Agricultural and Commercial Society. 65 
themselves with any calculation as to whether the 
returns are in a profitable ratio to the time and labour 
expended. A small farmer will be unable to say what 
result, measurable by arithmetic, he has gained from his 
beds ; a steady supply of food, an occasional outfit for 
himself and family, and a fund of content bordering 
upon indifference, are the only fruits he gathers from his 
toil, and he cares for little else. The ambitious will not 
find much to feast their ardour and to satisfy their 
longings in such a pursuit. Where labour has to be 
employed as well, the profit, small under any 
circumstances, must completely disappear. It is to be 
regretted that the efforts to introduce economic plants 
into the farms are as yet very few and feeble. With 
a market for plantains and ground provisions that is 
becoming more unreliable and unremunerative every 
day, the need for something that will afford a regular 
yield and command constant sale is great and urgent. 
Our small men do not take kindly to coffee and cocoa, 
or even cocoanuts, the reason being, no doubt, the time 
that must elapse before they can see the results of their 
labour. The farmer whose field I visited, pointing to 
the few cocoanut trees growing on his land, regretted 
most bitterly that he did not take the advice of the 
proprietor of the adjoining sugar plantation given him 
several years ago, to place his whole acreage under 
cocoanut cultivation. He is now anxious to try 
cane farming ; as a matter of fact there is a widespread 
desire in this district to abandon ground provisions in 
favour of cane cultivation. Those who have already 
done so have nothing to regret, and their success is a 
strong incentive to their neighbours. The distrust of 
the sugar planters is very little apparent here. Its 
I 
