SUGAR CANE. 6l 
with which the West India islands are so frequently 
visited. 
All the precautions, however, which can possibly 
be taken by the most experienced planter will not 
always secure a crop. Cf The sugar cane,” says Mr. 
Edwards, “ is subject to a disease which no foresight 
can obviate, and for which human reason has hitherto, 
I fear, attempted in vain to find a remedy. This ca- 
lamity is called the blasts it is the aphis of Linnaeus, 
and is distinguished into two kinds, the black and 
the yellow, of which the latter is the most destructive. 
It consists of myriads of little insects, invisible to the 
naked eye, whose proper food is the juice of the 
cane ; in search of which they wound the tender 
blades, and consequently destroy the vessels. Hence 
the circulation being impeded, the growth of the 
plant is checked, until it withers or dies in propor- 
tion to the degree of the ravage.” 
These insects are not the only enemies which the 
planters have to complain of; the canes are likewise 
destroyed by monkeys and rats, which are indeed 
more easily removed, but nevertheless frequently 
do a great deal of damage. The upland plantations 
in particular, suffer severely from monkeys : these 
creatures, which now abound in the mountainous 
parts of St. Christopher’s, were supposed to be first 
brought thither by the French, when they possessed 
half that island. They come down from the rocks 
in silent parties in the night, and having posted 
sentinels to give the alarm if any thing approaches, 
they destroy incredible quantities of the cane by 
