2l6 TlMEHRI. 
would ever be able to compete in the business of cattle- 
grazing with the farms of Australia and Western America. 
Mr, Nind said the Berbice River, with all its natural 
advantages, he considered, would push itself forward 
again and be taken up as a home for settlers as it had 
been in the past. The analysis of the soil showed about 
92 per cent, of sand ; that sounded very much against 
its value for cultivation, but an analytical examination 
was not everything. He had recently seen a table of the 
analysis of soil taken from the south of Spain, where the 
sugar cane was cultivated, and he noticed that between 
the soils which were headed " fertile''' and "unfertile" 
there was a very slight difference ; it was stated that the 
reason why one soil was fertile and the other not fertile 
was. that there were great mechanical differences in the 
tillage, between them. The soil in Berbice River, he 
thought, was a most peculiar one ; if one fingered it was 
just like the very finest flour, the sort of soil which 
would feed plants very well ; and to this he attributed 
the fine growth of cocoa and coffee trees which they 
found on the banks of the river. He thought moreover, 
that the raising of cattle might be profitably carried on. 
While admitting that the present grass was tough, he 
had great faith in the possibility of improving it by 
burning it and keeping it down by herds, and thought 
that cattle raising in the Berbice River might be carried 
on successfully. He believed that the grass in the 
Berbice River could be improved upon and brought to a 
better state ; and in order to re-open the country and 
populate it, as it had been formerly when it was a Dutch 
colony, there were one or two things required. In the 
first place the Government must remove the present 
