Agricultural and Commercial Society. 15 
'* In most of the Demerara and Essequebo estates the 
lots were laid out from sideline to sideline across the 
estate, and generally 3 rods in width, but this width is by 
no means constant. Again the general width of the 
estates in these Counties was 100 roods, but, again, this 
is not constant, so that there is really nothing definite to 
go upon." 
" Again, given that the facades of each estates were 
exa6lly 100 roods, when such estates were bought by a 
band of liberated slaves it frequently occurred that some 
better off than others put in more money, and when the 
division of the land, by a surveyor, took place, naturally 
they claimed a greater area, and got it, and thus, though 
of a greater area, the lot of these latter was still ^ aloty 
" Now in Berbice this is more apparent still, for there 
the majority of the estates were laid out from sea to back 
dam, one man perhaps getting i^ roods facade, while his 
neighbour had 5 or 7 or 10 roods" 
This makes very clear the difficulty of estimating from 
mere statement the area of quarter, half or whole village 
lots. 
For the year 1897, returns were received from all the 
commissarial districts but one, the Potaro, and in that 
the land cultivated is small, confined to some of the larger 
gold placers chiefly, where small plots of plantains, 
cassava and yams, bananas and pine apples, and small 
garden stuff are kept up in favourable seasons. The 
total figures for the whole colony are, most likely, under- 
stated in regard to subje6ls, such as cocoanuts, mangoes, 
oranges, limes, breadfruit and nuts, and even coffee, with 
other scattered produ6ls found at the majority of country 
hamlets, but which in some whole districts are not men- 
tioned at all in the returns for those distri6ls. If the 
figures in the returns ma}^ be regarded as approximately 
corre6l, and not to represent in excess what they state, 
to the total should be added, I think, as before mentioned, 
not less, probably, than ten per cent, for these and other 
evident omissions. That is the impression left on one's 
mind in sifting the returns carefully one by one. A 
further considerable omission, due to an oversight of mine 
in drawing up the form of return, is that cultivated grass 
