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RECEIVED MAYEH 197
MDCCCXLV.
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THE
JAMAICA
PLANTER'S GUIDE;
OR,
A SYSTEM FOR PLANTING AND MANAGING
A
SUGAR ESTATE,
OR OTHER PLANTATIONS IN THAT ISLAND,
AND THROUGHOUT
THE BRITISH WEST INDIES
IN GENERAL.
ILLUSTRATED WITH INTERESTING ANECDOTES.
By THOMAS ROUGHLEY,
NEARLY TWENTY YEARS A SUGAR PLANTER
N JAMAICA,
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR
LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN,
PATERNOSTER-ROW.
1823.


..
و
ا نا
قسم 2
15. 1193 م


PREFACE.
Ar any period, but more especially the
present, when Jamaica and West India
produce is so much depreciated, and the
heavy expenses attending the cultivation
of the land, and the manufacture of its
produce; together with the capital laid
out in the establishment of a plantation,
and its annual disbursements, is considered,
a system of practical cultivation, combined
with proper economy, will, it is presumed,
be readily adopted by every proprietor.
An attention to such a plan will doubtless
appear necessary in all cases of the non-
residence of the owners, and where the
management of estates, is intrusted to
agents. Many circumstances may concur
to render such care indispensable - the
failure of crops, the unusual decrease and


PREFACE.
loss of slaves and stock, the exhaustion of
land, inadequate and trifling returns by
shipments or sales, a consequent diminution
of capital, and the inevitable alternative
(after many years of toil and anxious hope)
of borrowing money by mortgaging his
estate, to sustain his credit. To these
contingencies may be added law charges,
interest of money, and percentage to
agents; and at last a consignment of the
produce to a mortgagee, or putting him in
possession of the estate, thus perhaps blight-
ing his prospects for ever.
· The author of this work has spent many
years in the Island of Jamaica, in the occu-
pation of a planter, and in the management
of several estates, principally in the north
side of that productive, delightful island,
His knowledge of the prevailing system of
culture has been matured by experience,
and he has, he trusts, discovered some of
those errors which have occasioned both
expense and failure. He has therefore
ventured to arrange such a method of


PREFACE.
plantership (especially for the sugar de-
partment) as is best adapted, not for Ja-
maica alone, but for the West India islands
in general. He has introduced some use-
ful, comprehensive, and beneficial modifi-
cations, which he doubts not will be con-
ducive to the interests of the proprietors.
He presumes that such a plan will meet
with the approbation, countenance, and
support of the independent, non-resident
owners of land, and capitalists, and all
who are interested in the welfare of that
species of property. He has endeavoured
to make it simple and of easy acquisition,
particularly so to the beginner; yet, he
trusts, of equal value to the old prac-
titioner. In the work he has also in-
serted some interesting anecdotes founded
on facts, which have either fallen under
his own observation, or been received from
credible testimony. He trusts that his work
will be found by the impartial and un-
biassed of general utility, and that it will
. therefore meet with approbation.





CONTENTS.
Page
CHAP. I.
Of Plantation Attorneys or Agents,
-
-
1
CHAP. II.
The treatment of Slaves, -
-
-
-
75
CHAP. III.
Choice and treatment of Stock,
-
-
-
128
CHAP. IV.
The Works and Overseer's House,
-
182
CHAP. V.
Planting and Cultivation of the Sugar-cane, &c. 215
CHAP. VI.
Cytting of Sugar-canes, and manufacturing
Sugar, - - - - - -
- 320


CONTENTS,
CHAP. VII.
Making and distilling of Rum,
•
-
- 384
CHAP. VIII.
Planting and care of Provisions,
-
-
395


THE
JAMAICA
PLANTER'S GUIDE,
CHAP. I.
OF PLANTATION ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
In treating of the management and culti-
vation of a sugar estate in the island of
Jamaica, it will be necessary to take into
consideration a great variety of subjects,
and to reduce them into such a system as
will enable the speculator to approve and
adopt it, and the practitioner to understand
and realise it. The plan here offered to
public attention is intended to unite proper
economy in every branch, with such re-
quisites as may ensure (under the blessing
of Providence), a suitable return from the
land, and yield the proprietor a reasonable
and adequate compensation for the employ-


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS,
ment of his capital. The first and prin-
cipal object to be contemplated is, the
course which is at present followed in the
island of Jamaica, with respect to the treat-
ment of slaves and stock, the culture of
the land, the manufacture of sugar and
rum, and the necessary and unavoidable
expenses connected with its produce. An
accurate view of these subjects will deter-
mine, whether improvement and retrench-,
ment may generally and successfully be
attempted. If this should be found the
result of the investigation, an increase of
the crops, the preservation of the capital,
the improvement of the quality and quantity
of sugar and rum, may be obtained; the
comfort of the slaves, the food and care of
the live stock, and the good order of the
buildings and manufacturing utensils may
be secured; the shipment of the produce
in proper condition, with little reduction
of value for repacking or ullage, and the
disposal of the whole in as speedy a manner
as possible, to the advantage and satisfaction


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
3
.
of the proprietor, without diminishing the
salary or happiness of the white people
resident on the estate, may be expected.
The author of this treatise disclaims all
idea of personal reflection, though it is
possible that some may invidiously con-
jecture this to have been his intention. If,
indeed, by any recital he has made, it
should appear that any abuses are found
to exist, the representation is given as
growing out of a system of management
which has for many years been adopted in
Jamaica -- a system tenaciously retained by
the old planters; patronised by the new;
and become so formidable by long use and
custom, as scarcely to admit of innovation
or improvement. Useful modification too
often, therefore, is condemned with sarcasm
and ridicule.
The person styled in Jamaica, and the
West Indies in general, by the planters, an
Attorney, is so important an object in the
detail of plantership, that I should be grossly
deficient in describing the old customs and
B 2


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
habits of those islands, if some account was
not given 'of him. These officers, were
first appointed there in consequence of the
absence of the proprietors. This malady
became so epidemical as to affect and
carry off from Jamaica seven eighths of
the landed interest, substituting in their
place, during their absence, some gentleman
of their acquaintance, or a person recom-
mended to them, to conduct the business
of the plantation. The enjoyments which
the mother country affords, its elegancies
and refinements, frequently became so al-
luring, as to induce a protracted continu-
ance in it. Their affairs in the West Indies
were, therefore, necessarily confided to the
management of an agent or attorney, re-
sident on or near the estate, who acted ac-
cording to his own discretion and pleasure.
Some gentlemen of this class possessed only
a slight knowledge of plantership, and others
none at all. But being armed with des-
potic power, they became the ruling agents
in the affairs they were intrusted with ; and


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
enjoying an extensive connection with mer-
cantile men in the islands in general, and
the parent country, they were looked up to
with reverential awe by the overseers and
book-keepers. Sometimes they paid a
casual visit to the estates over which they
presided, with lordly pomp. This, however,
was seldom done oftener than once a-year,
and the plantations were governed without
being actually inspected. Persons of merit
were frequently discharged from their sta-
tions without sufficient cause, and others
employed instead of them, of whose qualifi-
cations they were ignorant. Plans were
formed, from the adoption of which, pro-
lific crops were anticipated. But the fairest
prospects were sometimes made to vanish
by an arbitrary stroke of the pen, so that
happy results and promised returns yielded
to the destructive consequences of ill-
concerted schemes. Such conduct was
more the effect of malignant caprice, than
the solicitous effects of honourable inten-
tions, for promoting the welfare and in-
S
B 3


6
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
terest of the proprietors. These were the
primary causes of the failure of the crops,
and the springs from which all the subse-
quent evils flowed, — “ the very head and
front of the offending.” This occasioned
the spreading the cane cultivation over an
immense tract of land, instead of keeping
up the stamina of the old grounds. The
cattle and mules were overworked, or suf-
fered to grow too old without being re-
placed by younger beasts. Hence a great
loss was sustained: the introduction of
endless jobbing: the eating up of the crops
by divers island disbursements, which might
have been avoided or diminished: and the
immense supplies sent out by home mer-
chants, a great part of which were left to
rot, or were buried at the wharf. The
sugar and rum were suffered to remain too
long on the estate or barquadier without
shipping, requiring sometimes one quarter
to make up loss by ullage. These gross
errors are solely the fault of the resident
attorney, arising from his connivance or


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
ignorance. The consequences, however, of
this misconduct, and of these improprieties,
fall on the owner of the estate, obliging
him to borrow money, not only for his own
support, but to pay off the debts of his ill-
managed and unproductive land. I would
not indeed assert, that in the island of
Jamaica in particular, no gentlemen are to
be found, properly qualified by nature or
education, to render, as planting attorneys,
the most excellent, durable, and beneficial
services to those who employ them. There
are many who are fully adequate to dis-
charge such a trust. Governed by honour-
able motives, and assiduously employing
their cultivated talents, by persevering in-
dustry, they secure the welfare of their
constituents; and actuated by humane and
liberal principles, they extend the ad-
vantages they obtain, to all who are de-
pendent upon them. The major part, or
five sixths of this class of representatives,
are men who are engrossed by their own
interested speculations, attentive to what
B4


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
will promote their own selfish views, making
every other object within their grasp sub-
servient to their ambition. Though per-
haps they are too ignorant to be planters,
they are too 'ostentatious, proud, and supine,
to contribute to the good of their consti-
tuents. Nor is it the least of their defects
that they clandestinely prefer the inter-
est of a mortgagee or affluent merchant,
(who may possibly have some secret design
upon the estate) to that of the owner.
This is sometimes done, because such a
mortgagee or merchant, becoming power-
fully connected in the island, may be the
means not only of continuing the attorney
in his agency, but of advancing his in-
fluence, authority, and wealth, by procuring
for him commissions for the management
of other estates. By this means, a fruitful
West India island is converted into a de-
vastated mortgage. Sometimes it happens
that the attorney, consulting his pleasure,
fixes his residence on one of the estates of
his constituents, with far greater regard to


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
9
save expense to himself, than his absent
employer. He looks about for a healthy
eligible situation ; a large house well fur-
nished; sensible, clean, handsome slaves
as servants; grounds delightful and pleasing
to his eye; a flower garden to refresh his
weary senses; a kitchen garden to furnish
his table; but, above all, where small stock
are numerous and thriving, that he may
have an abundant supply for his own con-
sumption without expense. He cultivates
luxuriant grass pieces, and corn for his
horses and cattle, without any deduction
from his per centage on the sale of the
crops. Thus his establishment is secretly,
and with mercenary meanness, supported :
the proprietor of the estate in this manner
contributing to his aggrandisement. The
contribution thus levied, is not less, con-
sidering all circumstances, than 7001. a
year. What, however, is still more surpris-
ing, is, that this very person, who thus
reposes upon the substance of his con-
stituents, in superabundant plenty, very


10
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
often does not know the limits of the estate
he is empowered to manage, or even a cane
piece within a musket shot of the house he
inhabits. He cannot tell whether it is
attached to that or any other property.
The poor overseer, dependent on his will,
is in constant jeopardy, and his mind fre-
quently thereby estranged from the proper
duties of his station. If any deficiency is
discovered in the supplies required for the
house or retinue of the attorney, he is re-
proved by harsh notes, and suppositious
faults are imputed to him. Whether an
ample crop has been taken off, and a pro-
mising one is advancing, with little loss of
slaves and stock (the true criterion of good
management) signifies little. This meri-
torious, industrious servant, is discharged,
and his place filled up with perhaps an ob-
sequious novice.
Some proprietors of West India estates
are so profuse, or rather overcareful of
their property, as to suppose that their ad.
vantage is not sufficiently attended to,


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS,
unless they have two guardians on the spot;
one termed the planting attorney, the other
the commissary, factor, or mercantile at-
torney. Each of these receives a commis-
sion of five per cent. on all sales or net
proceeds. These two persons frequently
pursue a separate interest, and clash with
each other. They profess to discover
blunders or abuses in their different de-
partments, and so greatly confuse the
general affairs of the estate, by their mutual
variance and opposition, that the ordinary
and requisite materials and business of the
plantation is neglected. Their personal
interest being separate, they conspire to
supplant each other, at the risk or even
ruin of the proprietor. It often happens
that the power of these men is so pe-
culiarly vested, that under particular cir-
cumstances they can appoint each other
to office: either the planting attorney ap-
pointing the factor, or, on the contrary, the
factor nominating the planting agent. In
such cases, the disease is equally mortal to


12
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
the owner. For one of these persons pre
dominating over the other, of course,
orders, dictates to, and rules the other.
The merchant will enlarge the prospects,
and contribute to the interest of the plant-
ing agent, from motives of gratitude to his
benefactor, the planting agent; he will
ship round and consign to the factor, a
great part of the produce of the estate,
instead of sending it home. In the place
of this the superabundant supplies, and a
quantity of worthless lumber, and salt pro-
visions, are transmitted back. This abuse
of the trust reposed in them is ruinous to
the estate. By this means, a great part of
the crop becomes as it were sequestered ;
destruction is added to defalcation. The
property which is disposed of in this man-
ner is converted into bills of exchange.
These are sold at a high premium, though
they virtually and intrinsically belong to
the land owner. By this twofold strata-
gem, designed to fill the coffers of the
agents, a great portion of the produce of
an.
nel


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
13
Jamaica is sold in Kingston, either by pri-
vate contract or by auction, in as summary
a manner as possible, to make quick re-
turns to the factor. By these methods he
becomes the proprietor of it at a cheap
rate, which is indeed the object he had in
view throughout the whole of his transac-
tions.
Some short-sighted people may, perhaps,
indulge the idea that it is contrary to the
interest of the acting attorney to be in-
fluenced by principles, and to pursue mea-
sures contrary and detrimental to his
constituent. I will indeed allow that ho-
nourable motives, and views characterised
by integrity, should predominate with every
man so entrusted, and whose connections
enable him to promote the welfare of his
employer: and that if the agent is ignorant
of plantership, he should decline the office;
or if he feels himself competent to the task,
he should discharge it with faithful as-
siduity : but whoever forms this honour-
able view of the subject has seldom, or


14
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
possibly never enquired into the cause of
the absence of the proprietor, or traced the
source from whence the power of the at-
torney is derived, nor has he properly
considered the sordid and selfish views of
these agents. When a mortgagee finds an
unfortunate proprietor embarrassed and in
trammels, he has immediately an interest
of his own to secure, and appoints an
agent who will be subservient to his pur-
pose. A letter, enigmatically expressed,
but well understood by the resident agent,
is despatched to him. The list of supplies
is augmented; the ordinary expenses are
increased to double or treble the former
amount; the interest of borrowed money
accumulates; the crops are diminished;
shipments are delayed, by which great loss
is sustained, though affectedly deplored ;
an overseer, indifferent as to events or re-
sults, not only suffered to remain on the
estate to manage it, but frequently encou-
raged in his misconduct; the mortgage is
foreclosed, or a decree in chancery issued
: 20


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
15
со
for the sale of the estate, which is disposed
of for a trifling consideration to some per-
son employed to purchase it for the mort-
gagee or attorney. Such circumstances
account, in part, at least, for the conduct
of some of the planting attorneys in not
consulting, as they ought, the advantage of
those who employ them, and who are
originally the owners of the land. Having
thus gained the confidence of the mort-
gagee, by betraying the interest of the
proprietor, and rendered the former this
service of spoliation, he obtains powers to
act for others, and both his celebrity and
his fortune are established. In confirmation
of this, I shall here relate an instance
.. which occurred some years ago in Jamaica.
In the mountainous parts of the parish of
Clarendon there was an estate much diver-
sified by hills. Though apparently unpro-
mising, yet by laying out and making
roads of easy ascent, at a great expense
indeed, the proprietor found he could con-
vert it into a valuable plantation, it being


ATTORNEYS OR. AGENTS..
of great extent and the quality of the land
good. A convenient place was chosen on
which to erect a set of works. These were
constructed upon a large scale. A nume-
rous gang of effective negroes, and an
adequate quantity of cattle and mules were
provided. The estate yielded great crops.
Six hundred hogsheads of sugar, of good
quality, were obtained from it. But it so
happened that in the commencement of
these operations a sum of money was bor-
rowed to forward the undertaking. Large
supplies of heavy articles became neces-
sary; this, with accumulating interest on
the money at first borrowed, soon created
embarrassment. The merchant who had
furnished the supply of money and goods
became impatient for payment, before the
crops could be disposed of to reimburse
him. He knew there was a large capital
that could be laid hold of, and therefore
commenced a suit in chancery against the
property. This is the mode generally adopt-
ed to wrest the possession of land from the


18
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
2
was made by appraisement of the negroes,
the stock, the land, and the works. This
was produced on the day of sale, and the
estate was disposed of, with every thing
belonging to it, for half or one third of its
real price. The amount was just as much
as would pay the plaintiff his demand and
costs of suit. Thus a final period was put to
the fortune and hopes of the unfortunate
proprietor. Thus was realized the scheme
of the new owner, who was well acquainted
with the real value of the estate, and the
crisis of its doom. He was desirous of
calling it his own, though at the expense of
every thing honourable and just. An illicit
trafficker from a distant northern climate,
he seized with avidity the lucky moment for
the enterprize, no one being present who
could advance so large a sum as the pur-
chase-money but himself. He had a trusty
agent present on the day of sale, to prevent
the possibility of losing such a bargain, and
to render the purchase for himself certain.
In a short time, however, after this event,
13


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
19
the disposition of everything on the
estate was altered. The negroes, the stock,
and works were restored to their former
good state and appearance, at a trifling ex-
pense; and a steady annual crop of from
five to seven hundred hogsheads of sugar
annually, were obtained from the land thus
unjustly transferred from its first rightful
proprietor, to the oppressing hand of the
artful and enterprising mortgagee.
I now come to consider this subject in
another point of view. When the proprietor
has little or no knowledge of the agent he
appoints, further than by recommendation,
perhaps seldom or ever visiting the island
or his estate, he understands little of the re-
sources it possesses, or the culture it requires.
He does not know whether the person whom
he deputed ever was on the plantation or
even that part of the island; whether he
had either seen or knew how to plant and
bring a cane to maturity. But unwilling to
risk a voyage at sea, still less to hazard the
danger of tropical sickness, he rests satis-
c 2


