Planter great abundance of that kind of fodder which will keep well in ricks for two or three years.

fhip.

The next care of a planter is to provide fhade for his cattle; either by trees where they are fed in the heat of the day, if his foil requires not dung; or by building a flat fhade over the pen where cattle are confined for making it. That fuch fhades are effentially neceffary to the well-being of all animals in hot weather, is apparent to every common obferver, who cannot fail of feeing each creature forfaking the moft luxuriant paftures in the heat of the day for the fake of fhade; thus convincing the owners, by inftinctive argument, that fhade is almost as neceffary to the well-being of the brute creatures as food. Yet, notwithstanding that demonftration from the unerring courfe of nature, throughout all our islands (except in a very few inftances), thefe poor creatures are expofed to the fcorching fun-beams without mercy. Such inhuman neglect is not always fo much the effect of inattention as of a mistaken notion that shades are impedimental to the making of much dung; but a flat thade, covered with cane-trafh, may be fo made as to let rain pafs through it without admiffion of fun-beams. This will do for cattle; but mules, which are fpirited creatures, and work themfelves by draught into a foaming heat, fhould be put into a warm stable, until quite cool: for turning them loofe to palture when fo hot, is probably the cause of their deftruction by the glanders.

If the care of providing fhade for brute creatures is fo much the duty and intereft of their owners, how much more is it agreeable to the laws of humanity to provide fhade for human creatures travelling upon the high-roads in this hot climate? Nothing furely of fo much beauty costs fo little expence as planting cocoanut or spreading timber trees in avenues along the highways, if each proprietor of the lands adjoining hath any tafte of elegance, or feeling for other men: but both thofe kinds of trees will yield alfo great profit to the proprietor, by furnishing him with timber, when perhaps not otherwife to be had; or with a delicious milk, fitted by nature to cool the effervefcence of the blood in this hot region; and alfo to improve the spirits made from fugar to the delicacy and foftnefs of arrack. Cocoa-nut and cabbage-trees are both very beautiful and Thady, bearing round heads of great expanfion, upon. natural trunks or pillars of elegant proportion, and of fuch an height as to furnish a large fhade, with a free circulation of air equally refreshing to man and beast.

The common objection of injury to canes by the roots of fuch trees growing on their borders, may be rafily removed by digging a fmall trench between the canes and trees, which may intercept their roots, and oblige them to feek fuftenance in the common road. Let it alfo be confidered, befides the benefits above fuggefted, that the planter will thus beautify his eftate to the refemblance of a moft fumptuous garden. And probably that very beauty might not only render the inlands more healthful to the inhabitants, by preferving

VOL. XV. Part I.

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them from fevers kindled by the burning fun-beams, Planterbut also much more fruitful by making the weather more feafonable: for as, by cutting down all its woods, an hot country becomes more fubject to exceffive droughts; fo, by replanting it in the manner above defcribed, this inconvenience would probably be prevented.

Let then the planter be kind not only to his fellowcreatures but merciful to his beafts; giving them plenty and variety of wholefome food, clear water, cool thade, and a clean bed, bleeding them after a long course of hard labour, currying their hides from filth and ticks (A); affording them falt and other phyfic when neceffary; protecting them from the flaying rope-lathes of a cruel driver (who needs no other inftrument than a goad); proportioning their labour to their strength; and by every art rendering their work as eafy as poffible. The general management of planters is not, perhaps, more defective in any other refpect than in this: for, by pairing the cattle unequally, and by the drivers ill conduct in writhing to the right and left, the poor creatures are fatigued by much needlefs labour. An horfe ought therefore to be harnessed before them as a leader. This docile creature, by being led in a straight line, will foon learn to be an unerring guide, and the cattle will follow in the fame direction with united strength, and con fequently with more effect and lefs fatigue to each indi-vidual.

The Portuguefe of Madeira, by their poverty and fcantinefs of pafture, breed the smallest kind of cattle; and yet one yoke of them will draw a much greater weight than a pair of our largeft oxen, folely by an equal exertion of their joint ftrength. That equality or evenness of draught is preferved by boring gimblet holes through their horns, within two inches of the points, and running a thong of leather through those holes, fo as to tie the horns of each pair at fix inches diftance from each other. By this ligature the pair of cattle are abfolutely hindered from turning different ways, and draw in an even direction with united force. Thus it appears evidently from reason, as well as from experience, that the labour of our beafts may, by a little contrivance, be rendered more eafy and effectual.

