 

 accessible, i.e., in the immediate vicinity of roads and of ports. 



This assumption of mine is, however, by no means certain as it is 

 possible that by a continuance of political peace and by internal 

 developments, Haiti and San Domingo may continue to affect tha 

 Jamaica trade very considerably. 



The safest remedy for Jamaica would, in my opinion, be to improve 

 the quality of the wood and that without losing time. 



The geological, agricultural and climatic conditions of Jamaica are 

 favourable enough in comparison to those prevailing in the countries 

 competing with us, and there is, in my opinion, no reason why we 

 should not be able to produce quite as good logwood as they do. 



In my travels through the principal Logwood producing countries, 

 particularly Haiti, Honduras and Yucatan, I was able to ascertain that, 

 there are several varieties of Logwood as distinct from each other as 

 one apple tree might be from another. 



The Logwood cutters in Yucatan are well aware of this fact, and at 

 least four distinct varieties are known to them in Yucatan and those 

 are : — 



1. Tinta Negra 



2. Tinta Maria 



3. Tinta Catzim 



4. Tinta Amarilla Catzim 



the first having most and the best dye, the last having least. 



I had lately occasion to state at a public lecture given by Mr. T. H. 

 Sharp at Spanish Town under the auspices of the Jamaica Agricultural 

 Society that I knew of at least three distinct varieties of Logwood 

 grown in tho Parish of St. Catherine in this Island, and that I knew of 

 one property that produced on the same soil all the three varieties, the 

 best of which I called Red Logwood on account of its showing an 

 unifornity red colour throughout when freshly split. It was as good as 

 the best Honduras, and more than twice as good as the ordinary average 

 Jamaica Logwood which shows a yellowish white colour when freshly 

 split. The third kind of Logwood, commonly called " Bastard Wood," 

 is, as a dye, quite worthless. 



It is important to know that the Red Logwood which gave such 

 good results, was not by any means of trees more mature than the other 

 two kinds, and as I could on the other hand see no difference in the 

 soil, I was inclined to think that by some accident, different varieties 

 of Logwood were growing on the same soil. 



It is said that Logwood was originally imported into Jamaica from 

 Campeche. There are two ways of explaining the present inferiority of 

 this dyewood : 



Either the Logwood originally imported was of an inferior variety^ 

 or the Logwood has been allowed to go through a slow process of 

 degeneration. Of the two alternatives, I prefer believing in the last. 

 Indeed, just as animals would degenerate if the reproduction of the 

 species were, through a succession of generations, confined solely to 

 individuals before those individuals had reached maturity, thus plants 

 placed in similar conditions must degenerate. 



It is a regrettable fact that, for a number of years past, the bulk of 