20
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
fied for some time, that the affairs of his
estate are going on well, under the wise,
provident care of his planting attorney.
The arrival, after the lapse of a few months,
or the termination of a crop or two, of the
sad unpleasant news, that there is a defi-
ciency of produce, and the formal crop
account, announcing a defalcation of one
third of what was naturally expected, un-
deceives him. At the same time, he is in-
formed, in order to make up such defalcation
in future, that there is an absolute neces-
sity to put in such a quantity of land, with
the aid of a jobber. He must pay such
jobber in rum at cash price: other contin-
gencies demand the produce of the rum
crop to defray them. Thus commences
a train of disbursements, having for their
foundation, fabricated evils and false re-
presentations, solely for the purpose of
shielding from the proprietor's knowledge
the gross fraud of bad and dilapidating
management. Such planting attorneys as
these generally have independent fortunes


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
21
in the island. Careless of such events, yet.
greedy of gain, they continue in power for
a crop or two, satisfied with their being
paid their per centage, and regardless
whether the estate thrives, which they have
thrown back for years as to adequate re-
turns. A new agent is appointed, a new
overseer put in charge, fresh plans are
adopted, and this independent attorney,
after having sown the seeds of destruction,
enquires at some future period how such an
estate goes on, and being informed of its
miserable returns, vaunts, that if it had been
left to his care and management, the result
would have been otherwise. Many of these
men have a curious satirical vein running
through their dispositions. For if their suc-
cessors, with the persons whom they employ,
do their duty; bring the estate from a
wretched, ruined condition to prosperous
thriving cultivation, regularly and steadily
extending its produce, instead of the for-
mer pernicious confusion ; if they procure
orderly respectful demeanour in the slaves,
C 3


22
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
instead of idleness and arrogance; if their
appearance is decent and becoming, ex-
hibiting in their persons comfort and clean-
liness, instead of disgusting filthiness, dis-
ease and aversion to their proper occupa-
tions; if the cattle is preserved by good
feeding, with few sores, or deep, morbid,
putrid distempers ; if the subordinate white
people are attentive to their business,
steady, sober, and quietly disposed, making
the business and welfare of the estate their
pleasure, instead of riotously galloping on
horseback about the country, imbibing and
entailing on themselves by excess the sure
consequences of early distempers, which
generally prove fatal ; this exhibition of
what is right and proper, instead of being
treated with panegyric, is made, through
every medium of ridicule, envy, and detrac-
tion, to appear in an invidious, morose,
cruel, coercive, and inhospitable point of
view. It would be in vain that such peo-
ple strove to gain their favour: in vain
would they solicit employment from them :


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS. 23
they would be left contemned and ne-
glected, while the profligate, vicious, aban-
doned, and worthless, would find employ.
ment and support. Such men indulge their
desires, lead an idle and dissipated life, and
leave the essential business of the estate, to
the venal management of head people,
whom they satisfy with an extra weekly
allowance from the rum and provision store.
But what gives such overseers a stronger
claim to the patronage of their employer
or attorney, is the loan of whatever money
they may have saved, either from their
salaries or as owners of jobbing gangs.
This hides a multitude of faults; this
smooths the road to preferment; this rivets
the lasting good opinion of the patron;
changes his vices into virtues ; prevents
every effort for the preservation of the
estate ; converts the cane and grass pieces
into ruined heaps; the well disposed negroes
into runaways; the cattle into carrion ; the
works and manufacturing houses into
.
. C. 4 .. . . .


24
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
wretched, unroofed walls, and the pro-
prietor into an insolvent.
An attorney of this description will
sometimes live in some remote parish in
the island, seldom visiting the estate he is
commissioned to manage. This he does
indeed when he formally takes possession
of it. Every communication is carried on
between him and the overseer by letter, or
expresses by the negroes, on estate mules ;
or else the overseer is ordered to ride over
to him, perhaps seventy or an hundred
miles, to arrange accounts and future plans.
This is a pleasurable excursion for the over-
seer, sometimes, and is made to last a
fortnight. The natural inclination of man
is alive to pleasure, to aversion of control,
to hatred of minute enquiry into particulars
which may be pregnant with error or vice,
to dislike of restraint or control. Such an
employer is therefore much approved of by
a majority of people throughout the West
India Islands, as giving little trouble or
disturbance by his presence, or dictating


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
25
orders. Whatever is required is granted;
whatever is neglected is overlooked. The
overseer becomes absolute and prosperous
in his affairs. He employs and discharges
his book-keepers at pleasure; gives lucrative
jobs to favourite tradesmen, and in a short
time acquires the name of a generous, good
man -- one to be looked up to; in short,
he obtains the character of a good planter,
although the head driver manages every
thing on the estate. I have known one of
these overseers, who lived more than six
years upon an excellent estate in the parish
of St. Mary's, in Jamaica, who did not
understand the boundaries of it; and when
the proprietor unexpectedly came, and ex-
pressed a wish to see and go over the lines
of it, was obliged to declare his total igno-
rance of its limits, as he never had seen
them. These the proprietor himself went
to and showed him, although he had been
absent near twenty years from the estate.
The land had been despoiled of its valuable
wood by the neighbours, and great part


26
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
taken up and cultivated in negro provi.
sions, by the slaves of other plantations, in
consequence of the supineness of the acting
island agent.
. It may be argued, that scarcely any
remedy can be found, or applied, to check
this established evil, or root it out; that
the disease is too inveterate to admit of
cure; that numberless obstacles stand in
the way of the completion of so happy, so
salutary a design. But it requires no great
penetration to discover the true nature and
strength of this disease, this cause of injury
and ruin. The sources of the malady may
not only be easily discovered, but when
they are once traced and pointed out, will
be found so iniquitous as to shrink from
publicity and exposure. With firm reso-
lution, therefore, the bold, the decisive
effort must be made to cut away not merely
the branches, but to destroy the stem and
root of this poisonous tree, this source of
all the evils which exist. Dismiss from
their employment these corrupt agents; let
teso-


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
27
no sycophant advise the land owners to
retain them. The estate, with prudent
attention, being thus liberated from this
baneful control, will soon assume the
appearance of health, animation, and pro-
sperity. Industry, with merit as its at-
tendant, will insure success; simple, yet
energetic measures will easily attain what-
ever is necessary or desirable ; and having
brought things to this crisis, this sharp,
but sure remedy will prove effectual.
I shall now beg leave to point out the
system to be acted upon, which, I pre-
sume, will fully answer for the preserv-
ation and culture of a sugar estate in the
island of Jamaica in particular, and in the
West India islands in general; maintain it in
vigorous prosperity to yield gainful returns,
and preserve the capital of the proprietor.
· The first thing, I presume, to be con-
sidered is, in case of the proprietor's non-
residence in the island, how to fill up the
place of a resident attorney with a person
of skill, industry, perseverance, and in-


28
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
tegrity, in discharging not only the duties
of a planter, in directing and planning,
but to keep fair and equitable accounts of
the various transactions of the estate, with
respect to its culture and incidental trans-
actions, in as simple a manner as the
nature of things will admit of. There
should be laid before the proprietor, in
plain legible terms, the accounts of the
estate to the end of every year; a list of
the slaves and stock, with their increase
and decrease; the cultivation of the estate,
with the returns from plant and ratoon,
in curing house hogsheads of sugar; the
number of acres in cultivation of canes;
returns of rum ; the condition of cane,
grass pieces, and provision grounds; the
quantity of acres laid down in a table, whe-
ther plant or ratoon; their condition, and
when fit to be cut; the names and number
of the white people resident on the estate,
with their occupations and salaries; the
different island accounts, whether paid or
unpaid, as they are presented; the ship-


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
29
ments and appropriation of the crop; what
balance of the crop there still remains on
the estate, or at the wharf, not yet appro-
priated or shipped, and the list of clothing
and salt provisions served to the slaves;
jobbing and tradesmen's accounts, &c. &c.
These simple accounts are easily kept,
transcribed, brought home, and presented,
for the satisfaction of the proprietor, every
year: he also keeping such a memento
by him as should refresh his memory and
satisfy his mind. The person thus com-
missioned, confided in, and depended upon
for punctuality, celerity, and truth, should
be one who will undertake the charge as a
travelling agent, perfectly assured, under
all circumstances, that he would fully
answer every intention of his appointment,
and endeavour to bring the crops to a
speedy market, at one-fifth the expense of
a resident island agent, and few mortify-
ing disappointments; far less island con-
tingencies and disbursements. Every thing
should be brought within the mental scope
a


30
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
of the proprietor by regular returns, and
duties duly and efficiently performed; the
entire of his crops brought or sent home
to him, that he may appoint his own broker
to dispose of them; that he may circulate
his own bills of exchange, and discharge
his island disbursements by their means.
His list of supplies should be brought home
by his travelling agent, who should inspect
on the estate, that only what is really wanted
is sent for, and likewise the nature and
condition of the supplies shipped. He
either should go out in the vessel that
carries them, or follow shortly after it
arrives in the island, in time to detect any
damage or fraud, and without delay have
them brought on the estate. He should
look minutely whether his former orders
have been carried into effect with pre-
cision, examine the condition of the slaves,
stock, and culture; make his remarks on
any errors which have crept in through
neglect or otherwise, which demand cen-
sure or amendment. He should order the


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
31
requisite improvements, arrangements, and
tillage of lands; have stock purchased, if
necessary; old or infirm cattle fattened or
sold off; buildings repaired; lumber pro-
cured for the entire crop; the slaves served
with clothing; the salaries of the resident
white people paid by bills of exchange sold
for that purpose ; the different accounts
made up; the produce on hand shipped
in good time and order, without loss by
ullage, &c. &c. All this can be performed,
by a stay of three months in the island, by
the travelling agent; and the same person
may return to England in the vessel in
which the produce is shipped, or be the
harbinger of the favourable news in some
other vessel. Affairs taking this turn, cor-
ruption would have scarcely time or op-
portunity to creep in; the net proceeds
would be in the hands or at the disposal
of the proprietor; the overseer and white
people resident on the estate would live in
a state of anticipation as to the time of
visitation. Anxiety for the preservation


32
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
of their situations would keep them as-
siduous, sober, and attentive. Having done
their duty, they would be confident of
support, preferment, and reward. Their
example would diffuse a spirit of emulation
in others; their health would be preserved;
their constitutions unimpaired by excess;
they would be comparatively happy in a
foreign tropical climate; grow wealthy by
degrees; and at last, saving a little in-
dependence, would return home, either to
spend the remainder of their days in com-
fort and plenty, or meet flattering thanks
and rewards from the proprietor for their
fidelity and good conduct, appointing them,
perhaps, to a lucrative situation, as travel-
ling agents ; fit to be entrusted, having
undergone the various duties of planters
with patience, temper, experience, and
competent knowledge. Thus they would
combine credit to themselves, and advan-
tage to their employers.
It now comes to be enquired into, what
may be the amount of annual savings


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
33
na
to the proprietor, by employing such a
person in the character of a travelling
planting agent. The present mode of re-
quiting the resident agent is, principally,
by five per centage on all sales, either in the
island or on shipments home: that of the
travelling agent should be by a salary
proportioned to the number of hogsheads
of sugar the estate, upon an average of
one year with another, is capable of
making: from 1001. to 1501. sterling per
annum, with his travelling expences like.
wise defrayed. The income to the resident
island agent would be nearly 500l. sterling
per annum, besides his occasional residence
on the estate, and the establishment of a
large house, with its attendant servants,
express mule-boys, grooms, grass, corn,
and what good things the estate can like-
wise furnish for his table, &c.; making
another additional expence, out of the
estate and the proprietor's pocket, of 500l.
a-year more. As to the mode of payment
to the travelling agent, I would presume


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
to provide for it thus : the fixed salary of
1001. or 150l. per annum for each estate
should be paid him by the proprietor of
such estate as he may be employed for;
the travelling charges to be paid or de-
frayed by a number of West India or
Jamaica proprietors, who would confederate
together, and form themselves into an as-
sociation for their mutual interest, to have
the business of their estates transacted and
managed by such travelling agent. By
such a union the travelling expenses would
fall light on each individual, perhaps
never exceeding 351. sterling per annum
for each estate, thereby making the ex-
penses of salary and of travelling not to
amount to 2001. sterling per annum for
each estate, and thus rendering the employ-
ment worthy the acceptance of a fit person.
The travelling agent having but the short
period of three or four months to stay on
the island annually, and having his time
wholly engrossed between the different
estates, inspecting, executing, ordering,


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
35
and diligently providing for the future
welfare of the different properties, collect-
ing accounts, &c., no establishment of
a large house would be required. The
ordinary fare of the overseer's house would
be found fully suitable to his expectations.
His intentions would be directed to the
completion of his business by a stated
time ; indulgence, satiety, excess, or vo-
luptuousness, he would neither think of
nor care about; his retinue would be small,
his appearance unostentatious, his notions
unassuming and humble. He would com-
mand without arrogance, and dictate with
affability and reason. He would be welcom-
ed with joy, respected during his stay, and
taken leave of with regret. He would have
the good wishes of the white people and
the slaves attached to the estates under his
management. They would rejoice at his
welfare and return back to them. This
would give a saving to the proprietor of at
least 6001. or 700l. per annum, without the
danger of a sinking fund, or the rapacity
D 2


36
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
carried on, under the garb of a pompous
resident island agent, with the veil of
treacherous peculation, and screened by
near 5000 miles' distance. The sugar and
rum crop is accounted for fairly, because
shipped home and sold there, under the
eye and superintendence of the proprietor
himself; sound and durable lumber is pro-
vided for the entire of the crop, making
an assurance of the produce being shipped
and received in good order, or the captain
and owners of the vessel made account-
able for it, taking care previously to effect
the necessary insurance on the property.
No unnecessary millwright, mason, and
coppersmiths' bills should be allowed;
common-place surveying should be anni-
hilated; extraordinary jobbing abolished,
with its frequent bad incomplete work.
Wharfage accounts should be accurately
ascertained, with divers other incidental
expenses and losses retrenched. No more
supplies should be sent out than what are
absolutely necessary, making another saving


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS. 37
(speaking within bounds) of at least six or
seven hundred a-year to the proprietor..
: When the travelling agent arrives in
England, his accounts should be presented
to each proprietor or employer that he is
commissioned by, either at a general board
or individually, in order that they may be
audited by a person appointed for that pur-
pose, either by the board in general or any
individual proprietor. The whole should
be entered in a regular book, a copy of
which should be always kept by each pro-
prietor, for his satisfaction, that he may be
able to refer to it at all times. The travel-
ling agent should keep a book of accounts
corresponding to this. This being done to
general satisfaction, the next occupation of
the travelling agent is to have the different
merchants, tradesmen, &c. advised of the
supplies wanted to be shipped by a stated
time for each estate ; to have them collected,
inspected, marked, shipped, and the bills
of lading signed; one to be kept in Eng-
land by the proprietor, one to be trans-
D 3


38
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
mitted under cover, by letter, to the over-
seer on the estate, and one to be kept in the
possession of the travelling agent himself:
so that all parties interested therein may
have one to advise and guide themselves
with. It is presumed that this combination
of circumstances, this rule invariably acted
upon, this chain of business linked together
with regularity, and carried into execution
with celerity, assiduity, and vigour, will
meet with the approbation, support, coun-
tenance, and adoption of the majority of
the independent, impartial planters.
Having thus treated and descanted upon
the circumstances essentially necessary to
the well being of a sugar estate in general,
and particularly in the island of Jamaica, -
by changing the administration of it from a
resident to a travelling planting agent, with
its consequent preservation and savings,
from tottering ruin to healthy animation,
with its prosperous emanations from nature,
aided by integrity, assiduity, and experience,
- I will proceed now to treat of and expatiate


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
39
upon what I presume should be the study
and practice of planting and carrying on
the business and duties of a sugar estate,
in the West India islands, interspersing
here and there remarks upon old customs,
with anecdotes by way of illustration,
which may prove instructive and entertain-
ing; many of them, I dare say, living in
the memory not only of some people in
- Jamaica, which they know to be truth,
but some have come to the knowledge of
persons residing in England. I shall in-
dulge in no personalities ; my design only
being to do good, all intention of giving
offence is disclaimed: impartiality is aimed
at, without invidious scandal : such motives
must not be attributed to me, as I abso-
lutely disavow them.
As much depends upon the nature, dis-
position, qualifications, and disposal of the
white people immediately living on the
estate, not only for managing, superintend.
ing, and protecting the property, a main
object to be considered is, the selection of
M
D4


40
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
buch for the relative duties they are re-
quired to perform ; taking care to make
it a primary and most important rule, to be
wholly free from bias or prejudice, in the
employing of men, from any of the three
sister kingdoms, in preference one to the
other. Those of general good character,
for steady, sober, industrious habits, not
given to sudden or violent gusts of passion,
yet of lively, cheerful dispositions, delight-
ing in activity, with corresponding vigour
and health; ingenious, and susceptible to
improvement, yet not apt to catch at every
trifling experiment, should be preferred.
The overseer should be a man of intelli-
gence, tempered wih experience, naturally
humane, steadfast in well devised pursuits,
not given to keeping indiscriminate com-
pany, or suffering his subordinate white
people to do so, thereby vitiating their
manners. His business hours will be fully
occupied by the concerns of the estate, his
leisure ones in the innocent enjoyment of
some domestic amusement. He must be


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
41
kind and courteous to the young men
under him, but giving or allowing them no
opportunity to treat him with disrespect;
attentive and hospitable to respectable
strangers ; cautious and wary how he suf-
fers strollers to tempt his benevolence. He
must not capriciously or suddenly dis-
charge his white people (as is very often
the case), taking care that no envious or
jealous sentiment or idea arises in his mind,
if his young men have merit on their
side, or are caressed by their superiors.
He must keep the slaves strictly to their
work, yet not imposing on them unusual
hours, or inflicting punishment for every
trifling offence; but when punishment for
crimes is necessary, to temper it with pru-
dent mercy. He must be attentive to their
real wants, not suffering them to teaze him
with their trifling complaints, or tamper
with him by their arts, but promptly satisfy
them, by enquiring into their serious grie-
vances. Above all things, he must not
encourage the spirit of Obea in them