Of the Culture of various Soils.] In the British fugar. colonies there is as great a variety of foils as in any country of Europe; fome naturally very rich or fruitful, yielding a luxuriant product with little labour or culture. This fruitful foil is of three kinds: a loose hazel mould mixed with fand, like that of St Chriftopher's, and is the beft in the known world for producing fugar in great quantity, and of the best quality. The brick mould of Jamaica is somewhat of the fame nature, and next in value; and then the various mixtures of mould and gravel, to be found in veins or plats over all the other iflands. When any of these foils are exhaufted of their fertility by long and injudicious culture, they may be reftored by any kind of dung well rotted; for thefe (B) warm foils cannot bear hot unrotten dung, without being laid fallow for a confider

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Planter able time after it. Another improvement is by feafand or fea-weed; or by digging in the cane-trafh into steep lands, and by letting it lie to rot for fome months. A third method is, by ploughing and laying it fallow; and the fourth method (the best of all), is by folding the fallows by fheep. But this can be practifed only where there are extenfive paftures; nor can the plough be employed where the foil abounds with large ftones. In that cafe, however, the former method of digging in trafh will be nearly as effectual, though more expenfive, by hand-labour or hoe-ploughing. The next beft foil for producing good fugar is a mould upon clay, which if fhallow requires much culture and good labour, or its produce will be fmall in quantity, though of a strong grain and bright colour, fo as to yield moft profit to the refiner of any fugar, except that produced from an hazel or gravelly foil, as before-mentioned. All the black-mould foils upon marle are generally fruitful, and will take any kind of dung; but yield not fo ftrong or large-grained fugar. Marle, however, of a white, yellow, or blue colour, or rich mould from washes, or afhes of every kind, are excellent for every strong foil, as the chief ingredient in the compoft of dung: either of them will do alone for ftiff lands; but the yellow and chocolate marle are the moft foapy, and the richeft kind of manure (except fine mould) for all ftiff lands. If thefe are well opened, pulverized by culture, and mixed with hot dung, or any kind of loose earth or marle, they will produce as plentifully as lighter foils: and all kinds of clay-foils, except that of a white colour, have thefe two advantages above the finest gravel soils, that they do not fcorch foon by dry weather, and never grow weary of the fame manure, as most other foils do.

The extraordinary hand-labour bestowed in making dung, may be faved by the art of caving, now in general ufe in England. Ten mules or horfes, and two light tumbrels with broad wheels, and ten able negroes, may, by the common ufe of spades, fhovels, and light mattocks, or grubbing hoes, make more dung than 60 able negroes can do in the prefent methods.

If marle lies upon rifing ground, or in hillocks, as it often does, the pit is to be opened at the foot of the declivity; which being dug inwards, till the bank is three feet high, then it is to be caved thus. Dig an hollow fpace of 12 or 18 inches deep under the foot of the bank; then dig into each fide of it another perpendicular cut of the fame depth, and 18 inches wide from the top of the bank to the bottom: that being finished, make a small trench a foot or two from the brink of the bank; pour into it water till full; and when that is done, fill it again, till the water foaking downward makes the marle feparate and fall down all at once. This may be repeated till the pit rifes to 50 feet high; and then many hundreds of cart-loads of marle may be thrown down by four negroes in two hours; from whence it may be carted into cattle-pens or laid out upon lands, as occafion requires. Five or fix negroes with fpades or fhovels will keep two or three tumbrels em

