HISTORY OF THE 
18 
i 
[book V. 
grows dry after rain, the under stratum retains a 
considerable degree of moisture in the driest 
weather;—with this advantage too, that even in 
the wettest season it seldom requires trenching. 
Plant-canes in this soil (which are those of the first 
growth) have been known in very fine seasons to 
yield two tons and a half of sugar per acre.* After 
this, may be reckoned the black mould, of several 
varieties. The best is the deep black earth of Bar- 
badoes, Antigua, and some other of the Windward 
Islands: but there is a species of this mould in Ja¬ 
maica that is but little, if any thing, inferior to it> 
which abounds with limestone and flint, on a sub¬ 
stratum of soapy marie. Black mould on clay is 
more common, but as the mould is generally shal¬ 
low, and the clay stiff and retentive of water, this 
last sort of land requires great labour, both in 
ploughing and trenching, to render it profitable. 
Properly pulverized and manured, it becomes very 
productive; and may be said to be inexhaustible. 
It were endless to attempt a minute description of 
all the other soils which are found in these islands. 
There is however a peculiar sort of land on the north 
side of Jamaica, chiefly in the parish of Trelawney, 
that cannot be passed over unnoticed, not only on 
account of its scarcity, but its value; few soils 
* This species of soil abounds very generally in the French part of 
Hispaniola-—which gives that noble island so great a superiority over 
most of our own sugar colonies. In Jamaica, it is confined to a few 
parishes only, and in those parishes to particular spots. In some 
places tins sort of land is rather gravelly, but this circumstance, if 
the seasons are favourable, is of no great disadvantage. 