42
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
(which is horrible), or dishearten them by
cohabiting with their wives, annulling
thereby their domestic felicities. He must
not suffer their provision grounds to be
neglected, trespassed on, or ruined, or their
houses to be out of repair or uncomfortable;
for it very often happens, that well disposed
slaves by such freedoms taken with their
wives, their well established grounds ruined
by thieves or cattle, their domestic quiet
and comfort intruded upon, or their houses
rendered uninhabitable by storm or casualty,
become runaways. Their conduct influ-
ences others, till at last the strength of the
estate vanishes, the evil becomes notorious,
and the plantation, of course, becomes ne-
glected. The magistrates are then obliged
to take this growing evil into serious con-
sideration. Hunting parties are sent out
(perhaps with little success) to bring in the
fugitives ; martial law is at last proclaimed
throughout the diseased district; all sorts
of people are harassed; public trials are
instituted ; some of the runaways are never


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
43
caught; others who are brought in under-
go trial, and are convicted and sentenced
to death or transportation for life. All
these proceedings might be avoided by well
timed, prompt attention at the beginning
of the evil. The overseer loses his charac-
ter and situation by such misconduct. He
seldom regains them, but often sinks into
contemptuous disrepute; or if he main-
tains them, it is by the stern will of an
all-commanding resident island agent, who
has promoted and sanctioned this odious
and cruel policy. But what is still more
intolerable, still more heart-breaking, and
calls loudly for public justice, is when those
very provision grounds, those very negro
houses, which are nursed and reared by
the painful toil of the negroes, by months
and years of indefatigable labour, those
temples of their present and future hap-
piness, are, by the despotic mandate of a
ruthless resident island agent, contrary to
the island laws, desperately entered into by
a gang to his purpose, the provisions de


44
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
-
stroyed, the houses with their contents
pulled down, levelled to the ground, and
burnt...' It may easily be conjectured what
will be the consequence, when the slave
views his beggared starving family, his
comforts fled, his happiness annihilated
and expiring. An example of this profli-
gate conduct, and its direful effects, was
notoriously evident about the year 1804 or
1805, as practised upon some well-disposed
slaves, belonging to an estate situated in
the mountain, from whence flows part of
the copious stream of the Rio Nuova, over-
looking the Vale of Bagnalls, in the parish
of St. Mary's, not far from the proximity
of that parish to St. Thomas in the Vale.
Such unrestrained free will was known to
have taken place in other parts, and the
following authenticated account has come
to the knowledge of the author.
In the parish of St. Ann's, at no great
distance from the surgy course of the tur.
bulent 'roaring river, an estate presents
itself to the traveller's view, flanked by


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
45
hills, with an aspect to the sea, of no great
magnitude, otherwise than for the noise it
made, and the tragedy that was acted there;
but it remains in the record book, kept of
public transactions in that parish, respect-
ing the horrid fate of an overseer who lived
there, and the terrible consequences of the
conduct I have referred to. I would fain
draw a veil over this lamentable event; but
by disclosing it, warn others not to tread
in such fearful paths, when human nature,
however depressed or subjugated, but
stung by the anguish of a poison directed
to its very existence, will form some des-
perate design to rid itself of its torment.
Alas! so it was in this case: the overseer
was reputed to be a man of ferocious man-
ners. By some accounts he had been en-
gaged in the parish of Trelawny to repress
the Maroons. The negroes on the estate I,
now allude to were said to be unruly and
turbulent in their manners; and the resident
island agent, living at a considerable dis-
tance from the estate, thought such a man
erseer


40
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
the best to deal with them. How vain
and fruitless are the speculations of some
men! Perhaps if he had sent a person of a
contrary temper to manage this testy set,
they might have been reconciled to their
duty, and the disasters that ensued might
have never happened. Some mulatto slaves
upon the property, as tradesmen, with
others, this overseer was in the habit of
unceasingly carping at and punishing, for
what he thought neglect of duty, upon
being threatened, betook themselves to
flight, in order to save themselves from
his resentment. He then applied himself
to the diabolical, ruinous plan of inducing
them to return home, by rooting up their
provision grounds, and pulling down their
houses in despite of the island laws: they
still remained out for some time, till the
overseer became somewhat sick, and they
thought the storm abated. His disorder
became less, and their fears returned, as
they thought him implacable, --- and they
conspired to put him to death with secrecy
15


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
and despatch. He was of considerable
stature, with great strength. In the dead
of the night, when his dwelling house was
divested of its servants except one female,
who either knew and approved of their
design, or they enticed out of the room,
these mulatto men slaves, sssociated with
others who came there. The overseer was
asleep in bed with a young child of his
own, little thinking of, or ever surmising
his approaching fate. The noise of their
entry startled him : he grasped a hanger
that was near his bed; but before he could
see them, or make an effort with it for his
delivery, they rushed on him in a body.
A violent scuffle ensued for some minutes.
After knocking some of them down, he
often plunged for his escape, but they still
pressing upon him, he at length became
exhausted. They then caught him by the
legs, threw a rope over his head, round his
neck; and while some dragged him by the
legs, others swung the rope round the bed-
post, and thus, by pulling contrary ways,


48
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
they soon strangled him. They then deli-
berately went to his trunk, took out clean
linen, and after washing him and the room
from blood, or any thing that might cause
discovery of the murder, they put on him
the clean linen, and laid him in the bed
again. They then retired, congratulating
one another on thus effecting their design,
as they thought, without discovery, and with
impunity. When he was discovered in the
morning apparently insensible, the neigh-
bouring doctor was called in, who slightly
examined him and pronounced him dead;
and as he had been sick some time, it was
given out and believed he died suddenly.
Some months passed over before this horrid
event was known, which was discovered,
by a quarrel among some of the perpetra-
tors of the act, and "the female servant,
who had been in the house when the
murder happened. It came to the know-
ledge of some neighbours, who soon had
those people arrested. They were tried
and convicted. The female servant, with


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
49
one of the conspirators, was found sufficient
evidence against them; two or three were
publicly executed, their heads cut off, and
stuck upon high poles on the estate, near
the high road. A shocking spectacle, ex-
citing disgust, and branding the estate ever
afterwards with murderous, infamous ap-
pellations.
An overseer should be a man of settled,
sober habits, presenting a gentlemanlike ap-
pearance, keeping a regular, well supplied,
comfortable table, without profusion, (which
the internal means of an estate, in small
stock and provisions, generally afford, if
attended to,) not only for himself and the
white people under him, but for the benefit
of such sick and convalescent slaves as re-
quire salutary and restoring nourishment.
What with Irish salt provisions, &c. sent
out in the annual supplies, together with
live stock and provisions raised on the
estate, adequate means are usually obtained
for this purpose. The overseer should be
attentive to 'the white people under him,


50
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
that their rooms, linen, &c. are regularly
kept clean, showing an example of cleanli-
ness in his own person. He should suffer
them to sit, after business hours, in his
company, instead of morosely banishing
them either to their own sleeping-rooms,
or to a distant dark part of the house, till
meal-time is announced, which induces them
to take gross freedoms with the slaves in
the house, and meanly assimilates their
manners to such company. This, alas! is
too often the case. This has sprung from
the weak, envious, jealous tempers, too fre-
quently indulged ; and has been cherished
as an old custom, thinking that by keeping
young men in fear, and at an awful dis-
tance, -it added dignity to the overseer's
station. Thus by keeping them ignorant,
by heaping contempt upon them, they have
swelled and rivetted their own consequence
and importance in the minds of the slave
population. Where such conduct predo-
minates, the young men are generally un-
bappy, unsteady, given to drunkenness,


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
51
quarrelling, leaving their situations, cabal-
ling, &c. The estate suffers by it, the
number of white people is incomplete ac-
cording to law; the overseer is generally
obliged to accept of the services of vaga-
bonds, because few respectable young men
will live with him, his character being
stamped by such harsh, uncharitable fea-
tures; and especially as they are liable to
be discharged at every gust of his caprice.
His temper is soured by frequent casualties
of this nature, and vents itself often with
terrible consequences upon the slaves under
him; whereas the contrary would be the effect
of an amiable deportment to the subordinate
white people. Feeling themselves com-
paratively happy, it would be an incentive
to them to pay every possible attention to
their various duties, to merit the overseer's
favour by giving him satisfaction, to pre-
serve their situations, and acquire a good
character. They would cultivate respect
for him, serve and obey him with alacrity,
intuitively and practically become good
E
2


52
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
planters, secure the estimation and good
opinion of the overseer ; and thus pave
the way to their own promotion, and fur-
nish the district, or the island, with de-
serving, provident managers.
Another difficulty is created by the cor-
rupt, viciously-disposed, criminal views of
some overseers, of what they call the old
school; and that is, a determined antipathy
to young men sent out to be apprenticed
or indented to the estate of the proprietor.
To such I have ever found (if they were
ever so well inclined) a strong dislike mani-
fested by such men, whose habits of de-
pravity render them ever weak-minded,
ever awake to, or dreading representations
of their conduct being sent to England,
anticipating fatal results not only to the
estate, and the management of it, but
finally ending in their discharge. This
malignant temper principally rests with
overseers of the old school, fomented in.
deed by the precepts of a resident island
planting attorney, who likewise is averse to


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
53
the introduction of young men, by whom
his conduct is observed. Such young men
are often ill treated by their superiors: their
virtues are of no avail, or are represented
as vices; their vices are magnified beyond
the power of redemption ; their lives be-
come scenes of cruel taunt, neglect, and
reproach. This is their portion, till matters
are rendered so insupportable that they are
often obliged to sue for their indentures
to be given up, or run the risk of leaving
the estate previous to the time of their servi.
tude expiring, and seeking employment in
some distant parish. Instances of this kind
I could here easily refer to, and confirm, as
having happened in Clarendon, St. Ann's,
St. Mary's, &c. The bosom of the parish
of Clarendon produced an extraordinary
case of this kind, as likewise that of St.
Ann's. At the descent of its mountains,
not far from the eapital of that parish, some
young men were sent out duly apprenticed,
and placed upon the estates, with the watch-
word to the overseers, which was, beware
E 3


54
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
of these seers; keep them under; allow
them no liberties; bring them up rigorously
to their duties; give them plenty of field-
work in all weathers; coarse diet; place no
confidence in them; give them no rest by
day, or comfortable repose by night; sound
in their ears the slavery of their condition ;
make them be so sensible of that condition,
that misery may haunt them. Thus wretch-
edness compelled them to leave the estate.
These young men thus suffered; but it
happened that this compulsory banishment
did not turn out as fortunate for the re-
sident island agent, or his overseer (the
ready executioner of his will), as they
imagined. Something went wrong at court,
something was found erroneous in the
management: fresh powers of attorney
came out; a fresh administration took place.
Those favourite spots which used to be the
residence of the island agent for months,
with its emoluments, &c. were painfully
longed for again; and after some years of
disturbed patience, hoping by his seeming


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
55
I
disinterested urbanity, and apparent Chris-
tian-like conduct, after vilifying these young
men in every company he went into, and
depicting them in the most atrocious light,
as having no abilities as planters, he helped
them to overseers' stations : this he did
with the hope of once more procuring by
the effects of their gratitude, his re-establish-
ment on the property. I must here pay
the tribute of praise to numerous young
men, who have come out to settle in the
island of Jamaica as adventurers, who by
their natural good disposition (though un-
recommended) have attained to be com-
petent planters, have been excellent oyer.
seers, and an ornament to society: many I
could name; but this would be considered
as invidious by others.
But although sending out such young
men under indentures has come rather into
disrepute, as they have been represented,
by letters to the proprietor at home, as
incorrigible, idle, and worthless, yet I will
venture to assert, and vindicate the assertion
E 4


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
57
by their employers, and respected by the
community at large. Many things arise in
the exercise of an overseer's duty which
require intelligent, nay even sometimes
refined talents, to go through with. The
best persons, I presume, to be sent to
Jamaica, or any of the West India islands,
who are to undergo the minor duties of an
estate, are young men from seventeen to
twenty-one years of age, who are not too
old to abide by command, constraint, or
instruction. The body and the mind are
vigorous and pliant at the former age,
adapted for toil, less captious, or averse to
controul or advice, and capable of perform-
ing the duties of a soldier; an effective
militia, for the preservation of the island
against invasion and insurrection, being
kept up of men in every station there from
sixteen to sixty years old. The legislature
of the island of Jamaica has wisely im-
posed a deficiency law which enacts, that
a specified number of white people, capable
of bearing arms, of the before-mentioned


58
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS,
ages, shall be resident and employed upon
each property, according to the number of
slaves and working stock; or be assessed a
fine for each deficiency. This militia has
had the merit of very often performing the
most salutary, effectual, and gallant services
to the island, not only as local, but march-
ing troops. Young men of this class, after
satisfactorily serving a period of four or five
years in the planting line, may be deemed
not too young to be given in charge of an
estate. Young men sent out after they
pass the age of twenty-one years, are apt
to entertain notions of insubordination; the
burthen of servitude sits uneasy upon them;
liberty, the darling object, the noble pursuit
of mankind, is often uppermost in their
minds. Not that they are less virtuous for
harbouring the sentiment and passion, but
that they are less subject to controul. The
commanding, and sometimes the arbitrary
orders of the overseer are often slighted by
them. They are prone to be disrespectful,
guilty of retort, only carelessly. or half
15


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
obeying his lawful injunctions. This is a
crime ever to be avoided in the planting
business, as carrying with it a want of
deference, and setting an example of in-
subordination to the rest of the white
people, and the knavish, artful slave. This
gives rise to unpleasant disputes; the over-
seer complaining of the presumption and
neglect of the young man, and he urging
in vindication, the harsh, inflexible conduct
of the overseer, judging by his too liberal
notions, that he has been hardly dealt with.
He then grows sullen, and often imperti-
nent, conniving at, and provoking aspersions
on the overseer, who generally has some
friend or enemy to inform him of it. The
breach is widened, and at last, to wind up
the affair, the young man is either removed
to some other estate in the same employ, or
voluntarily withdraws himself, to avoid this
unpleasant termination of the dispute. It
would be better, therefore, to have young
men sent out of the age just now specified.
And having now, I hope, described, with


00
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
conviction to my readers, what kind of
white people are best adapted for the pro-
fession of a planter, I shall take a transient
view, with a few cursory remarks, of some
other white people, found often to be
necessary for a sugar estate; that is, trades-
men, who either come out indented to, or
hired upon the property. Young men are
frequently sent out indented to an estate
to conduct a tradesman's department; such
as millwrights, carpenters, coopers, copper-
smiths, masons, &c. They have generally
served their time, or the principal part of
it, to such particular trades in the mother
country, before their arrival in the West
India islands. They are seldom under
twenty-one, and very often forty years of
age when they arrive there. They are in-
fluenced to go out under this character,
either by the temptation of a liberal salary,
to execute some difficult design, or have
failed in getting employment at home ;
some are men of sound judgment, but a
great many more mere adventurers. Their


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
01
employment being rather foreign to an
overseer, they for a length of time baffle
his power, and oppose his disposition.
Sometimes the work is executed in a master-
ly manner, though great delays attend its
completion; but it is often done in so bad a
style, as not to answer the end intended, after
a great lapse of time, waste of stuff, the
labour of a powerful gang of negro trades-
men (the flower of the slave population)
lost or made of little avail, and the cattle
half destroyed by. dragging timber, and
heavy materials. Frivolous excuses, with
contingent insuperable obstacles, are as-
signed as the cause of this failure, waste of
time, labour and materials. They indus-
triously, but falsely, strive to blame the
overseer for the mischance, after harassing
his mind for months with some want or
other, expending labour and materials un-
profitably, reducing the cattle, delaying the
crops, and at last oblige him to call in some
competent tradesman to render things com-
plete. Dreadful is the situation of an estate


62
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
wie
so circumstanced. This stipendiary igno.
rant mechanic, in the mother country per-
haps acquired the habit of drinking, and
follows the practice with avidity in his
new situation. It would be much better
then, I presume, casually to employ, when
wanted, the tradesmen of eminence through-
out the Islands, to execute any arduous or
difficult jobs, provided their charges were
moderate, than to be burthened with the
maintenance, and ill-earned salary of such
useless agents. The negro mechanics
attached to the property, are generally
found sufficient for common-place work or
undertakings; they are even known to be
capital workmen sometimes, and have often
great knowledge and skill.
I must here beg leave to observe, that the
valuable island of Jamaica produces in great
abundance, a variety of the choicest hard
wood timbers. Millwrights, and carpenters,
sent out from home, are entirely igno-
rant of their nature, names and texture when
they arrive in Jamaica ; for the knowledge


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
of these they must be indebted to the
experienced slave. If they were sent
into a wood, to make choice of such as
were necessary for durable work, they
would as likely cut down a huge cotton
tree, a birch, or any other soft wood,
as a cogwood or bullet tree. In the same
manner would a mason, sent out from home,
if told to go to the woods, and have a lime-
kiln made, or built, be totally at a loss how
to begin or construct such a work. More-
over, they are incapable for a length of
time, of understanding the dispositions of
the negro tradesmen they are put over ;
they either make to free with, or are
violently tyrannical over them, which un-
avoidably causes default in the slave, and
tiresome (perhaps punishable) complaints
to the overseer.
Some proprietors (probably more through
instigation, than the natural bent of their
own dispositions) are induced to send out
indented ploughmen from home, to use
that implement in turning up the land for


64
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
tillage and the culture of canes. I shall
treat more at large in a subsequent place,
as to the utility of the plough in Jamaica.
But my present object is to point out, that
such persons as are usually sent from home,
seldom answer the purpose intended; they
generally turn out as great an evil as the
indented tradesman to an estate. They
are mostly very illiterate, ill-informed men.
They have been in the habit of driving the
flexible, alert horse in the plough, with
propei gear to work with ; whereas in Ja-
maica, the dull, heavy, stubborn ox, or steer,
is the animal they have to train up, work
and contend with, coupled with tough,
heavy yokes and bows, and seldom used to
any other work than waggon, cart, or mill-
work. Besides the negroes are often as
ignorant of this mode of work as the ox
himself; so that the white ploughman, what
between the disposition of the negro and
the ox, finds himself dreadfully harassed,
every thing nearly depending on his own
exertions, in a large field of ten or fifteen