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ployed, according to the diftance of cartage: and thus Planteras much dung may be made by ten negro men as will dung richly at least 70 or 80 acres of land every year, and laid out alfo with the affiftance of cattle-carts: An improvement highly worth every planter's confideration, when negroes and feeding them are fo expenfive; and this is no fpeculation, but has been confirmed by prac tice. In level lands, the fame operation may be as ef fectual, provided the mouth of the pit be opened by gradual defcent to any depth: but when maile is to be found on the fides of hills, the operation is less laborious for the horses. But if the furface of the marle-pits (as it often happens) be covered with clay or stiff foil, fo that the water cannot quickly foak from the trench above; in that cafe, pieces of hard wood, made like piles, four feet long, and four inches fque, pointed at one end, and fecured at the other square head by an iron clamp, may be driven by heavy mauls into the trench, as fo many wedges, which will make the caved part tumble down: but a skilful eye must watch the last ration, or the labourers may be buried or hurt. But then clay-foils that are level, and fubject to be, drowned, or to retain water in ftagnated pools, can never be made fruitful by any kind of manure, without being firft well drained: for water lying upon any foil will moft certainly transform it to a stiff unfruitful clay; as appears evidently by the bogs of Ireland, the fens of Lincoln and Cambridgeshire, and even by the ponds of Barbadoes fituated in the deepest and lighteft black mould; for that fine foil being washed into thofe ponds, becomes the stiffeft black clay, not fit even for an ingredient in dung, until it has been laid dry, and exposed to the fun for a whole year: but when these bogs and fens are well drained, they become the most fruitful foils. Natural clay the celebrated Boerhaave thinks the fattest of all foils; but then it must be opened by culture, marle, or fandy manures. It is hard to conjecture how the opinion prevailed in the British plantations, that fandy gut-mould was moft unfit for clay-foils, as being the means of binding them to the compactnefs of brick; whereas it is proved, from long experience, to be one of the beft means of opening clay-foils, and rendering them abundantly fruitful. Brick is made of clay alone; no fand being used in it, farther than to fprinkle the board, on which it is moulded into fhape. From repeated experience it appears, that a mixture of fand in gut-mould is the best of all manure for stiff and barren clay-lands; provided they be well drained, by throwing the whole foil into round ridges of 12 feet wide, with furrows of three feet wide between each ridge. And this is done with little more hand-labour than that of hoe-ploughing well in the common way. For if a piece of land be marked in lines at feven feet and a half diftance from each other, and the labourers are fet in to hoe-plough at the fecond line, hauling back each clod 12 inches; half the ridge, and near half the furrow, is made at the fame time: and thus a piece of land may be round-ridged, and the furrows all made at once, by the common operation of hoe-ploughing, provided the digger drives his hoe up to the eye at every ftroke. Hoeploughing

Planter ploughing in clay-foils that have lain long under water, Thip. is indeed hard labour; but it will every year grow the fighter by being well-drained by round-ridging: and in the meanwhile the labour may be rendered much more eafy by the plough conducted by the lines above defcribed. As therefore fandy mould is the best manure for ftiff clay; fo, by parity of reafon, confirmed by long experience, ftiff clay is the beft manure for fandy or chaffy foils.

The method of round-ridging before defcribed, is, by feveral years experience, found the most effential improvement of flat clayey foils and yet there are fome who will prefer fpeculation to ocular demonftration, fancying that all kinds of ridges will carry off the mould in heavy rains. The fact is otherwise in clay-foils: and plain reason, without experience, vouches, that where great confluxes of water are divided into many fmall rills, the force is broken; and therefore lefs mould carried off the land. Another objection made to round-ridgeing is, that by digging much clay to form the fides of the ridge, the foil is impoverished: but this objection ftands good only against those ridges which are raised too high, and made too broad; but if land is ridged in the manner before directed, that is, 12 feet broad, and not above fix or eight inches higher in the middle than at the fides, the objection vanishes. Ridges were never propofed for light foils or steep lands; and even in flat foils upon loam they should be made with great caution, because loam melts away by water. But there are poachy lands of a white clay, even upon fmall defcents, too retentive of water; thefe may certainly be improved much by ridges of 12 feet wide, as above described, without fear of washes.

But fuppofing, as the objection urges, that a little clay fhould be turned up at the fides of fuch ridges, can it not be manured fomewhat more than the other parts with marle or fandy mould, fo as to become equally good with any other part of the foil? And is not this well worth the labour, fince round-ridging not only improves the foil by draining it to a furprifing degree, but adds one-fifth part to the depth of the ftaple? And will not a ridge made a little rounding, throw off the water much better than a flat ridge?

