
« 
MONTHLY 
No. 77. 


APRIL 1, 1800. 
THE 
MAGAZINE 

[No. 3. of Vot. 9. 


a ag en, 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
N compliance with my promife, that, 
if I made public what I confider as 
likely to bea ufeful difcovery with refpect 
to the manufaéturing of {weets, and which 
may provably lay the grounds for making 
fugar in Evrope, I would firft fend it to 
your ufeful Magazine; I now haften, as 
the feafon for planting is fully arrived, to 
communicate what has occurred to me re- 
lative to that fubjecét. 
Having fome years paft become ac- 
quaihted with Mr. Henry SMEATHMAN, 
to whom the honour of firft raifing a bluth 
on the cheeks of Europeans for having been 
concerned in that barbarous traffic -the 
Slave Trade, exclufively belongs ; I na- 
turally caught a fpark of that honeit fire 
which warmed his manly mind, and gladly 
contributed my poor endeavours in the 
common caufe of human nature, exerted 
to roufe the public to a proper fenfe of the 
cruel wrongs done to our almoft neigh- 
bours, whofe unoffending fimplicity, and 
the impoffibility of their ever giving the 
{malle& difturbance to our national com- 
merce, ought, if any thing could infure 
mankind from unprovoked annoyance, to 
have afforded them fecurity. 
That but fmall fuccefs has hitherto at- 
tended the efforts of thofe engaged in their 
caufe excites no furprife; for, how indeed 
fhould men who care fo little for the na- 
tural rights of their own children, as to 
fell their votes at elections, and, with 
them, the conftitution they inherited from 
their forefathers, be alive to'\the immuta- 
ble privileges of a foreign country? We 
therefore both agreed (long before he died 
a martyr to 'this object) that until fome 
method could be found out of manufac- 
turing fugar in Africa, or cultivating ig 
in Europe, no great fuccefs was to be ex- 
pected from any plans to abolith the flave. 
trade. 
Many circumftances have prevented me 
from becoming a ufeful affociate in this 
‘generous plan; yet I beheld with much 
fatisfa&tion, in common with all difin- 
terefted men, the agitation of fo noble a 
queftion ; and the united efforts of others 
' to procure the article fugar from maple, 
| beets, and faccharine vegetables, 
MONTHLY MAG, NO, 57. 
\ 
Sucha with, fo formed, could not long 
quit the mind ; and, during my tours to 
the continent, few vegetable fubftances 
prefented themfelves without examination 
as to their capability of producing {weets, 
but nothing appeared fo likely to contri- 
bute to the wifhed for end, as the Turkey ¢ 
corn of Lombardy, immenfe quantities of 
which are cultivated in Piedmont, the 
Pope’s States, dc. 
We faw great fappy ftems, containing 
a {weet juice, which hogs would ereedily 
devour, growing clofe as fugar-canes, 
making the fame appearance, raifed nearly 
in the fame manner, and whofe ufes were 
inconceivably varied. 
OF the grain we ate polenta, equal to 
wheat in nutriment; of the bloom we had 
delicate brooms, fitted up with light but 
ftrong handles made of the ftalk; while 
the dried leaves afforded clean and elaftic 
ftuffing for mattrefles; even the | green 
{mall unmatured ears were not thrown 
away, tor of them we had excellent frzt- 
tura, by dividing them into quarters, and 
frying them in batter like young arti- 
chokes: the juice of thefe plants alone re- 
mained unufed, and on that my attention 
was fixed ; yet years pafled on, after my 
return home, without making any expe- 
riment; chiefly owing to an erroneous idea 
that the plant could not be cultivated in 
England. 
At length fomebody told me, that Mr. 
Dibdin, of Hampfiead, conftantly raifed 
ery fine ones in his garden; and having 
procured fome feed of the American 
mottled wheat, in cones, I fteeped them, 
and planted them about four inches deep, 
in common mould; they rofe to eight, 
nine, and even ten feet high, without 
hoeing ; but being much occupied, the 
firft year paffed away without making trial 
of their juice. 
Next year Lagain planted them, exaély 
in the fame {pots, aboutfour or five in the 
{pace of a foot fquare; and, to my great 
furprife, they again grew, without any 
manure, to as great a height as the pre- 
ceding year. 
This favourable circumftance greatly 
contributed to my making the experiment; 
therefore, after gathering the fruit in 
‘Otober, which was very large and per- 
Ee fect, 

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