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
65
acres to turn up, so that the overseer may
have it planted in good time, and that the
plants may not spoil through age, and be
unfit to put in the ground. What is the
result of this experiment? the white
ploughman is considered as incompetent:
often through fatigue of mind, or body, he
becomes sick and feverish; the cattle are
half killed, the ground only half ploughed,
and the overseer obliged to draw off from
other important work the most effective
field-gang of the estate, and resort to the
alternative of finishing the turning up of
the land, by digging it with the hoe; the
mode mostly used and best understood in
Jamaica. Thus generally ends the career of
ploughmen sent out from home.
To sum up this dissertation upon the
kind of white people, competent in body
and mind, to perform and go through the
duties of a sugar estate in the island of
Jamaica, the author, instructed by nature
and experience, inclines, to close it, by
a very few desultory remarks, springing


66
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
.
from the situation in which white people
are placed as planters. Few stations re-
quire more real comforts than should fall
to the lot of the white man, exercising the
profession of a planter in that island.
Emigrated from his native country; alien-
ated from its joys, and the seasons which
bring the gifts of bounteous Providence to
his gladdened heart, he lands in this un-
known climate, invigorated with health,
a hale constitution, with little thought of
the fatigues, disappointments, and dangers
he is to encounter; he is placed instinctively
as it were upon this land of delights, this
never-fading verdant soil, ignorant of its
products, the variety of its population, its
allurements to pleasure, its resources, to
sustain nature, its customs, blessings, and
inherent, but lurking, fatal distempers ;
surrounded by strangers, he scarcely knows
what to do, or how to act; it should then
materially behove the people that he comes
to reside among, who are experienced in
the affairs of the island, to be solicitous
about his welfare, in fact about their


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
67
own general good,) and by degrees to
bring him on to bear the toils of his situ-
ation, to give him wholesome advice, to
act in a friendly manner, not by indulging
him in his appetites or propensities to ir-
regular, inordinate practices, but that seeing
his necessities are kindly and wholesomely
attended to, he should not be entrusted
with the keys of the different stores, till
he has sufficient experience to keep them
with safety, and be aware of the subtle
craft of the negroes. He should be ac-
customed to superintend for some time, as
part of his duty, the rearing and feeding
of small stock, (a most essential point to
be attended to on every property,) the
keeping accounts of them, counting and
seeing the cattle and mules dressed of
their sores and wounds. I must here ob-
serve, that many overseers are so profuse
at their table, as soon to wear out, and ex-
pend, the entire of the small stock, leaving
themselves, and the white people living
with them, nothing but the salt beef and
F 2


68
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
pork in barrels to live on, nay, even some-
times nothing but salt herrings. It is then
that the wretched situation of such per-
sons is to be deplored; their very appear-
ance denotes the beggary of their way of
living. Squalid, and often ulcerated, they
are tempted to exchange salt provisions,
with the slaves, for a meagre fowl or
duck, to procure a salutary meal. When
once the breed of small stock is too much
diminished or destroyed, it requires great
perseverance, patience, expenditure of corn
and time, to restore a sufficient number,
to give the means of comfortable subsist-
ence. But if this is properly established,
with care and economy, they are a lasting
source of plenteous nourishment to the
healthy, (whom they preserve,) and to the
sick and convalescent in the time of need.
I shall conclude my observations on
white people, and their treatment, with re-
marking, how necessary it is for every
white man on an estate or property to be
possessed of a horse in his own right, in


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
,
69
order to enable him, not only to discharge
his public duty with ease, but to give him
occasional recreation, with accustomed
respect. To attain this object, a great
part of a book-keeper's or a subordinate
white man's salary is laid out in the pur-
chase of one, which he must of course be
most anxious to have taken care of, as the
loss of it reduces him to the lamentable
condition of comparative beggary and des-
titution. Capricious fate may decree him
to be discharged or discarded from the
estate, for some trifling or heinous offence.
At this critical time, he is without this
necessary companion to bear him through
his difficulties, and often compelled to leave
the estate on foot. Then, alas! calumny
marks him as a vagabond, unfit to be em-
ployed. He is slighted and treated with
little pity by the community. Instead
then of treating the horse of a book-keeper
with indifference or neglect, neither allow-
ing him good stabling or feeding, the over-
seer should humanely direct his attention
seer
F 3


70
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
to the wellbeing of his book-keeper's
horse, recollecting, that he was once in
that situation himself. How pitiable then
must be his condition, if he loses this valu-
able animal, his very respectability depend-
ing on his being possessed of one! This is
à cardinal point to be attended to by an
overseer, in his treatment of white people,
for by paying proper attention to their
comfort, he makes an indelible impression
on their mind; his head will recline on his
pillow with consoling ease, and it will be a
lasting, beneficent trait in his character.'
We ought to consider the perils of a white
man living as a planter in Jamaica, bringing
with him a robust, healthy, European con-
stitution, the hardships he has to undergo
(which quickly undermine the constitution)
from being out in the field in all weathers,
in such a climate. In crop time, one half
of his nights are spent in a sultry boiling-
house, at a distance from his dwelling, and
he is called out of his warm bed in the
middle of the night, exposed, perhaps, to


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
71
nstant wet or storm, or half-way up to the
knees in mire in his passage to the works.
The fevers which ensue oblige him to pay,
out of his own pocket, for medical advice,
which comes very high there. His loss by
the death of a horse, nothing but time and
hard labour will repair, and put him in pos-
session of another. He has to fit himself
out with regimentals, and find himself with
decent clothes; and every article of wearing
apparel being nearly three times as dear
there as in the mother-country, and the con-
sumption twice as much, adds considerably
to his burdens. I presume to say, if the con-
siderate, humane-minded employer reflects
on these things, he will be inclined rather
to add to than decrease the salaries of the
resident white people, on a plantation or
sugar estate. Besides increasing their sala-
ries according to their merit, good conduct
must be encouraged. The business of the
estate will be better and more effectually
conducted by men of good than bad cha-
racter. In the long run, the happy effects
F 4


72
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
)
0
erse
will be productively apparent, savings will
accrue, satisfaction and happiness will be
the issue. It is much easier to get rid of
bad young men than to procure good ones;
so that when there are well-disposed, in-
telligent young men on a property, it would
be well to keep them there, and show them
the advantage of being steady, by reward-
ing them for their services, with a small
increase of salary. I beg leave to as-
sert, that no overseer on a sugar estate
should have less than 2001. currency per
annum, (whatever more he may obtain,)
and no subordinate young man, in the
character of book-keeper, less than 80l.
currency per annum, and whatever more
he may receive according to his merit. The
addition of 101. or 201. per annum to each
would scarcely be felt by the proprietor,
and the property benefited some hundreds
of pounds a year by it.
It is likewise a source of great additional
comfort for every property to have a well
kept, plenteously stocked kitchen-garden


ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
73
on it, which can always be established and
continued at a trifling expense, an invalid
negroe generally being appointed to such
work, with a comfortable cabin to live in,
to preserve seeds and plants, and guard
it from thievish invasion. It is almost
needless to say, that even in a tempe-
rate climate, the use of garden-vegetables,
and pot-herbs, is considered as most essen-
tial requisites to health and enjoyment;
how much more so must such salutary
productions be to men living in a land ex-
posed to the effects of a parching, tropical
sun, whose blood is in a state of almost
constant fermentation, whose exhaustion is
excessive. If their food is not qualified
with the purifying, grateful influence of
such ingredients, the system becomes mor-
bid, extreme languor ensues: the corrupt,
latent seeds of disease burst forth at length
into some terrible distemper or malady,
proving fatal to many. Add to this, the
practical economy of a table furnished with
viands of this kind. The islands in gene-


74
ATTORNEYS OR AGENTS.
ral afford abundance of natural produc-
tions of this sort, the roots and seeds of
which are easily procured, which, if sown
or planted properly, nursed in their infancy,
and kept even moderately clean, will be a
perpetual source of wholesome nutritious
supply. The Indian kale, ochro, quash,
peppers, ackys, and a variety of pulse,
being natural to the climate, together with
a few fresh European garden-seeds, sent
out regularly every year in the supplies,
which thrive very well here, give an abun-
dance and variety, which few soils or
climates can boast of. This garden should
never be at a distance from the overseer's
house, as his eye and talents are its safe-
guard, nurse, and support.


.
715
CHAP. II.
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
On entering and expatiating on the treat-
ment I presume most proper for slaves,
especially those under the command and
management of overseers in the planting
line, (which is a great and even cardinal
point in the spirit of plantership,) I shall
first advert to the ameliorating laws enacted
by the assembly of Jamaica, which are
recognisable by every owner of slaves,
overseers, &c. living in that island. Than
these nothing more belies the slanderous
representations of some overrating philan-
thropic people, who assert, that their con-
dition, comforts, rights, and protection
from severities, are not attended to. Having
the knowledge and experience of those ex-
isting laws, not only made and promul-
gated, but strictly acted upon, under heavy
penalties of fine and imprisonment, the


76.
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
violation of them cannot escape a numerous
magistracy, or the contumely of a watch-
ful community, I shall venture to avow in
- the face of the world, that there are no
class of people in their sphere, in the uni-
verse, whose faults and natural tendency
to crime are more abridged and looked
over, their wants supplied, their comforts
attended to, nay their very existence, when
tender infancy, or decrepid old age requires
care and succour, more humanely or
rigidly looked after. A quarterly return
is made to each parochial vestry, establish-
ing thereby an inquisitorial power into the
increase and decrease of the slave-popula-
tion for each property, by which it is seen,
in general, whether there is a growing in-
crease of the population, putting a quietus
to such groundless fabrications.
I shall go on (without alluding to former
custom) into the train of practice I sup-
pose best suited to treat the adult, strong,
healthy slave, the youth, the infant, the in-
valid, and superannuated, classing them ac-
cording to their different occupations. We


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
have not for some years imported, neither
is it ever likely to take place, that we should
have a fresh supply of slaves thus brought
into the British colonies. The old Africans
are daily wearing out and dropping into
the grave; our care is to support the
present stock, encourage healthy propaga-
tion, lessen their propensity to vice, caba-
listic or obea arts, induce them to receive
Christianity, not to excite their hatred or
jealousy by lewdness or wicked practices
with their wives, — a baneful custom ; to
take care that they are regularly supplied
with salt provisions, (which they prefer to
fresh, being good, savoury cooks in their
own way;) comfortable clothing ; that their'
houses are kept tenable; their time and
hours to cultivate their grounds not in-
fringed upon; those grounds kept free
from trespass of cattle or otherwise ; that
they be not punished for every trifling
fault, or unmercifully, at any time; when
really sick, that they be taken into the hos-
pital, under the care of the attending doc-


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
79
at a full old age, and leaves with studious
impartiality his little property (of whatever
kind it may be) among his children, whom
he has trained up to pursue his manner and
mode of life. Thus, with the blessing of
Providence, insuring to the proprietor a suc-
cession of healthy, well-disposed, effective
slaves. Casting a look over the European
map, I can discern districts, I may say
entire countries, styling themselves civilised,
which are now ordaining laws for the
balance of power, securing their dominions
by the specious appellation of religious,
Christian-like epithets, when nine-tenths of
the population of those countries only have
nominal freedom; few of the comforts,
protections, and enjoyments of the slaves
in Jamaica, and the West India islands,
and are in fact the veriest slaves in the
world.
The most important personage in the
slave-population of an estate is the head
driver. He is seen carrying with him the
emblems of his rank and dignity, a polished
1a.


· 80
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
staff or wand, with prongy crooks on it to
lean on, and a short-handled, tangible whip;
his office combining within itself a power,
derived principally from the overseer, of
directing all conditions of slaves, relative
to the precise work he wishes each gang
or mechanic to undergo or execute. The
great gang is comprised of the most power-
ful field-negroes, and is always under hi
charge. These are the strength with which
principally to carry into effect the main
work in the field, and manufacture the
sugar and rum. There are so many points
to turn to, so many occasions for his skill,
vigilance, steadiness, and trust-worthiness, ·
that the selection of such a man, fit for
such a place, requires circumspection, and
an intimate knowledge of his talents and
capacity. A bad or indifferent head driver
sets almost every thing at variance; injures
the negroes, and the culture of the land,
He is like a cruel blast that pervades every
thing, and spares nothing; but when he is
well-disposed, intelligent, clever, and active,


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
81
he is the life and soul of an estate. He
very often is an elderly or middle-aged
negro, who has long been so employed.
If it should be so ordered, that a new
head driver is requisite to be put in com-
mission, I must beg leave to lay before my
readers, my opinion of the proper choice
of one. I may err, but hope not irre-
trievably. He should, in my judgment, be
an athletic man ; sound and hardy in con-
stitution ; of well-earned and reputed good
character ; of an age, and, if possible, an
appearance to carry respect; perhaps about
thirty-five years old; clean in his person
and apparel; if possible a native or Creole
of the island, long used to field work, and
marked for his sobriety, readiness, and
putting his work well out of his hands.
His civility should be predominant, his
patience apparent, his mode of inflicting
punishment mild. He should be respectful
to white people; suffering no freedoms from
those under him, by conversation or trifling
puerile conduct. It is rare, indeed, to find


82
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
- this mass of perfection in a negro; but
you may obtain a combination of most of
those virtues ; and as to petty vices, always
inherent in some measure in human nature,
they must be looked over, when not too
full of evil. The junior drivers likewise,
if possible, should be men of this de-
scription ; but having a good master over
them in the head driver, they will be in-
duced to behave themselves tolerably. It
gives a great deal of vexation to an over-
seer when he changes his head driver.
Caprice should never have any hand in
such a transaction. The overseer who
thus trifles, who thus stakes the fortunes
of an estate upon mere frivolities, deserves
never to be employed again. The burden
of the ensuing mischief that may happen to
the property, should rest on his shoulders.
Yet it indispensably behoves an overseer
to get rid of, or dismiss a bad head driver;
for such a one he will soon find out. When
ill disposed he will perceive the negroes
likewise so; the work will not be carried on


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
83
agreeable to his dictates; things suffer in
general; the slaves run away, or are inclined
to be turbulent; he and they cabal ; bad
sugar is made; and perhaps the horrid and
abominable practice of Obea is carried
on, dismembering and disabling one an-
other; even aiming at the existence of the
white people. The root, then, of this evil
must be struck at, and the head driver and
his abettors sent to public punishment.
Another most material person on an estate
is the head cattle and mule man. These
are people of great responsibility, having
under their charge a great portion of the
proprietor's capital, much depending on
them for their safety: bringing the canes
from the field to the mill, for its constant
supply in crop-time, and carrying the crop
to the barquadier. They have to keep the
cattle and mules in good order, and like-
wise make them perform their duty well.
They should likewise, with the head driver,
have the good of the estate at heart; have
a proper choice of what cattle are best
G 2


84
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES,
adapted for field, mill, or road work; know
the temper and abilities of the stock; the
fit and regular time to spell or relieve them
with others; have always a sufficient quan-
tity of proper tackling for them; the best
mode of feeding, and dressing them for
occasional bruises, sores, and wounds; rest-
ing those that are lame, meagre, or that
are intended for some stress of work: they
should be sober, steady, hale, respectable
men. Their employment both in and out
of crop, should be the working, taking care,
and feeding of their cattle and mules. They
must not be drafted to other work, putting
the cattle and mules thereby out of the pale
and exercise of their responsible avocations:
an old, but bad practice. Theft is often
practised by cattle or wain men, in carrying
the sugar and rum to the wharf; likewise
plundering the supplies (especially salt pro-
visions) in bringing them up to the estates.
Care should be taken, if possible, to have
the head cattle or wain men vigilant and
honest; that the head mule-man is like-


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
85
wise so; neither taking himself, nor allow-
ing others to take mules off from the
property, for his or their private use or
work, without the overseer's licence. This
is often done, to the great injury, and per-
haps loss, of the mules. Thousands of cattle
and mules are yearly destroyed throughout
the island, by the careless villany or con-
nivance of vicious and profligate cattle and
mule men.
The head boiler or manufacturer of sugar
is another slave, whose trust and employ-
ment, during crop-time, is of the most re-
sponsible kind. He should always be a
person who has an intimate knowledge of
such a process; the way the cane has been
raised and treated; the kind of soil it grows
upon ; if that soil has been high or low
manured; the age of the cane; the species
it is of; whether it has been topped short
or long in the cutting ; if it has been
arrowed, bored, or rat-eaten; giving him
by this perspicuous view, a thorough know-
ledge of the lime tempering the cane-juice
G 3


86.
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES,
requires; the time it may take to concoct,
inspissate, and be fit to skip into the coolers.
He must be impartial in his mode and time
of potting the sugar from the cooler into
the hogshead, so that it stands the hogshead
well, cures properly, lets off the spumy,
spurious molasses, without embodying it in
the sugar, thereby giving it an open, free
grain. He should be an economist in boil.
ing the sugar, without being a miser to the
distilling house. He must be honest, sober,
· industrious, and keep the junior boilers to
their work. Such are the qualities, I pre-
sume, requisite for a head boiler on a sugar
estate. The fairest fruits of a cane field
have been destroyed, perverted, and ren-
dered a mass of thick, slimy, dark, sour,
cloddy, unprofitable, unmarketable sub-
stance, (disappointing the expectations of
the overseer,) by an improper choice of
such a member, or having a villain for
conducting such a business. The labour.
of negroes and stock have often been lost
by this means; the trash-house consumed