The general maxim of not burning cane-trash (which may be called the ftubble of cane-lands) upon any kind of foil, is furely a great miftake; as may be evinced by obferving the contrary practice of the best husbandmen in England, where burn-baiting or baftard burn-baiting, is found by experience an admirable method of fertilizing cold, ftiff, or clayey lands. It muft indeed be a conftant practice, not only for the fake of contributing to warm and divide the foil, but as the only effectual means of deftroying pernicious infects, and weeds of various kinds, fuch as French weed, wild peafe, and wild vines.

Soon after the difufe of burning trash upon our lands in the islands, the blast made its firft appearance with incredible devastation: to revive that practice therefore feems to be the most obvious means of expelling it. 8

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may be prefumed that the difufe of burning trash was Plarterfounded upon the mistaken notion of burn-baiting, which is turning up a thick fod of very dry, light, and fhallow foils, and burning the whole fuperficies or ftaple to afhes. This practice the writers upon husbandry condemn univerfally, and very juftly: for though by this practice the land will produce two or three crops more plentifully than ever, yet the foil is blown away by the wind, and the fubftratum being generally an hungry gravel or chalk, can never be reflored to fertility by the common arts of husbandry. But furely this has no refemblance to our fuperficial burning of the little trafh we can fpare from dung: and though this method of burn-baiting light and fhallow foils be justly condemned, yet the best writers recommend that very practice in cold, moift, and heavy foils, as is observed above; and long experience juftifies it.

Deep mould upon clay or foam being fubject to the grub-worm (c), will not take any kind of dung, till perfectly rotten, except that of the fheep-fold; which is the beft manure for all kinds of light foils, and is of all others the leaft expenfive, as not requiring hand-labour. But the ufe of the fold is impracticable in any island not abounding with large favannas or sheep-paftures, as in Jamaica.

Thofe foils therefore which are fubject to the grub, and must be fertilized by common dung, which is proper neft for the mother-beetle to depofite its eggs, must be well impregnated with the brine of diffolved falt, after the dung is first cut up; two large hogsheads of falt will make brine enough for a dung-pen of 50 feet fquare.

This cure for the grub is a late difcovery; and which has been attended with fuccefs, fo far as the experiment is made. But though it proves effectual to deftroy that pernicious infect in plant-canes, it probably will not be fufficient to fave rattoons, without a new application of falt in powder; because the first brine muft be washed away by the time when rattoons fpring up.

The planter who would fave his rattoons from the grub ought therefore to cut off the heads of his stools with fharp hoes three inches below the furface of the foil, and then ftrew an handful of falt round each stool, and cover it up to a level with fine mould taken from the edges.

In foils where there is no grub, and the planter wishes to have very good rattoons, let him, as foon as his canes are cut, draw all the trafh from the ftools into the alternate spaces, if planted in that manner; or into the furrows, if his land be round-ridged; and then cut off the head of his ftools with sharp hoes, as above directed. Experience has fhown the advantage of this practice, and reafon demonftrates the great benefit of the rattoonfprouts rifing from three inches below the furface, inftead of fuperficial fhoots which come to nothing, and only ftarve the strong sprouts. Befides, the stubs which are left upon the ftools after the canes are cut, canker, and rot the ftools; which is one reafen why good ratC2

toong

Planter toons are uncommon in foils long cultivated. Yet it is hip. the opinion of fome, that by hoe-ploughing and even dunging rattoons, the produce might be as good plantcanes, which would fave the labour of holing and planting fo often as planters commonly do.

