22 
HISTORY OF THE [book v. 
In the West Indies, is to confine it to the simple 
operation of holing , which may certainly be per¬ 
formed with much greater facility and despatch by 
the plough than by the hoe; and the relief which, 
in the case of stiff and dry soils, is thus given to 
the negroes, exceeds all estimation, in the mind of 
a humane and provident owner. On this subject I 
speak from practical knowledge. At a plantation 
of my own, the greatest part of the land which is 
annually planted, is neatly and sufficiently laid into 
cane-holes, by the labour of one able man, three 
boys, and eight oxen, with the common single¬ 
wheeled plough. The plough-share indeed is. 
somewhat wider than usual, but this is the only 
difference, and the method of ploughing is the 
simplest possible.—By returning the plough back 
along the furrow, the turf is alternately thrown to 
the right and to the left, forming a trench seven 
inches deep, about two feet and a half wide at 
the top, and one foot wide at the bottom. A space 
of eighteen or twenty inches is left between each 
trench, on which the mould being thrown by the 
share, the banks are properly formed, and the ho¬ 
ling is complete. Thus the land is not exhausted 
by being too much exposed to the sun; and in this 
manner a field of twenty acres is holed with one 
plough, and with great ease, in thirteen days. The 
plants are afterwards placed in the trench as in the 
common method, which remains to be described. 
The usual mode of holing by manual labour is 
this:—The quantity of land intended to be planted. 