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
87
or emptied, shipments disappointed, and
the adulterated juices sent to the distilling.
house, where it will scarcely pay for its
boiling.
Other head men, such as carpenters,
coopers, masons, coppersmiths, and watch-
men, are next in succession as principal
slaves on an estate. They generally arrive
at their headship, from being distinguished
either by the proprietor, overseer, or some
superintending mechanic, as good work-
men. They are found of infinite service
in the various jobs frequently requisite to
be done: for the building, improving, and
repairing of the manufacturing houses, &c.
saving the proprietor (if ingenious, indus-
trious, and sober,) a considerable sum of
money annually, by not having occasion to
call in the aid of an eminent tradesman to
execute the business. They should always
have plenty of materials to keep them
employed; seasoned wood to work; and
the_masons and coppersmiths repairing out
of crop any damage done in it.
G4


88
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
A head watchman is always a necessary
slave officer on every property; but if such
a person is not narrowly looked after, or of
extraordinary good character, he spends
the greater part of his time in gadding
about; working a distant ground of his
own; harbouring runaway slaves, whom
he cheaply hires to perform some work for
him; or perhaps takes an effective mule
off the estate, to carry some provisions with
despatch to market. This is a bad example
to the slave population, who are ever prone
to catch infection of this kind. To prevent
its noxious influence, this man should fre-
quently, in the course of the day, be with,
or at the overseer's house; early in the
morning he should go round to the watch-
men stationed at the works, and see that
every thing is as it should be. He should
make a report of the state of the business
to the overseer ; go round to the cane
piece, watchmen, and cattle-pens, and ob-
serve if any trespass has been committed,
or fences broke. At breakfast-time he


90
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
do. He should attend at night when the
head driver waits to get his orders from
the overseer, to know the names of the
nightly watchmen to be stationed at the
works; and, before he retires to his
supper, observe if those watchmen are at
their posts. Regularly every week, on
Saturday or Monday morning, he should
have the handicraft watchmen bring an
ample supply of well made mule-pads; fine
hackled planšain trash, from off the stem
of the plantain tree; ropes for mules,
waggons, and cattle tackling; trash and
dung baskets, lining pegs, rat-springs, &c.
brought home, and deposited in the ap-
propriate store, to be had when wanted.
By such a rotation of duty, this officer can
be extremely useful, and his time well
spent. As an incentive to the principal
headmen of an estate to do their duty
well, or reward their exertions, to those
that are most exposed to toil, inclement
weather, loss of time by superintending
others, a weekly allowance of a quart' or


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
91
two of good rum, some sugar, and now
and then a dinner from the overseer's table,
will be found of salutary effect. If deemed
necessary to punish for bad conduct or
neglect of duty, such benefits can oc-
casionally be withdrawn.
I now come to call the attention of my
readers to another class of slaves, whose
lot of occupation comes more immediately
under the proprietors' or overseers' eye;
they rank in the capacity of domestics and
house people. I shall first advert to the
hothouse or hospital doctor or doctress, (as
they are termed in Jamaica,) midwives, &c.,
a most fearful fraternity, who in the course
of the year, may do a great deal of good,
or promote and establish an infinite number
of disorders; having, perhaps, in that time,
the whole population of the estate, — white
people, mixed, coloured, and black — under
their care. Acquainted with medicine only
in a superficial manner, if ever so experi-
enced, they never should have the charge
of the bulk of what medicines may be on the


92
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
e
estate; and what they are put in possession
of, should be of a simple nature. Of dele-
terious drugs they should never have the
mixing up; and the utmost caution should
be observed when they are allowed to ad-
minister any such. A few doses of glauber
salts, sulphur, rhubarb, castor-oil, campho-
rated spirits, bitters and plaisters to dress
sores and make blisters of, with two or
three lancets, a pair of scissars, and
spatula, is all they should have under their
immediate care. In fact, an experienced,
attentive overseer or book-keeper (as is
usually the case) will perform cures in or-
dinary, simple cases, compound and ad.
minister the medicine to the afflicted and
sick, with little necessity to call in the aid
of the practising white doctor, except when
danger threatens. Indeed, some gentlemen
of that character in Jamaica, are very
little entitled to that appellation. They
have large incomes from each estate,
without doing any good whatever in a
year's visiting. However I shall leave
15


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
93
such people to the censure of their own
profession. An hospital of sick diseased
slaves, is a source of great unhappiness to
an overseer. Humanity should call forth
his attention; his duty and the interest of
the estate should bind him to it, if the
strength of the estate is in the hospital, in
a manner lying dormant. If a valuable
slave remains there lingering, his mind is
sure to be tainted; his work is delayed,
and danger may accrue to the capital under
his charge. His character may suffer, and
his situation become precarious. Every
thing conspires in the mind of a sedulous,
humane overseer, to do all in his power to
free the hospital of its patients, and restore
them to renovated vigour and health. A
book of medical treatment, especially of
such diseases as are incidental to tropical
climates, and is applicable to the cure of
negro distempers, should be always kept
on every property in the West Indies. I
would prefer a male to a female in attend-
ing the hospital; and there should always


94
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
be a room there, for the comfortable ac-
commodation of such a person, in case his
nightly attendance is requisite. The male
and female patients should be kept separate,
in comfortable warm apartments, blankets,
&c., and a fire place to each apartment.
Nourishment should always be afforded
from the general store, and overseers' table
to those who require it. It requires a nice
discernment and discrimination to know,
who are to be admitted for medicine or
otherwise, into the hospital. The slaves in
Jamaica, ever given to a most flagrant
abuse of whatever may be established, or
presumed to be for their benefit, the whole
population of an estate, (with a few excep-
tions), would present themselves for admit-
tance there, if the house was large enough
to contain them, or their artifices not well
understood, whether they wanted or not
the aid of medicine. Even the wary ex-
perienced overseer they will strive to over-
reach and deceive; nay, they will force
nature from its due course, and by a tem-


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
95
re
Terse
porary contraction or revulsion of some
vessel in their frame, effect their lazy pur-
pose of sitting down in the hospital. Sores
they will irritate and keep alive, fresh ones
inflict, and medicines swallow with avidity
to avoid work, get in there, and enjoy their
supine, idle propensities. They always
practise upon a new overseer such tricks.
Upon such application, I would give them
a hearty dose of some simple medicine, and
have them strictly confined to the hospital.
If no practising doctor is employed for the
property, let them remain there for two or
three days, and if nothing apparently ails
them, send them to their work. If a doc-
tor is employed, let him examine into their
respective cases ; if not found unwell, send
them to their work again ; and let a regular
hothouse book be kept of what medicines
are ordered and administered, when they
are taken in, and when turned out.
Midwives are generally elderly women
on a property, who attend the breeding-
women, in time of child-birth. They are


96
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
asse
in general egregiously ignorant, yet most
obstinately addicted to their own way; but
still if they find danger fast approaching,
most probably brought on by their own
tampering, they will cunningly run to the
overseer, tell him of the dangerous case,
and that he should send for the doctor;
and when he arrives, when sinking nature
is nearly lost in the dissolution of the
mother or child, or one or other expires
shortly after his arrival, they dexterously
assert, that if he had followed their advice,
all would have been well. They impress,
by the nature of their office and by such
assertions, such an awe and reverence for
them on the minds of all classes of slaves,
that few practising doctors wish to encoun-
ter them, or be called in to assist at a birth,
or give relief to a female slave in travail,
which those harpies attend. The overseer
can do little or nothing, in those trying
cases, farther than afford medicine, re-
storatives, and nourishment, for which he is
called upon abundantly by these practition-


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
97
ers, and which he gives with the freedom of
a father. Encouraging the midwife in her
attention, for the welfare of mother and
child, he gladly has them taken care of, if
living; and consoles himself that no blame
can be attached to him for any failure. If
a happy issue is effected, he rewards the
midwife and mother, and rejoicingly adds
another name, to the list of slave-popula-
tion in the plantation book.
The house people should always be com-
posed of the people of colour belonging to
the property, or cleanly, well-affected slaves
to white people, who understand the way of
keeping a house clean in that country, the
care of house-linen, needle-work in general,
and cookery, They should be neat in their
persons, without disease, not inclined to
quarrelling or much talking, civil in their
manners, not addicted to steal away to the
negro-houses, neglect their work, to pilfer-
ing or drunkenness. Having such people as
these in a dwelling house, the white people
and themselves feel, that they are com-


98
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES. '
paratively happy. If an overseer upon
every frivolous occasion, (which often hap-
pens,) changes his domestics, he seldom is
comfortable for an hour; every thing is at
variance; a dirty house, tattered linen,
waste of every thing, tumult and punish-
ment going on, caballing, conspiracy, per-
fidy, and attempts perhaps against his life,
many instances of which could be related
here. When an orderly set is once in a
house, they are with little trouble kept to
their duty. As jealousy is apt to creep in
among the females, the overseer should
give them little or no cause for it; it is a
raging, unforgiving, relentless pestilence.
Whatever needle-work is requisite, such as
making and repairing house-linen, shirts,
and stockings, making the clothes for the
slaves, who have no wives, or are ig-
norant how to make it themselves; put a
presiding house-woman of good conduct
over them, to instruct and superintend
them; put no temptations in their way, by
entrusting them with the store-keys. Give


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
99
them a small, but not a profuse part of
what meals you partake of. Let them have
due time, by relieving one another, in the
course of the week, to work their provision
grounds, and mind their little poultry and
pigs, not suffering them to raise them about
the dwelling or overseer's house.
• The great gang. - Nothing animates the
planting system more than the wellbeing
of this admirable effective force, composed
of the flower of all the field battalions,
drafted and recruited from all the other
gangs, as they come of an age to endure
severe labour. They are drilled to become
veterans in the most arduous field under-
takings, furnish drivers, cattlemen, mule.
men, boilers, and distillers. They are the
very essence of an estate, its support in all
weathers and necessities; the proprietor's
glory, the overseer's favourite, directed by
him. Brigaded by its chief field-officer,
the head driver, they inspire confidence,
and command respect. This gang, com-
posed of a mixture of able men and women,
H 2


100
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
sometimes amounting to an hundred, should
always be put to the field work, which
requires strength and skill in the execution ;:
such as making lime-kilns, digging cane-
holes, making roads through the estate,
trenching, building stone walls, planting
canes and provisions, trashing heavy canes,
cutting and tying canes and tops in crop
time, cutting copper-wood, feeding the
mill, carrying green trash from the mill to
the trash-house, and repairing the public
roads, when allotments are to be worked
out. They should always be provided
with good hoes, bills, a knife, and axes, to
those men who know how to make use of
them. They should have these tools kept
in the most serviceable order. They
should be made to work in a parallel line
as they are set in. The head-driver, his
assistant-driver, and bookkeeper, should
visit each row, and see that they do
their work well. An animating inoffensive
song, struck up by one of them, should be
encouraged and chorussed while at work ;


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
101
for they are thought good composers in
their own way. No punishment should be
inflicted, but what is absolutely necessary,
and that with mercy. In bad weather,
a glass of good rum should be given to
each ; and when making lime-kilns, roads,
and digging cane-holes, a small proportion
of rum and sugar likewise to each. Their
cook should be regular with their break-
fast by nine o'clock in the morning, and
their salt provisions constantly served to
them. Keeping them in heart, they will
work accordingly. They should not work
them out of crop, either before day or after
dark, (a custom formerly practised,) for they
are chilly in their nature, and liable to fre-
quent colds, which bring on fevers and pleu-
risies. A few hours of such work might give
a patient to the hospital for a month. It is,
when the all-quickening sun has influenced
the creation, that the field-negro feels alive
to his work, and announces it, by his cheer-
ing song, and redoubled efforts. In heavy
rain, all orders of field-negroes should be
H 3


102
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
called in by sound of bell or conch-shell.
Attention to these remaks, I presume to
think, will add to the stability of an over-
seer's birth, and be a rule to guide him by.
Second gang.—This gang should be com-
posed of people, who are thought to be of
rather weakly habits, mothers of sucking
children, youths drafted from the children's
gang, from twelve to eighteen years of
age, and elderly people that are sufficiently
strong for field-work. They should have
a competent driver to follow and direct
them. Their strength and abilities should
be ascertained and assimilated to field-
work of the second order, such as cleaning
and banking young canes, turning trash
on ratoon pieces, threshing light canes,
chopping and heaping manure, planting
corn, cleaning grass pieces, carrying dry
trash in crop time to the stokeholes, and
such work, requiring no great strength.
The mothers of sucking children should
be provided with nurses to take care of the
infants, while they are at work in the fields,


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
103
and a hut made in a convenient place, to
retire to, in case of stress of weather.
One mother out of every four in the field
should be allowed to go and suckle her
child for a quarter of an hour, then suc-
ceeded by others, and so on, that the infants
should not want, and those mothers should
not be obliged to turn out to work before
sunrise, or be detained to work after sun-
set. They should have a weekly allowance,
of a pint of flour or meal, with a propor-
tion of sugar for each child. The mothers
and infants should be kept clean, and free
from chegoes. A yard or two of flannel and
check, should be given to each infant, for
a frock and cover, besides their usual
allowance of clothing. In all other res-
pects this gang should be treated as the
other slaves on the property are.
The Third or Weeding Gang. — This
corps, forming the rising generation, from
which, in progress of time, all the vacancies
occurring in the different branches of slave
population are filled up, comes next to be
H 4


104
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
considered. Their merits are great in their
sphere. The expectations formed of them
are still greater, when contemplated in a
future point of view. They are drivers,
cattlemen, mulemen, carpenters, coopers,
and masons, as it were in embryo. Their
genius and strength rises and ripens with
their years, as they are made emulous by
proper treatment. It argues then what that
kind of treatment should be, to promote
with success so good a design. Even in
common life, throughout civilized Europe,
the welfare of the child is the grand object
of the parent. The owner and the over-
seer of those valuable shoots should act
the part of a parent, fosterer, and protector,
looking on them as the future prop and
support of the property. How pleasing,
how gratifying, how replete with humanity
it is to see a swarm of healthy, active,
cheerful, pliant, straight, handsome creole
negro boys and girls going to, and return-
ing from the puerile field work allotted to
them, clean and free from disease or blemish.
16


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES,
105
It forms one of the best traits in an over-
seer's character, to have and preserve such
under his charge. Negro children, after
they pass five or six years of age, if free
from the yaws, or other scrophula, and are
healthy, should be taken from the nurse
in the negro houses, and put under the
tuition of the driveress, who has the con-
ducting of the weeding gang. It is an
unquestionable evil to leave them there
after they come to that age, as they im-
bibe, by remaining there, a tendency to
idle, pernicious habits. When they can be
any way useful, it is best to send them
with those of their own age, to associate
together in industrious habits; not to over-
act any part with them, but by degrees to
conform them to the minor field-work. : A
wide expanse (more or less) of young plant
canes present themselves to the sight, tacitly
calling, by their appearance, the helping,
nourishing hand of man, to aid them in
their growth, by plucking the unwholesome
weeds and grass from among them, to draw


106
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
round them the parent earth, the foster-
ing manure, with the tenderness their in-
fancy demands. In general it is found,
that the supple hand of the negro child is
best calculated to extract the weeds and
grass ; and the addition of a small hoe,
used with caution, draws the mold to their
support. A piece of young plant canes,
cleaned and molded by a gang of negro
children, has generally à more healthy,
even appearance, than if dressed by able
people, because they are more light and
cautious in going through it. Few break-
ages take place, and the earth is not trod-
den by too heavy a body, into a hard
contexture; a great injury to young canes.
An experienced negro woman in all man-
ner of field work, should be selected to
superintend, instruct, and govern this gang
of pupils, armed with a pliant, serviceable
twig, more to create dread, than inflict
chastisement. I should prefer a woman who
had been the mother of, and reared a num-
ber of healthy children of her own, to a


108
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
chegoes; their heads and bodies from itclr
or scrophula; which last, when discovered,
they should immediately be put under
the care of the hothouse doctor, physicked
and rubbed with proper ointment, and not
sent to work till they are cured. Their
cleanliness should be exemplary, their meals
always strengthened with a small quantity of
salt pork or fish, and some kind of garden-
stuff, such as peas or beans. And I beg leave
here pointedly to remark, (which I hope
gentlemen of the old school will excuse me
for, as it is an old practice,) that on no ac-
count should these, or any children, be sent
to gather hogmeat or cut grass, or carry
hogmeat or grass to the overseer's hog-
stye or mule-pen. The reason for my thus
formally declaring against this practice is,
that in searching for, and gathering hog-
meat, and cutting grass, they are obliged
to go a considerable distance to gather it,
through wild bushes and woods. They are
incautious in thus rambling, often getting
thereby bad bruises, hurts and wounds,


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
109
which turn out to be incurable sores, ever
after rendering them infirm, perhaps decre.
pid, and pitiable creatures to the sight.
Respecting cutting of grass, the evil is as
much to be dreaded; for those young crea-
tures are flighty, and unsteady in using a
bill or a knife, and by some mischance
may give themselves horrible cuts, equally
as unfortunate, and to be guarded against.
Besides, an old negro or two will always be
found, who can provide a sufficiency of
these things, and old weakly mules to bring
them home. When any of these children
become twelve years old, and are healthy,
they are fit subjects to be drafted into the
second gang, going on thus progressively
from one gang to the other, till they are
incorporated with the great gang, or most
effective veteran corps of the estate. Crab-
yaws they are subject to, as well as able
negroes ; a species of bonions, affecting the
soles and sides of the feet, having a kernel
deeply rooted, (and perhaps attended with
an abscess) which requires caustic to eradi-


110
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
cate, and are obstinate to effect a cure of;
but patience must be called in as an auxili-
ary remedy. The slave must be confined,
his foot clothed with a kind of sandal,
(called in Jamaica a sandpatta) the caustic
applied, the foot kept clean with warm
water and a mixture of goulard, and not
turned out to work till the cure is effected,
and the parts made callous against future
impressions of the kind; I have no doubt
but these rules will be found adviseable,
reducible to practice, and that I shall not
incur the displeasure, envy, or ridicule of
any person, by propounding them.
Cattle and mule-boys. — This description
of working slaves, (as they are termed in
Jamaica,) should be taken from the great
or second gangs, as found most applicable
to that kind of employment. Youths from
twelve to twenty years of age, and old
negroes (especially Africans) should never
be put to such a task, or taken to be trained
up to it if possible, being too heavy, gene-
rally stupid, hard to be subdued to it, rather


