STJaAB. 



185 



liable to rot than the plant canes. In the British sugar islands the 

 cuttings for planting are commonly the tops of the canes which 

 have been ground for sugar. But in Brazil the tops of the canes 

 are all thrown to the cattle, for there is usually a want of grass 

 during the season that the mills are at work. In the British colo- 

 nies, the canes are at first covered with only a small portion of 

 mould, and yet they are as long in forcing their way to the surface 

 as in Brazil, though in the latter a more considerable quantity of 

 earth is laid upon them. I suppose that the superior richness of 

 the Brazilian soil accounts for this. Upon rich soils the cuttings 

 are laid at a greater distance, and the trenches are dug farther 

 from each other, than upon those which have undergone more fre- 

 quent cultivation, or which are known to possess less power from 

 their natural composition. The canes which are planted upon the 

 former throw out great numbers of sprouts, which spread each 

 way ; and, although when they are young, the land may appear to 

 promise but a scanty crop, they soon close, and no opening is to 

 be seen. It is often judged proper to thin the canes, by removing 

 some of the suckers at the time that the last cleaning is given ; and 

 some persons recommend that a portion of the dry leaves should 

 also be stripped off at the same period, but on other plantations 

 this is not practised. 



The proper season for planting is from the middle of July to the 

 middle of September, upon high lands, and from September 

 to the middle of ^^ovember in low lands. Occasionally, the great 

 moisture of the soil induces the planter to continue his work until 

 the beginning of December, if his people are sufficiently numerous 

 to answer all the necessary purposes. The first of the canes are 

 ready to be cut for the mill in September of the following year, 

 and the crop is finished usually in January or Eebruary. In the 

 British sugar islands the canes are planted from August to No- 

 vember, and are ripe for the mill in the beginning of the second 

 year. Thus this plant in Brazil requires from thirteen to fifteen 

 months to attain its proper state for the mill ; and in the West 

 India islands it remains standing sixteen or seventeen months. 



The Otaheitan, or the Bourbon cane, has been brought from 

 Cayenne to Pernambuco since the Portuguese obtained possession 

 of that settlement. I believe the two species of cane are much 

 alike, and I have not been able to discover which of them it is. 

 Its advantages are so apparent, that after one trial on each estate, 

 it has superseded the small cane which was in general use. The 

 Cayenne cane, as it is called in Pernambuco, is of a much larger 

 size than the common cane ; it branches so very greatly, that the 

 labor in planting a piece of cane is much decreased, and the re- 

 turns from it are at the same time much more considerable. It is 

 not planted in trenches, but holes are dug at equal distances from 

 each other, in which these cuttings are laid. This cane bears 

 the dry weather better than the small cane; and when the 

 leaves of the latter begin to turn brown, those of the former 

 still preserve their natural color. A planter in the Varzea told 



