2 9 4 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [September i, 1881. 
LIFE AND WORK IN JAMAICA. 
(Prom the Field, 25th June 1881.) 
Sir, — I shall be glad if you can afford me room to 
say a few words in reply to ' ' Inquirer " (Field, Feb. 
26) and " Captain " (Field, Feb. 12) as to the advantages 
offered by Jamaica to men of small capital. In pre- 
vious letters (No. 1,41G and 1,427 of The Field} I have 
given details regarding the cultivation of fruit, chocolate, 
and coffee ; and I should now like to say something 
about cinchona. 
In lS6o the Jamaica Government established an ex- 
perimental cinchona plantation in the Blue Mountains, 
about twenty-five miles from Kingston, and last year 
the bark sold from this plantation fetched higher 
prices in the London markets than either Indhi or 
Ceylon bark of the same class. I have recently visited 
the plantation, and can say in support of Mr. Morris, 
the director of the botanical department, formerly assist- 
ant botanist in Ceylon, that Jamaica presents a splendid 
field to capitalists willing to embark in cinchona. 
There are numerous advantages which Jamaica 
possesses over other places for European settlers, and 
I may mention a few. In regard to mail communica- 
tion and steam lines beiween England and the 
United States, the island is singularly fortunate. In 
the harbour of Kingston a day does not pass without 
a steamer arriving or sailing. We have also a weekly 
coastal steamer of the Atlas Company under contract 
with the local Government for conveying passengers 
and goods rouud the island, calling at all the chief 
outposts. 
In the mountains of Jamaica — from two thousand 
feet to nearly eight thousand feet — there is the finest 
climate in the world, and abundance of fine land to 
be had cheap. With the aid of coolies (East Indians) 
to augment, the fitful labour of the natives, the cultiva- 
tion of coffee, cinchona, jalap, ginger, &c, affords 
certain profit and pleasant occupation. For the cultiva- 
tion of sugar, Liberian coffee, Indiarubber, cotton, cocoa 
(chocolate), bananas, and other fruit, the lower lands 
are best adapted. On the north coast the climate is 
cooler and more healthy than on the south side ; but 
the island of Jamaica has ever been most wickedly 
maligned when described as unhealthy. Our death 
rate is very low as compared with many places supposed 
to be more healthy. The temperature is much cooler 
than most people suppose, in the hills especially. 
Last year there was not a death from yellow fever 
in the Naval Hospital at Port Royal among the military 
or in the general population ; and yet there are per- 
sons who suppose — even say — that yellow fever is a 
Jamaica disease. Since the establishment of quarantine, 
the deaths from this disease are so few as not to be 
worth mentioning. There are no diseases pscuiiar to 
Jamaica, the most fatal being that of spirit drinking, 
to which new comers are liable if they accept the in- 
evitable invitation, " Have something to drink ? " which 
unfortunately is as common in Jamaica as in many 
other places. If a man will make up his mind to drink 
nothing, except at meals, and to be only moderately 
•careful during the first few months of his residence 
in the matter of not over-heating himself — needless 
exposure to the sun in the middle of the day, changing 
his clothes if he gets wet in the rain, wearing flannels 
and avoiding linen clothes— I am sure his chance of 
long life is as good in Jamaica as any where on earth. 
The island being solarjjeand the population so sparse, 
there is not much society ; but with frequent letters 
and newspapers from England, books, and one's occupa- 
tion, time goes all too quickly without any necessity 
to yearn for society. There are nice people in Jamaica, 
as there are in most places ; and everywhere there 
is real hearty hospitality, and a desire to welcome new 
blood, energy, and capital. 
Instead of burying themselves at the Antipodes, the 
Cape, India, and other distant lands, persons with 
small capital and income could go far before they 
would find a more healthy and pleasant residence 
than Jamaica. I know no place that offers such in- 
ducement to the small capitalist who is willing to 
occupy himself in superintending personally the invest- 
ment of his capital. 
All kinds of English flowers, vegetables, and fruit 
are cultivated and do well in the hills ; and our beef 
and mutton, poultry, turkeys, ducks, fish, and fruits 
are excellent, and moderate in price. Beef, Gd per lb., 
all cuts ; mutton, 9d. to Is. ; pork 6d. to 7M. ; turkeys, 
9d. to Is., live weight; ducks, 5s. to Gs. per pair; 
fowls, 6d. per lb.; fish, 6d. per lb., all kinds ; turtle, 
3d. to 6d. per lb.; eggs, 9d. t) Is. per dozen. 
Servants are cheap, but not good. Men cooks and 
butlers, from 10s. to 14s. per week ; house girls, from 
4s. to Cs. per week ; washing, 2s. to 3s. per dozen 
pieces ; grooms and coachmen, from 8'. to 12s. per 
week ; water boys and grass cutters, from 4s. to Gs. 
per week. All servants in Jamaica feed themselves 
out of these rates of wages. 
Horses are good and not costly. A good cob for 
mountain riding from £14 to £20; a buggy horse, from 
£25 to £40; a good milch cow and calf, from £10 
to £12. Taxes are light— on nouses, Is. 6d. in the 
pound rental ; land, cultivated, 4d. per acre ; not 
cultivated, from l£d. to 3d. per acre; horses, lis. a 
year ; wheels, 15s. for road purposes. The import 
duty is heavy, being 2s. Gd. in the pound on clothing 
and most articles of necessity from abroad. Houses 
are to be had on short or long leases, sometimes fur- 
nished, but generally unfurnished, at not costly rentals. 
There are many properties to be purchased now for 
less than the value of the buildings in many cases, 
from men who have not capital to develope their 
resources. Money fetches from 7 to 8 per cent on 
first mortgages and perfectly good security. 
I shall be pleased to afford my individval reader 
of The Field further information regarding Jamaica if 
he will apply to me. 
W. B. Bancroft Espeut. 
Jamaica, April 26. 
P.S. — I would strongly advise all who contemplate 
seeking a home abroad to visit Jamaica before deciding 
upon anything. It only takes two months to go and 
return, and need not cost more than £60 or £70, all 
told. 
AN AGRICULTURIST'S TOUR IN 
BELLARY. 
The Government have published a valuable report 
by Mr. C. Benson, late Acting Superintendent of Go- 
vernment Farms, on a tour that he made on the 
Bellary District last autumn. He says:— "The tour 
was a short one, but afforded me an upportunity of 
extending my experience of South Indian farming to 
a set of conditions of which I had previously but 
little knowledge. This is, however, only the third 
in the Presidency which I have as yet been allowed 
to visit, although I have been in the service of Go- 
vernment for nearly seven years, My first opportuni- 
ty of personally gaining an insight into native 
farming was not afforded me until I had been nearly 
five years in India, and thus my knowledge of the 
country was until recently very small. This 
tour is further only the fourth that any officer of the 
department has up to the present time been allowed 
to make in the plains, and yet blame is often cast 
on them for not appreciating the good points of 
native farming, although their opportunities of becom- 
ing acquainted with these points have been few. Hear- 
ing and reading chiefly of the defects of the native 
system, and working out the conclusions to which 
official statistics point agriculturally, my opinion of 
South Indian husbandry was not a flattering one, as I 