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
111
ungovernable, when from under the drivers
auspices, unhandy, and liable to make the
cattle and mules suffer under them. Take
then the tractable, docile youth, of creole
birth, for most of them know how both to
lead and yoke cattle, and ride and tackle
mules. When work of that kind is wanted,
the head cattle and mule-man has the charge
and direction of them. Each should be
provided with a well-appointed whip, that
may inflict a smart, but not a cruel stripe
on a beast, whom they should never be
suffered to maltreat. They should never be
allowed to ride mules up a hill. They
should know, and be instructed in the best
method, of dressing the stock for bruises
or wounds. They should never have an
excuse, that they are unprovided with a
sufficiency of good pads, fine trash, and
well-made ropes. Each mule-boy should
be appointed to the precise mules he is to
work; his spells of mules, as to their names,
should be told him. They must be made
to tackle them well, spell them regularly,
clan


112
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES,
I
.
rub them down, and if bruised or hurt by
improper working, be punished for such
misdemeanor. They should never be al-
lowed to take home the ropes, or mule.
pads, to the negro houses, (which is often
done,) they being generally giddy, and neg-
ligent of them, and inclined to :
from one another. They should be con-
strained to deposit them, in a safe con-
venient shed, built for the purpose. They
should be strictly made to keep dry pads
next the backs of the beasts, to prevent
them from galling or giving colds or spasms
to the animals. They should keep them if
possible to the custom, (when a number of
mules are to be worked, in carrying canes
and copper-wood,) of going in a regular
gang together, that the head mule-man may
always have them under his eye, to prevent
accidents. These are the requisites I pre-
sume most necessary in training and govern-
ing the cattle and mule-boys in their duty.
The feeding of the cattle and mules is
superintended by the head cattle and mule-


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
113
man, assisted by a deputy, who are all
directed in this essential point by the
overseer.
Watchmen, invalids, and superannuated.-
Watchmen on an estate or a property in the
West Indies, which are stationed on the
lines, cane pieces and provision grounds,
are slaves in the light of sentinels and
piquets. It is indispensably necessary to
have such a force in existence: they act
an important part, by their vigilance, to
prevent the trespassing of cattle, or the
depredations of thieves; to repair broken
fences in their neighbourhood, make baskets,
pads, pegs, ropes, &c. As some slaves be-
gin to decline by inevitable old age, in-
firmity, or disability to stand the more
heavy laborious, field work, they should be
allotted to those kinds of occupations which
do not bear hard upon them. Something
they should always have to do, to keep
their minds employed, and their bodies in
easy activity. This kind of duty comes
within their capacity. An intelligent, trusty
I


114
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES..
man of this sort, should always be stationed
on the line of the estate, and another in
the negro, and white people's provision
grounds, to guard with care those tempting
places. The watchman who guards the lines,
should be made to conform to the practice
of daily bringing a quantity of bark, fit to
make ropes, to the overseer's house, make
his report of the state of affairs in that
quarter, and regularly, without much delay,
return to his post. The head watchman
should be particularly attentive, that these
piquets are inflexible and steady; comfort-
able huts they should always have; a sharp,
active dog for their companion, and armed
and provided each with good cutlasses,
bills, and knives. No disparagement
should be shewn to them, on account of
their growing old or infirm: these are the
dispensations of Providence, which no
human art can control. Their real-wants
and comforts should be attended to, al-
though they do not require, (from the
nature of their employment), so much salt


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
115
provision, or frequent change of clothing,
as the able field negroes, who are exposed
to precarious, inclement weather and hard
toil. Every watchman, no matter where
placed on an estate, should always have a
number of rat springes set in various direc-
tions, especially among the cane and corn
pieces, which they should be subtle in
fixing, diligent in daily examining, and
those within the sphere of cane cultivation,
ought to be made to produce them every
morning at the overseer's house. Nothing
is so destructive to a piece of ripening
canes, as this gnawing destructive little
animal ; no creature, I believe, in the scale
of quadrupeds, is more prolific, or more
cunning to evade pursuit, retreating to its
subterraneous, mazy habitation upon the
smallest alarm. It is wary of the snare,
yet unceasingly voracious. All methods
should then be attempted to catch, destroy,
and extirpate them with safety ; men, dogs,
deadly mixtures, to entice them ; even fire
and water should sometimes be called in, to
I ?


116
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
assist in this undertaking. For it is not the
great quantity they eat, but their roving
propensity in running from cane to cane,
from one piece of corn to another, nibbling
and biting to the very core almost every
thing within their reach. For wherever
they insert their teeth, that, and the adja-
cent part of the cane becomes sour, disco-
loured, and gangrened, the vital juices are
stagnated, great part of the cane is unfit to
make sugar, and consequently the crop is
much diminished. I am inclined to hold
forth bribes and rewards, for the greatest
number taken ; a small quantity of rum or
salt pork to each watchman, who may catch
in the course of the week so many dozen of
rats, keeping a daily book of account.
Yet he must be cautious, that the same rats
are not brought twice by the watchmen.
The remaining watchmen should be scat-
tered at proper places over the estate, where
most vulnerable, and liable to attract, by
the alluring sight of ripening cane and
corn the prowling thief, or the browsing


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
117
beast. Repairing of fences, pad, and basket-
making, &c. they should occasionally be
employed at. The head watchman's busi-
ness is to superintend and direct them. '
The supernumerary invalids and super-
annuated persons, who can do any slight
work, together with such middle-aged
slaves as are afflicted with asthma, bone-
ache, or other disorders which require
occasional rest, should be put under the
direction of a sensible negro of their own
sort, and occupied in planting and cleaning
quick-fences, either round the cane or
grass pieces. Though much cannot be
expected from them, yet it is best to keep
them at some employment; and such work
is easy and of utility, sparing the neces-
sity of drawing off more able people to do
it. Nothing is more strikingly pleasing
to the eye, than well-planted, well-kept
fences ; they preserve, in a great measure,
by their encircling, binding protection, the
young plants, and the rich harvest of canes,
which a kind Providence and produc-
I 3


118
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
tive nature, with the laborious art of man,
brings to perfection.
Young children and infants. — It is
usually the wish of the female slaves, when
they become mothers, to keep the infants
sucking to an extraordinary or excessive
time, sometimes for three years; with the
two-fold view of making the child strong,
and having loitering, idle time to spend.
The latter motive, I believe, is the most
predominant. But whatever it may be, it
is a bad practice, and injurious to the
woman and the child. It reduces the
woman to a state of weakness, and barren-
ness, and makes her prone to idleness and
disaffection to work. The child becomes
accustomed to too much tenderness, un-
suitable to its station, giving it a fretful
longing for the mother, and her scanty
milk, engendering disease, and what is
worse than all, often (though secretly)
giving it a growing liking for the hateful,
fatal habit of eating dirt, than which nothing
is more horribly disgusting, nothing more


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
119-
to be dreaded, nothing exhibiting a more
heart-rending, ghastly spectacle, than a
negro child possessed of this malady. Such
is the craving appetite for this abominable
custom, that few, either children or adults, can
be broken of it, when once they begin to taste
and swallow its insidious, slow poison. For
if by incessant care, watchfulness, or keep-
ing them about the dwelling-house, giving
them abundance of the best nourishing food,
stomachic medicines, and kind treatment,
it is possible to counteract the effects
and habit of it for some time, the creature
will be found wistfully and irresistibly to
steal an " opportunity of procuring and
swallowing the deadly substance. The
symptoms arising from it are a shortness
of breathing, almost perpetual languor, ir-
regular throbbing, weak pulse, a horrid
cadaverous aspect, the lips and whites of
the eyes a deadly pale, (the sure signs of
malady in the negro) the tongue thickly
covered with scurf, violent palpitation of
the heart, inordinate swelled belly, the legs
I 4


120
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
and arms reduced in size and muscle, the
whole appearance of the body becomes a
dirty yellow, the flesh a quivering, pellucid
jelly. The creature sinks into total indif-
ference, insensible to every thing around it,
till death at last declares his victory in its
dissolution. This is no exaggerated account
of the effects and termination of this vile
and hateful propensity. As I said before,
the mothers of sucking children should be
allowed a pint of flour or meal, besides
sugar weekly from the store, as those
children not only require additional nutri-
ment, but are inclined frequently to laxative
habits of body, which fresh flour or corn-
meal corrects. I would never (except
sickness intervenes) leave a child more than
fourteen months sucking, but generally no
more than twelve months. During that
period it should undergo inoculation for
the cow or small-pock; the former in pre-
ference to the latter. When well of this
disease, and having arrived at the before.
mentioned age, the child should be weaned,


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
121
taken from the mother, and put under the
care of a well-disposed orderly matron, whose
particular province should be to watch,
clean, feed, extract chegoes from its feet,
hands, &c., and present the children at the
overseer's house before him every day,
where there should be a nourishing pot of
soup, with boiled roots, and vegetables,
prepared, and divided with impartial dis-
tribution to each child; once a month
worm medicines should be administered to
them, and a dose or two of salts or castor
oil. When the children are three years
old, they should be put under the care of
another well-disposed old woman, who
should follow the routine prescribed to the
former matron, as to keeping them clean.
She should keep them from three to five
years old, in a little playful gang about
the works, so that in any bad weather, they
could soon seek shelter under the different
sheds and stokeholes. Each child should
have a little basket, and be made
somewhat useful by gathering up fallen


122
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
trash and leaves, and pulling up young
weeds, so as to keep them stirring, and
out of the way of harm. These children
likewise should have a plentiful pot of soup,
with vegetables boiled for them every day,
distributed to them respectively, before the
overseer or bookkeeper, with a wine glass
of acidulated sugar beverage, and a taste of
good rum to each, as an enlivener. Their
minds should always be kept cheerful, and
the parents' fears allayed, by every attention
to their growing welfare. The younger
children that have been weaned, together
with the weeding gang, should have worm
medicines every month. The practice of
giving cabbage bark to such children as
a vermifuge, (an old custom,) is pregnant
with danger. It is a native of the woods
in Jamaica, the coat of a certain tree,
though not of the beautiful tree bear-
ing the cabbage on the top of its stem.
And although not unpleasant to the taste,
yet it is deleterious, so that great caution is
necessary in giving the dose, and appor-
21


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
123
tioning it to the age and strength of the
patient. It is powerful in its effects, more
by its dreadful deadly qualities, than for
expelling or eradicating worms. A much
safer and more effectual remedy in case of
worms, or to be given periodically to chil-
dren, is the cowitch taken internally. It is
likewise indigenous in Jamaica. It grows
upon a creeping, spreading vine, in some
retired dell or glade, generally where it
meets support by adhering to underwood.
Pods of it hang in clusters on the vine,
which are covered by a fine, brown furry
spicula, of the most acute, subtle nature,
yet perfectly safe, when mixed with honey,
thick sirup or molasses. A certain portion
of it, what may be scraped off six or eight
pods, to two quarts of sweets, will be suf-
ficient to give to thirty or forty children,
with efficacy and safety. This dose should
be repeated the following day, and after
that, some glauber salts or castor oil should
be given to each child the next day, to
-clear the bowels. Wonderful is the effect of


124
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
it in dislodging the clinging worms from the
stomach and bowels. Its tormenting spicula
adhering to, and insinuating itself into
them, they drop their leechy hold, descend
to the lower intestines, there cling in writh-
ing agony together, and are expelled by
the power of the cowitch in half lifeless,
and dead multitudes from the body of the
patient. The child feels no unpleasant
effects from taking the cowitch internally,
when well prepared, by its being mixed
with the sweets, till the spicula is separated,
and appears like fine, thin small hairs,
through the honey or sirup. Neither is it
any way dangerous thus taken. The only
caution necessary is, to prevent the child
from putting its hand to its mouth while re-
ceiving the dose, and hinder any of it from
falling on the skin, which can be easily done,
by placing a cloth over the neck and breast
of the child. But some of the children
are so good and tractable, that they require
nothing of the kind, but open their mouth,
and with freedom swallow it. If any hap-


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
125
pens to fall on the skin, some lime-juice
and a little water will soon clear it away.
; The treatment of children afflicted with
the yaws, and likewise old people, as it is
à disease which has tried the skill of the
faculty with little success, I cannot pre-
sume to say much concerning its mode
of treatment or cure. Time, and, I believe,
the strength of a good constitution, may
work this desirable end, or partially allevi.
ate or remove it. In the middle-aged and
old it is terribly obstinate. Its nauseous
and loathsome appearance, its frightful ra-
vages, its twitching pains, extending to the
very marrow, brings with it a deformity of
bone and flesh that strikes horror. No
wonder then that tremulous fear of such
contagion will make any one fall back with
frightful timidity, and sometimes leave the
afflicted wretch at a distance, within the
circle of a provision piece, to sustain life,
and let nature perform the rest. Children
are more able to recover from this evil than
elderly people. Cleanliness, simple, nutri-


126
THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
tious diet, without meat, or salt animal food,
is a regimen to be observed with children in
this case ; alterative medicines, cleanliness,
and the same kind of diet with the middle-
aged and old. A commodious hut, at a dis-
tance from other habitations, should be set
up for such patients. The children should
not be allowed to associate with elderly
people so diseased, as the rancour of the
disease in the old may add to the infection,
and prolong the cure of the young. Bath-
ing, in a sun-warmed shallow stream, will
purge the skin and pores of impurities,
give suppleness to the stiffened limbs, banish
languor and drowsiness, and may be the
means, in progress of time, (especially with
the young,) of undermining the disorder,
and restoring long-wished-for health to the
desponding and afflicted. The younger a
child takes this disorder, after it is weaned,
the better. The sooner we find the cure
effected, and the constitution relieved; and,
having got over this disorder, the small-
pox, the meazles, and the whooping-cough,


THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES.
127
the negro child has passed through the
diseases attendant, and incidental to its
youth; the parent is rejoiced, the overseer
and owner are confident they have a healthy,
promising, valuable subject upon their list,
and little to fear, except what may pre-
cariously happen.
I hope this account of the treatment I
presume best calculated to manage slaves,
may be found acceptable, of easy ac-
quisition, no way derogatory to the more
refined, or better formed opinion of others;
and find its way for adoption, with those
interested in West India capital.


128
CHAP. III.
CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
The choice of stock (such as cattle and
mules), either for work or breeding, is a
leading feature in the principle of good
plantership. Much depends upon it. Much
is expected from an effective force of well
made, strong, healthy stock of this de-
scription, or a succession (when wanted)
produced from prime cows and mares. The
crop is to be taken off the field by them,
brought to the mill, and ground there
perhaps by these very cattle and mules ;
carried to the wharf many miles distant,
timbers and copperwood brought to the
works by them, and manure produced and
made from them equal to what may be re-
quired; and that with such celerity and
safety, that these things not only may be


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 129
done with due despatch, but the stock com-
paratively be in good condition. The steer
or spayed heifer, before they are too old, or
too much reduced, should be turned to the
fattening pasture, and sold when good meat
to the butcher, thereby sustaining but a
trifling loss in the prime cost of the beast,
and having some years of their work and
manure for the care and feeding of them.
The kind of pasture the stock has been
bred and reared upon should be looked
to. In my opinion, those of a good breed,
which have been brought up on well kept
common pasture or savanna grass, are much
preferable for work, than those which are
reared on artificial guinea grass. They
are found hardier, their flesh more firm
and compact, more docile to be broke to
work, less liable to fall off in flesh while at
work, more easy to be recovered and re-
stored to health and flesh when reduced,
and their hoofs more flinty, tougher, and
better able to endure travelling over stony
river-course roads. Their meat, when fat,


130 CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
sweeter, better, and weighs heavier. To
these qualifications may be added, that
they are generally a few pounds cheaper.
The same observations hold good respect-
ing mules in a great measure; whereas the
cattle and mules brought up on Guinea
grass are more tender, bloated, liable to
tire upon any pinch of work, are often
stubborn, restive, and lazy, soon lose their
frothy flesh, are difficult to regain it; heavy
in their tread, with soft pervious hoofs,
which often split, and contain deep-seated
crab-yaws and ground-itch. There are, in-
deed, multitudes of fine serviceable cattle
and mules taken off of Guinea grass pens,
tongue steers especially. The proprietors
and overseers of these inclosures take great
pains to have their cows and mares crossed,
almost every two years, by young bulls and
jacks of the best breed, sparing no cost in
the attainment. They are so pampered by
frequent change of pasture, and ranging of
extensive runs, that they attract by their
bulky, plump, sleek appearance, the anxious


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF stock. 131
purchaser, who is in need of stock for im-
mediate work. Yet with all their polished,
desirable looks, they have not the stability
of those that have been bred on, and taken
off common pasture, when their breeding
has been taken as much pains with as those
bred upon guinea grass pastures. .
The next thing to be considered, is the
form of cattle and mules for the particular
work they are designed for. The steer
and spayed heifer for work should be firm,
active, and straight in their limbs; straight
backed, their hoofs should be close, compact,
and of a middle size; their chests broad
and capacious, with a full muscular neck,
light neat head, with straight full horns;
their eyes clear and sprightly, but not
treacherous or wally; great girth of ribs,
especially near the shoulders; the shoulder
large, and well knit to the chest, neck, and
ribs; close and full in the loins; sturdy, yet
active in their hind legs; with small ears
of quick perception in hearing; with no
warts, crab-yaws, or ticks. Such are the
K 2


132 CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
requisites I presume to set forth, as forming
the bodily abilities of the working steer
and spayed heifer. I shall now take the
liberty of reflecting a little on an old
custom, much acted upon in Jamaica, which
is, the bigotted pertinacity (if I may so
call it), of refusing to purchase some work-
ing cattle on account of their color; and
often choosing weak, deformed, and ineli-
gible stock, because they are of such a
color. Superstition carries people a great
way out of the reasonable track. The
ignorant, credulous slave may pretend that
something ominous will attend, some mis-
fortune will follow, buying cattle of a
certain color. It consists not only in their
own barbarous, ignorant notions, but in
their fondness for a certain colored beast
themselves. But for a proprietor or over-
seer to be thus guided, thus predisposed to
cast away the best-made steer, because he
is not brindle, red, or black, is only to
thwart his best interests, and bring losses
and disappointments on himself. Even in