Fallowing is of incredible advantage to every foil, not only by being divided into the minuteft parts, but alio by imbibing thofe vegetative powers with which the air is impregnated by the bountiful hand of Providence, whenever rain falls. What thofe powers are has been explained under the articles AGRICULTURE and PLANT; and experience evinces, that the tender vegetables of the earth are envigorated more by the fmallest shower of rain, than by all the water which human art can beftow. Let it therefore be a conftant maxim of the planter, never to plant his ground until the foil is well mellowed by fallowing, even though he beftows upon it a due proportion of dung: we fay a due proportion; for too much will force up rank canes, which never yield good fugar; and though some advantage may be reaped from the rattoons, yet it will be found by experience not to compenfate the lofs by the plants. In ftony or fteep foils, where the plough cannot be used, or where a fufficient ftrength of cattle cannot be fupported for that purpose, hand-labour or hoeploughing must be fubftituted: but even in that cafe, much labour may be faved by spreading the dung according to the English husbandry, and digging it into the foil. To evince this truth, let any planter compute his negroes labour of diftributing dung by baskets, and by spreading it with dung-forks; and then judge for himself by one fingle experiment which is the moft profitable.

But if fome planters are fo devoted to the old cuftom of diftributing dung by baskets instead of wheel-barrows in level ground, or hand-barrows in uneven land, by which three times the labour may be accomplished in the fame time and by the fame hands; let them at leaft fave much of their hand-labour, by the following method of laying out dung, before the diftribution by baskets.

In holing a piece of land, let a space be left after 80 holes from the first interval, and then the like space after 80 holes throughout the whole plat, which spaces muft run exactly parallel to the intervals on the right and left of the holes. Into thefe fpaces the dung may be carted, even before it be rotten (D), at the most leifure times, and covered with mould or cane-trafh, to prevent exhalation; and in fuch quantity as will fuffice only to dung a row of 40 holes, from the point oppofite to each fide of it. In the intervals at each fide of the cane-piece, which are parallel to those spaces, there muft be dung enough carted to manure a row of 40 holes, and covered in like manner.

By thus placing the dung or gut-mould, it is evident

at the first fight, that the fartheft diftance cannot be Planter above 40 holes in diftributing the dung: and in cafe thip. it be not fufficiently rotten for prefent ufe, it may be diftributed even in dry weather, and covered by the bank; which will both prevent its fpirit from exhalation, and occafion it to rot fooner, which is no small advantage. Moreover, by being thus laid out at the most leifure times, and covered with the banks, the dung will be more intimately mixed with the foil, and therefore continue to nourish the plant for a longer time than if laid as ufual at the bottom of the holes. A farther advantage of thus diftributing the dung, and covering it, refults from the more expeditious planting the land after a fhort or fudden fhower: for the labour of covering the dung, and uncovering it when the land is planted, however it may appear in fpeculation, is in practice a trifle; and befides all the other advantages arifing by the diftribution of dung from the spaces above defcribed, this is not the leaft, that not a bank is trodden under foot. But it is evident, that by distributing the dung with baskets in the prefent method, the foil is much trampled under foot; and by that means, the very end of hoe-ploughing, or loofening the foil, is much defeated. In like manner, by the prefent method of hoeploughing, the fame ill effect is produced; for as the negroes hoe-plough or dig the foil directly forward, fo they must neceffarily tread the ground as fast as they dig it: whereas by putting the labourers to dig fidewife, no one puts a foot upon the foil after it is dug; and by lining the land before it is hoe-ploughed, each negro may have an equal fhare to dig. The only difficulty of hoe-ploughing fidewife is in firft fetting the negroes to that work; but it may be done without lofs of time when working in a contiguous field. Whether hoe-ploughing before or after the land be holed for canes is moft eligible, experience muft determine; but certainly both operations will be moft effectual: and therefore it will be advisable (E), first to plough the foil where the land will admit the plough; and where it will not, to hoe-plough it with or without dung, as requifite; then let it lie fallow till perfectly mellowed; then hole and plant it; and instead of weeding in the ufual manner, let the weeds in all the spaces be dug into the foil: but as this is not to be done fo well with the hoe, it is fubmitted to future experience, whether the dexterous ufe of fpades, the dexterous ufe of fpades, as in England, will not answer the purpose much better, and with equal dispatch. But whatever method is preferred, most certain it is, that by loofening the foil in all the fpaces between the young canes after being come up, their fibres will more eafily expand on every fide, and acquire more nutrition to invigorate their growth. But where the planter grudges this labour, by thinking it needlefs in a rich loofe foil, he may dispatch more weeding-work by the Dutch hoe than by any other; which being fastened

upon