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 133
the choice of tongue steers, so much to be
depended on for their strength, steadiness,
and size, they are squeamishly captious in
this point, and will rove from pen to pen,
in search of cattle to answer their favourite
colors, spending their time, leaving good
serviceable cattle unbought, and perhaps
purchasing and bringing home with them,
washy untractable stock, which will not
stand the trial of a crop. I will not pre-
tend to assert, that cattle of the regular
colour of brindle, red, or black, may not
be excellent; and when the qualities of
strength, symmetry, youth, and docility are
united, they are indeed admirable. I only
wish to guard some people against the
prejudice of color in choosing cattle, and
committing a crime against good judg-
ment, in the selection and appointment of
steers or spayed heifers for work, and
allowing the butcher, by this oversight,
to kill thousands of good, sturdy, efficient
cattle in the course of the year.
In order to entice nature to produce
K 3


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 135
have an extensive wide chest, straight and
broad back, till within a few inches of the
verge of the shoulder, then the back should
rise gradually, with great strength of mus-
cular flesh to the contact of the shoulder
and neck, exhibiting power in those parts.
The neck should be of a middling length,
very thick, sinewy, a little bowed, and con-
joined to the back, shoulders, and head
with freedom. The head not heavy, clear
and sprightly eyes, but not wally; the
horns springing in a gradual curve from
the head, short, light, and spiral; small
acute ears, the hind quarters plump and
sturdy, with close, full loins, and the hoofs
middle sized, close and hard. He should
be amorous and fecund, but not ferocious.
The heifer for breeding, should be tall,
but not long-legged; her height should be
included in her depth of shoulder, girth of
rib and barrel, and large buttock. She
should have neat active legs, chest large
and full, straight back, small head, and
moderate well-shaped horns, small acute
K 4


136
CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
ears, full, sprightly, clear eyes, but not
wally, thick pliable muscular neck, broad
full rump, and hind quarters; she should
be wide behind, her paps or spins, at a good
distance from each other, her udder plump,
not skinny or stiff, and capable of con-
siderable distension. Both bull and heifer
should be free from the evil excrescences
called warts, because if once their blood is
infected with this disease, they are not fit
to breed from, the cow seldom rearing a
strong, healthy calf, and the disorder be-
comes hereditary.
Respecting mules best calculated for
work, whether Spanish or Creole, their
color is not much attended to. Indeed
little variation occurs in that particular in
this animal. It is generally a dark brown,
a dun, or mouse colour, sometimes grey
and black; superstitious connoisseurs do
not dwell much on choice of color here,
though they might with as much reason
form their objections. I would choose
either for draft or back carriage, the young


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 137
truss-made mule, not too tall, with stout,
active, well-appointed limbs, small head,
straight visage, quick, clear, sharp eye
without blemish, light-necked, sinewy, and
a little bowed, large chest, deep strong
shoulder, straight and rather short backed,
close loined, wide behind, not cathammed
or sprawling in their gaits, small, hard, and
black hoofs, light pendant main and tail,
with small sharp ears, no ticks, or swelled
joints, diseased fetlocks, or blemishes.
These are the qualifications, I think, when
combined, that will turn out, and ensure a
good, serviceable, working mule.
· Now for the model of the mares and
jack to produce such from, if nature is
propitious in permitting it. Middle-aged
mares, if healthy and well-made, of a good
breed, &c., will do as well, and if not better
to breed mules from, than young mares.
But I will here premise, that I by no means
approve of breeding animals of this kind
from old, infirm, weakly, disordered, blind
or decrepit mares. This is greatly to be


138 CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
lamented, and is too much practised. For,
sooner or later, the misfortune of buying
stock produced from such beasts, will fall
on the owner or purchaser. Whether
old, weak, or disordered, the evil lies
dormant in the mule for some time, and
unexpectedly will break out. Neither is it
sound policy in the pen-keeper, who is to
get his livelihood by keeping breeding stock
of this sort. For a great number of the
mules dropped from mares of this descrip-
tion, turn out unfortunate, the dams some-
times not being able to rear them, and if
they do, they are a symbol in general of
what they sprung from, being weakly, ill-
shaped, apparently half starved; and after
a great deal of pains taken with them,
scarcely pay the owner for the grass they
consume, and very often are sold for half
price to some stroller, or left on their hands,
to be an ornament to a well stocked pen,
or rather an ugly disparagement of it.
Young mares are too timidly coy, reluctant,
restive, and shy of the jack, which gene-


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 139
m
.
Co
rally terminates by their being cruelly bit,
or the jack severely maimed; else the
groom has uncommon trouble with them.
But it sometimes happens, that people are
0 wise as first to let the young mare to
the jack, to prepare her for the future em-
braces of the horse. This unnatural prac-
tice is attempted to be defended, on the
score of making them more capacious in
their genitals, and enlarging the sphere of
their abdomen. But it must be remem-
bered or understood, that the generative
parts of a prime jackass, are as large as
those of a horse, and when the mule cub
is just dropt by the mare, it is as large as a
foal that is just born.
The mare to breed mules from, should
not be more than fourteen hands high, nor
less than twelve. She should have a small
well-shaped face and head, small upright
sharp ears, fine, clear, and full eyes, well
pupilled, straight, firm, and neat limbs, no
way cathammed; with small, black, hard
hoofs, full, wide, prominent chest; slender,


140 CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
but muscular neck, a little bowed; strong
deep shoulder; rather a short body; straight,
fair back; large barrel; close between the
hip and short ribs; large round buttock,
wide behind, with free, easy, bounding
gait; a temper no way irascible; gentle
and free from tricks, without mange or
spavin. The jack should be as large
an animal of that kind as can be pro-
cured, but proportionate in his limbs. It
is said those of an iron grey colour pro-
duce hardy cubs, but that is doubtful.
Spanish or Maltese jacks, which have been
imported into Jamaica at a great expence,
have turned out well, producing excellent
stock; but they are often very old when
they arrive, bruised, battered, and igno-
rantly taken care of in so long a passage:
emaciated, half-dead creatures, that require
the utmost care to recover them, and bring
them round. Months often elapse with
patient expectation, before any one can
venture to bring them in contact with the
mare, impotently, yet viciously striving to


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 141
generate. A jack should be ten, eleven,
or twelve hands high ; his body of moderate
length; his head and joles in proportion
with his neck; his neck thick, of great
strength, and rather long; his ears not
heavy, yet long, sounding well, and both
they and his mouth flippant; his mouth
small, well furnished with good teeth,
especially the grinders ; straight, smooth,
easy back; neat, active, strong limbs, stand-
ing sturdy, yet nimble ; large chest, close-
loined, round plump buttock. The breed-
ing jack should either be stabled, or put
into a close pasture, with high, firm walls
and gates to it. They, or he, should be
regularly corned once a day at least; should
have pure water to drink, and not suffered
to cover more than one mare daily. The
mares should be put to him in season, and
attended by an experienced groom. A proper
covering pit should be made for the mare to
stand in, with a surmounting stage for the
jack to stand on. They should be daily
taken and led out to exercise, kept well


142 CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
cleaned, and by no means allowed to stay
out in bad weather, but comfortably stabled,
foddered and littered. No other jacks or
stallions should be suffered to come close
to him, to prevent the mischievous effects
of their savage, cruel quarrels. This is
the specimen of a mare and jack, that I
humbly beg leave to propose as the fittest
to breed from, to produce a stock of work-
ing mules.
I come now to lay before my reader, the
best mode I think should be adopted for
the feeding and treatment of working and
breeding stock, belonging to an estate in
Jamaica. Every estate or coffee plantation
should be provided with guinea grass in-
closures, independent of or separated from
the common pastures, cane pieces, coffee
pieces, or provision grounds, to answer both
as nurseries for reduced, lame, or fattening
stock, and to draw provender from, for the
mule stubble, and cattle pens. These pas-
tures or guinea grass pieces, should never
be eaten down so bare, but that they could


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 143
recover, and present another sufficient
growth of grass in six weeks or two months.
It would be better to have a number of
small inclosures of five or six acres each,
than very large ones, so that the cattle
may be changed frequently, the grass not
much trodden upon, the cattle kept well
filled, the flesh they have collected thereby
not let to dwindle or be lost, and the pas-
tures have a sufficiency of water in each, or
somewhere contiguous to them. The over-
seer, the head cattle and mule-man, should
not fail to pay attention to this, and in crop
time, when the head cattle and mule-man
may be working stock, the overseer en-
gaged in a variety of business, and not
able to pay much attention to the grazing
cattle, one of the subordinate young white
men (the bookkeeper) should superintend
this duty. According as any of the cattle
or mules become reduced, thin or lame,
they should be first minutely examined,
cleaned of ticks, their bruises and sores
dressed, and then turned into one of these
men


144
CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
inclosures, and daily dressed, till their
sores are well, and their skin sound. They
should be replaced by such cattle and mules
of the working class, as may be then, or
from time to time, found sufficiently reco-
vered to be sent to work, as were grazing
there, for the benefit of their health. Breed-
ing cows and young unbroke cattle, as
they undergo no work, and are intended to
supply a succession of hardy stock, and
have all day to feed and range over the
pastures, should be penned at night, on
one of the worn-out cane pieces, separate
from the working stock, which pen should
be well secured, littered, and provendered
with plenty of guinea grass or long cane
tops. If the weather is very rainy, they
should be turned into a close pasture by
themselves. A great advantage arises to
an estate, by penning the breeding stock
on poor worn-out cane pieces. They make
abundance of fine manure on the spot,
and save the trouble, delay, and expence
of carrying it there. The urine sinks deep
21


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 145
into the ground, restores in a great mea-
sure the expiring stamina of the earth; and
the breeding cows with their calves, and
young stock, by being thus used to pen-
ning, forget the wildness of their nature in
that country, are kind, docile, and easily
catched to dress or milk. The young stock,
as they come of an age fit to work, are with
little trouble broke or trained to it. I
would not pen or stable the breeding mares,
and young unbroke mules, except in very
bad weather, and then in a covered place;
because, when stabled in that country, they
are very near each other, huddled together,
become restive, vicious, liable to kick
and bite, greedy to eat what may be in
the rack and manger, thereby excluding
many from any benefit of it, producing
often abortions, which reduces the mare for .
months; or perhaps a mule is turned out.
in the morning with a broken leg or thigh.
In bad weather, to prevent cramps, colds,
starvation by cold, staggers, &c. (which
cattle are so liable to,) penning or stab-


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 147
they should be consigned over to the guinea-
grass pasture till well, strong, and in full
flesh.
It is a received opinion in Jamaica (which
is invariably followed), that the calf should
be allowed to suck and follow the cow till
it is nearly twelve months old, or as it is
commonly called in England and Ireland,
reared at the cow's foot. I have known
them to be permitted this indulgence, even
to within two or three months of the cow
calving again; which they do on the prin-
ciple of making the calf strong, and not
stinting its growth, forgetting that most of
the calves reared in England and Ireland
are uniformly taken from the cow shortly
after they are dropt, penned up, and stall-
fed with new milk, till they can graze, and...
the cow be regularly twice a-day milked.
Yet these cows and calves, thus treated,
exhibit a more healthy, vigorous, plump
appearance in general, than what are reared
in Jamaica. The calf, when grown up, is
... L2


148 CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
bulky and athletic, and the cow much more
docile than those of that island; gives a
greater quantity of milk; seldom falls off
much, (except by excessive milking or
starvation,) and breeds the faster. To this
may be added, that fewer misfortunes hap-
pen to the calf by accident or bad weather
in pen-feeding. He is alert, strong, healthy,
fat, and tame when turned out in a grass-
piece. Other circumstances may be started
by the breeder of cattle in Jamaica, that
they would find it difficult to inure the
slaves to such a method, and their prone-
ness to stealing the milk would be a pre-
vention." But the fact is, they have never
taken the trouble, or tried the utility of
such a plan, save now and then in case of
the dam dying, or being loșt, they would
attempt to raise the calf by this experiment.
But much oftener the hapless orphan is
consigned to the knife, to give a luxurious
repast. The disorder in this respect, I
believe, arising from the prevalence of
custom, is so rooted that scarcely any argu-


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 149
ment would be effectual to wean them
from it.
Another misfortune very often happens
in Jamaica to young calves, which is, when
the cow happens to calve some days before
she is discovered, or brings (as they say in
that country) her calf out, the horrid putrid
maggot fly, so pestiferous there, attacks its
tender raw navel, bores into it, and
deposits a multitude of embryo maggots,
which soon attain life, and eat, penetrate,
and corrupt the abdomen with shocking
and amazing quickness, so that when the
poor staggering innocent is found, it is
often so mortified that all the pungent
stimulants that can be applied will fail in
either killing or extracting the vermin;
and the creature dies, a shocking victim of
agony, in a short time. It is, therefore,
incumbent on those who have the manage-
ment of them, to have a breeding-book
kept, in which should be entered the time
the cow goes to the bull, and the time she is
expected to calve; and be watchful of that
L3


150 CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
WS
re
time, not to let her remain out any long
space, to catch or imbibe vermin herself or
the calf. They should be particularly care-
ful every day to have them dressed with
chopped green tobacco, mixed with a little
spirit of turpentine and fine white lime, to
destroy the vermin, and have the parts
washed from any impurities of congealed,
corrupt blood, with warm water, instead of
lime-juice, and then anointed with a little
train oil. I should prefer housing the cows
every night, for some time before they are
expected to calve.
The working steers and spayed heifers
should be classed according to the kind of
work they have to do, whether mill or
wainage; the light, smart, active young
steer and spayed heifer, to be appointed
for mill-work, and light cartage about the
works or cane-pieces; the strong, large,
middle-aged, steady drawing steer, for wag-
gonage to the barquadier ; but the mill
cattle out of crop, when in good order,
and when a large shipment is to be made


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 151
with despatch, should be mixed with the
road cattle for assistance, taking care to
place them as middle cattle in the draft,
but neither as tongue or leading cattle. I
would never put the road cattle, intended
for carrying the crop to the wharf, to any
other kind of work, so much depending
upon their veteran, steady efforts, when in
need of them; for when they are imposed
upon, disappointment succeeds, the over-
seer is vexatiously embarrassed, the head
cattleman incurs blame, (though perhaps
faultless,) the mill cattle brought in, per-
haps improvidently, to assist, and all are
reduced in point of strength and condition.
Some work or other is put to a stand, and
a length of time elapses before the cattle
are effectually recovered. I think an at-
tempt should be made in Jamaica to change
the old established custom of binding the
working cattle together with heavy, mon-
strous, wooden yokes and bows while at
work, and that well-stuffed collars, covered
with sound durable leather, would be found
L 4


152 CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
preferable. The collars should have strong
draft rings fixed to them, with all necessary
chains and cross-bars appended; the wain
or waggon should be fitted with strong
shafts, instead of a tongue, that should ply
up and down upon strong iron draft-
hooks, and be fixed to the body of the
waggon, or a draft-bolt. The ease of the
beast in the draft is as much to be attended
to as any other point, to prevent him getting
cross or restive, acquiring a painful, stiff,
swelled neck, or galled shoulder, which
very frequently happens when he is en-
cumbered with those heavy yokes and bows.
He would be more at liberty in the collar
to use his strength, without bounding aside,
to the injury of his driver or fellow-steer,
the side and centre chains preventing him.
Moreover, they would draw more even,
and with greater ease, the heavy carriage,
with its ponderous load, with the aid of
good strong swinging shafts, well fixed with
draft-irons, than by the neutral tongue,
which often shakes the tongue-steers nearly


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 153
breathless. - A sufficient number of draft
cattle should always be kept on every estate
to allow of regular spells both for road, cane-
piece, and mill-service. It is a gross error
not to do so, as the loss in the long run,
by a niggard strength of cattle, is severely
felt by the proprietor. The road-cattle
should never be worked more than every
other day, whatever less they may be; and
they should be well fed, and dressed of their
bruises. Nor should the mill or cane-piece
cattle either, but with this difference, - in
the mill and cane-piece cattle, the former
should be spelled and well fed every three
hours, and the cane-piece cattle every six
hours, paying attention to their bruises.
Any description of working cattle should
never be strained, or forced against their
known strength, which often happens,
through the merciless ardour of the cattle-
boys, and the poor beast is paralysed and
bereft, by such treatment, of all power of
its hind quarters, seldom recovering its
strength, and generally becoming a dead


154
CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
weight on the property for its support;
or after two years of precarious life in the
best of pasture, is sold half fat to some
neighbouring butcher, for a small com-
pensation. The same caution I will beg
leave to give, respecting the overloading of
mules. But here the loss is a total one, even
sometimes tempting the owner to shoot
the creature, to put so wretched an object
out of his sight. So parsimonious are some
employers, especially resident agents, their
memories so defective, or so tedious in
granting what is absolutely necessary, that
they will both see, and let the working
cattle, and mules, on a property, dwindle
away more than one half of their usual
complement by overwork, old age, casual-
ties, or the like, before they will comply
with the repeated requests, and admoni-
tions of the overseer, for a fresh supply;
and with a surly rebuke in the end,
blaming him for the mortality, perhaps dis-
charging him for it, when their own supine-
ness, craft, or stinginess was the occasion


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 155
of it. They will give a small spell, perhaps,
to sustain nearly the entire of the future
work, they drooping likewise by being
imposed upon. But where breeding cattle
and mares are kept on an estate, this
seldom happens : several facts of this kind
I have known in Jamaica. One that hap-
pened about eleven years ago on an estate,
which had a great part of its best plant
canes to cut, with some excellent ratoons,
to make the crop up. So reserved was the
resident agent, so skilful in keeping his
mind to himself, so pompous in doing
mischief, vainly thinking he was doing
good, that the overseer, after months of
reiterated application to him, to have a
spell or two of young fresh mules brought
to help to take off the canes, and save
the old mules from premature death,
never even once obtained a reply to his
entreaties, or a beast to assist him. A
great part of the canes were left uncut, a
prey to rats, rottenness, topheavy from
suckers, and stagnated, and dried up of


156
CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
their juices. He discharged the over-
seer, without assigning any reason for so
doing, sent a novice in his place to manage
the estate, discharged him in a few weeks,
and succeeded him by a prodigal overseer;
and at last, by a variety of management, in
the course of a year abolished, by his mere
sign manual, the studied concerted plan
of the former overseer, (who had establish-
ed a fine field of canes for a present and a
succeeding crop,) and threw the estate back
in its accustomed, expected crops for years.
One piece containing ten acres of fine plant
canes, the former overseer had partly cut
down, promising three hogsheads of sugar
per acre, not far from the works.' This
piece of plant canes, presented to the
astonished eye of the well bred planter the
disfigured appearance of six or seven
growths of canes upon it, besides part of
the high canes upon that cane-piece not
cut down, after a space of four months,
from the commencement of its cutting.
What regard could such an agent have for


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 157
the interest of his constituent ? This
estate lies in the centre of a well watered
vale, in the parish of St. Mary, and is dis-
tinguished for its hospitality to strangers,
who pass from the south of the island to
Rio Nuova Bay, or Salt Gut.
In dry warm months, in Jamaica, the in-
sect called the tick is very abundant, stick-
ing to the cattle, and breeding on them in
clumps, burying their heads underneath
the skin, drawing and obtaining nourish-
ment, by sucking the blood of the beast,
and thus pestering, infecting, and dis-
tressing it. They adhere principally to the
inside of the ears, and over the body; in
horses and mules to the inside of the ears
and fundament. When the beast is ob-
served to have them, they can be easily
banished, before they get too large, by
rubbing the part they cling to with a little
train oil, and the next day washing the
part with salt-beef pickle, salt and water,
or if near the sea, by swimming the cattle
in it once a day for some time. The dunder


158 CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
or lees of the liquor still may destroy them.
Cattle never look plump or sleeky when pos-
sessed by these vermin, therefore they
should never be suffered to grow to any size
on them, for sometimes they make them
look all raw and scabby, from their voracity
to feast on the best qualities of their blood.
The dysentery, and purging called the
scour, often attacks cattle in that island,
either from grazing on young unripe grass,
or some morbid matter in their intestines.
They should in that case be housed for
two or three days, have a strong dose or
two of glauber salts, mixed with some
sweet oil, and the fat of herring pickle.
They should have, twice a day, some
parched corn given them in a little
water, plenty of sound ripe grass to eat,
and be comfortably littered at night. The
litter, with what grass may be left, should
be taken cleanly and carefully away the
next day, and put out of the reach of other
stock; for this disorder is infectious.
The proper method of working and
.


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 159
feeding mules, and tackling and relieving
them when sick and sore, should always
engage the attention of the overseer, or
those under whose care they may be.
Breaking them to back carriage is easily
performed, or to that of draft; yet caution
must be used, to have good strong tackling
for so doing, and other mules in company.
The load should be very moderate for
some time, and they should be put to work
in the centre of a triple, or three mules,
the leading mule inducing them to follow,
and the rear one keeping them steady, and
free from tricks. In a day or two they
will be tolerably gentle and manageable.
A principal thing to be attended to is
always to have a sufficiency of good, well
made straddles, crooks, pads, ropes, and
fine trash ready; the straddles to fit the
back well over the pads, of good length,
and lined with seasoned, tough, light
boards to the end, to which should be
strongly attached, seasoned, wide, guavee
crooks, properly bored, with strong cross


160 CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
sticks wedged thereto. Some hackled
plantain trash (but tow would be better)
should be strewed thickly over the spine of
the mule's back, before the pads are put on,
to prevent rubbing and galling. No less
than three well-made platted pads should
be put on each mule, that has back carriage
to undergo. As soon as an under pad be-
gins to fall to pieces, or gets wet, it should
be replaced by the next pad to it, and a
new one got as an overhale. This should
never be neglected, else a stubborn sore
back will ensue. The pads should be large
enough to extend from the hip to the neck,
the breadth to the extremity of the ribs.
There should never be less than two girths
for each mule. They should be platted at
least two inches broad, where they are to
bind on the belly, be strong and pliant,
especially on that part. There should be a
strong wanty, of goodlength, likewise platted
as the girths, to each mule; and a well-made
halter for each mule, with platted noseband,
headstall, and chokestay. Those ropes can


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 161
be made by a handy negro watchman or
invalid, of seasoned bark, found in the
woods of Jamaica in great plenty, and a
regular sufficient supply kept up at little
expence. Mules thus equipped for back
carriage, will carry a considerable load, of
one hundred and fifty weight of canes,
with ease and safety, except the mule-boy,
through neglect or villainy, causes some
misfortune, for which he should be pun-
ished. When the mules are spelled at din-
ner, or any other time, they should be
well rubbed down, their backs examined,
and if found swelled, bruised, or galled,
immediate application should be had to the
requisite dressings for relief. Strong sing-
lings, or low wine to wash them with where
swelled, or bruised, should be used, and a
little spirits of turpentine, oil-nut leaf, and
fine white lime, mashed and mixed toge-
ther as a plaister, to dress scratches, cuts,
or galls with, and the part so affected be
touched with train-oil to keep the flies off.
If they have bad sores or swellings, they
•
M


162 CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
should not be worked till they are well. I
would recommend boiled beef pickle, now
and then to rub their backs with, as it ren-
ders callous and tough, those parts most
liable to be affected by friction or weight.
Care should be taken, on no account to
allow the mule-boys or their drivers to ride
them up hill; for such a burthen comes on
the foremost mule, added to the struggle,
of dragging the followers in his triple,
along with him, ás tires, or soon breaks his
wind. Exertion should be made in the
day-time, to have a sufficiency of canes
brought to the mill to last all night; and
the mules must not be worked late at night
if possible ; for it is mostly at those unsea-
sonable hours they get bad sores and colds,
and may be, as is often the case, stripped of
their tackling by the mule-boys, without
being rubbed down, or their wounds at-
tended to. The mules which come in from
work, either at night or in the day, should
always be put into a division of the stable
by themselves, where the rack and manger


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 163
should be well filled with fresh grass and
cane tops, else the poor hungry animals,
by being huddled together with the rest,
come to short commons, or often nothing
to satisfy their appetite with, every eatable
being devoured by those who were penned
up hours before them. There should be
always four divisions, with full room for
the stock, in a mule stable, and dry grass
or litter of some description, to strew the
bottom of the stable with in the evening;
but this is very seldom done. It will pay
very well for any trouble and expence, by
the manure it produces, which should be
taken clean out every day, and heaped up
in a convenient manure pit. Mules carry.
ing canes to the mill, copper-wood, or
country staves, should always be spelled
every six hours, and abundance of proven-
der kept in the rack and manger for them.
Those which are spelled in the day-time,
after being rubbed down, cooled, and
dressed, should be turned out to graze;
for it gives them great refreshment to have
M 2


164 CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
liberty to tumble and rub themselves, be-
sides that picking fresh herbage is grateful
to them.
. On no account should the mule-stable be
suffered to accumulate a heap of dung; it
should be daily cleaned out. The pens
being covered in, the heat of the climate,
with the warm fume issuing from a number
of beasts, is sufficiently to be dreaded, in
causing and spreading distempers among
them; but that of the accumulated heat,
and putrid vapour of a dung heap, in a
close mule stable, is pregnant with the most
pernicious, sometimes fatal consequences.
Their hoofs are kept soft by it, and their
blood in a ferment from its noxious sweat-
ing qualities. Some of the beasts are more
liable to disease than others. Some are not
free from it, though apparently looking well.
Others have lurking disorders, which are
partly discharged by their excrements;
making a compound of vile materials to
cause pestilence, which when once epide-
mic, carries off great numbers. I would


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 165
therefore recommend the utmost cleanli-
ness in a close mule pen, or even in an
open one. As I said before, both in and
out of crop, the mule stable should be well
supplied with wholesome fresh provender ;
but in crop time, when heavy laborious
work requires stronger nourishment for the
beast, plenty of fresh cane tops should be
chopped small, so as to fill the manger.
These should be strewed over with a small
proportion of salt, a good deal of fresh
mucous cane skimming thrown in, and if
plenty of Indian corn on the estate, a pail
or two, of it ground, and mixed with the
cane tops and skimming. This will keep
up the strength of the mules. But care
should be taken, that the manger be
cleared every day of any remnants of this,
for fear of its becoming sour, and causing
thereby bellyaches to the beasts. The rack
should always be filled with fresh ripe grass,
and care should be taken, that the mule
tackling be put up every night in a covered
place to hang on, and not carried to the
M 3


166
CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
negro houses. The disorders of mules are
various, but the cure of them is little un-
derstood, or only partially known. A book
of well approved farriery should be kept
on every estate, and the instruments requi-
site for that profession, such as phleams,
syringes, &c. Bellyaches are very frequent
with working mules, especially in crop time,
which is principally brought on by their
either eating or drinking sour cane tops
or cane skimmings, or from the crudeness
of their provender in general, their natural
liking to bite at any thing that has the
appearance of an eatable agreeable to them.
This protracted spasmodic affection is often
so terribly violent, as to cause the death
of the beast in a few minutes. They swell
to an enormous degree, rolling and groan-
ing in agonising convulsions, till they nearly
burst. They shew symptoms of this dis-
order very soon after being attacked by it.
They paw and scrape the ground with one
of their fore hoofs; droop their head nearly
to the ground, incline their head often to


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 167
one side and the other, with seemingly
painful solicitude; heave their loins and
belly quick, and have a constant inclination
to lie down and roll about. When any of
these signs are discovered, they should be
immediately stripped of their tackling and
led out, run smartly about for a few mi-
nutes, then copiously bled, and their head
tied up high to a strong rail or beam, and
drenched with either six or eight ounces of
glauber salts, dissolved in a pint of warm
water, or six ounces of castor oil, mixed
with one hundred and twenty drops of
laudanum, half a pint of warm water, with
two ounces of common soap dissolved in it,
and half a pint of rum. Care should be
taken not to let the animal lie down, till
the symptoms subside. It would be best
to keep it walking about till the drench
operates, or the beast is apparently reco-
vered. It should not be put to work for a
day or two, but be kept in the stable, to
recover from the exhaustion and weakness
brought on by the disorder, and have no-
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168 CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
thing but fresh ripe. grass to eat, some
ground corn with a little salt in it, but not
much water. Another disorder they are
subject to, is the mumps, which swells
their head and joles frightfully. This like-
wise may be of serious consequence, if not
taken in time, to prevent the glands of the
throat and lungs being infected. The beast
should be bled, his head wrapped up in a
warm cover, as far as the contact of the
throat ; his joles to the ears rubbed or
washed twice a day with warm fomenta-
tions; melted hogs-lard, bees-wax, and spirits
of turpentine mixed together, and made
warm, till either the swelling goes away, or
suppuration comes on, forming asoft tumour,
which, when ripe, should be lanced to let
out the humour, and kept open by a tent,
in order to discharge the virulent matter
which flows to that part, giving natural
relief to the animal. When the cure is ef-
fected by its drying up, and the swelling
disappearing, then the orifice may be closed
and healed up; the animal should be phy-


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 169
sicked, have warm corn-mashes, be kept in
a stable apart from other beasts, led out
twice a day to exercise, if the weather will
permit, and be supplied with soft, fine ripe
grass to eat.
The farcy often attacks mules in Jamaica,
and is generally brought on by over-heat-
ing, the blood becoming surfeited, bad and
grumous. It may be occasioned by bad
unwholesome diet. It is easily cured if
early attention is paid to it, otherwise it
will run through the whole system. The
button-farcy first appears, by the veins of
the legs, thighs, and breast, exhibiting a num-
ber of excrescences and tumorous knobs.
The animal should be bled two or three
times, not profusely, taking frequent notice
of the increase and decrease of the disor-
der. It should be drenched with opening
medicine two or three times, taking sulphur
bolusses, which may both drive out the dis-
order, and sweeten the blood. The tip of
some of the largest pustules should be
taken off with a sharp knife, and a coarse


170 CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK,
grain of corrosive sublimate introduced into
them, and then closed with a little mould
candle-grease. The corrosive sublimate will
penetrate to the adjacent pustules gradually,
and what with small bleedings, sulphur
bolusses, occasional physic to clear the
bowels, and wholesome nourishing food, the
beast will soon declare its recovery to health,
by shewing a clear skin, and the arteries,
veins, &c. being reduced to their proper
state. As this disorder is infectious, it is
best not to allow the diseased beast to keep
company with others till it is cured. The
water-farcy is very obstinate, odious, and
often fatal. The whole mass of blood is
morbid corruption, which issues from the
eyes, ears, nose, and surface of the body.
A horrid scrophula spreads over the whole
body. Nothing but alteratives, frequent
bleedings, and wholesome food, will work
a cure. Time will often gain the ascend-
ancy, with those auxiliaries, and restore the
creature to health ; but I have known some
fine stock to die of this disorder, a shocking
21


172 CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
it is alleged, is this disease in horses, that
the animal must be removed to a consider-
able distance, that the very air may not
waft the disease to others. When a con-
firmed glanders is pronounced to have
seized a beast, the death-warrant of shoot-
ing goes forth against it, and the animal
with the distemper is consigned to the
flames; the neighbours are alarmed, the
public cautioned, the very laws of the
island are brought in force to stop the
contagion, by proscribing every beast found
in the public road possessed of it; giving
liberty to any person to put an end to its
life. I have known on one estate two sets
of mules (composed of fifty each) to be
carried off by it. At last the mule-stable,
with all its apparatus, mule-tackling, &c.
were ordered to be burned to ashes, that
no trace of infection might be found. Like
a plague, the disorder did not stop, for
victims, though not so numerous, fell a
prey to it. The scourge at last ceased,
leaving a melancholy fearful impression on


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 173
the mind of the manager, and those con-
cerned for the property. A considerate,
benevolent gentleman (who is now no more)
was then resident island-agent for the estate,
and with true philanthropy, he minutely
examined into the cause of such a mis-
fortune, and finding the overseer and white
people guiltless of any fault, supported
them under their anxiety with assurances
of his good-will. He found the estate
otherwise thriving under their care, and
after giving a fresh supply of mules, he
continued them on the estate; thereby
evincing to the public and the negroes on
the estate, his impartiality in doing jus-
tice. A common saying with that la-
mented gentleman was, that discharging an
overseer, who knew his business, without
sufficient cause, after he had been twelve
months managing a property, was entailing
confusion, and destroying the crops for
more than two years to come — An expres-
sion emphatically and truly verified, and
would to God, not practised and followed


174
choice AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
up, by his successors, and agents in general.
The remedies for this dreadful disorder of
the glanders, practised in Jamaica, are
bleeding, opening medicines, fumigating
the nostrils with tobacco, sulphur, and
pungent things, to cause a copious dis-
charge and rowelling under the joles.
But I have seldom seen cures effected
there with success. The disease either with
speedy violence kills the beast, or causes
it to linger for a week or two, groaning
with inward pain, till its emaciated frame
sinks lifeless. I presume to think, that
bleeding is the first requisite in promoting
a cure; secondly, the beast should be kept
warm, and have warm mashes frequently of
clean ground corn and young wholesome
grass. The fumigating system I would ex-
plode altogether, as tormenting the animal
without doing any good. It may draw
more running or discharge from the nose,
but will not clean the nostrils or glands
from the corroding, adhesive humour, or
reach the seat of the disease. Moreover,


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 175
it will rather add to the misery of the ani-
mal, whose lungs are affected by the dis-
temper, nearly suffocating and depriving it
of its already-impaired breathing. Instead
of this, I would make use of a good syringe,
with a long pipe to it, and with it inject,
and wash the beast's nostrils three times a
day, with warm water, mixed with a little
vinegar and honey, which should be thrown
up so far, that the liquid may reach, and
drop to the throat, the fountain-head of
the disorder. It would cleanse the nostrils
of the peccant, corrosive humour, perhaps
prevent the humour from turning fetid and
green, (the first fatal symptom that pre-
sents itself,) and not distress the lungs. I
would have a mixture made up of several
ounces of balsam capivi, two or three quarts
of sharp porter sweetened with molasses,
put into a close vessel and shook well, and
give the beast a pint of it three times a day.
The balsam of capivi is very penetrating and
strengthening, the porter antiputrescent,
and the molasses of an opening nature;
W


176 CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
three things which I presume will do some
good and no harm. I would likewise give
the beast, for its drink, a decoction of lig.
numvitæ wood, (which should be made
small with a coarse rasp,) and be taken cool.
This is all I can recommend for the relief
and cure of a disease which has baffled the
skill of the farrier and the experienced
practitioner.
.. Other diseases of a minor nature prevail
among mules, such as the lampas, botts,
&c., the first of which is easily removed,
by cutting away with a sharp penknife the
fungous flesh that grows between the upper
teeth and roof of the mouth, sometimes so
as to overhang the teeth, and prevent the
beast from eating freely. It is easily sepa-
rated by a handy person from the natural
flesh. Some rub salt on the part after the
operation, which I think not requisite, for
a little bleeding from the mouth does the
animal no harm. It will soon resume its
craving for food, and the part heal up.
Botts are sometimes troublesome to a beast:


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 177
they make it poor and spiritless. When
they are observed, the animal should be
kept up in a stable, and have a bolus, made
of forty grains of calomel, nearly half an
ounce of sulphur, mixed with soap, and
fifty drops of laudanum. In two or three
days after, another bolus, made of 140
grains of jalap, and better than an ounce
of soap, in order to clear the bowels. ' It
should have a warm mash or two of ground
corn, with good ripe grass, but no cold
water, till the effects of the medicine have
passed off. The staggers nowand then attack
mules, for which they should immediately
be bled copiously, wrapped in a warm horse-
cloth, and not be exposed to the sun for
two or three days. The limbs, back and
loins, should be rubbed with warm sing-
lings, or low wines, as it is termed in
· Jamaica. The cure is easily attained
by early attention, and the before-men-
tioned remedies. Having nearly finished
my remarks, on the treatment of cattle and
N'


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 179
and causing such intolerable itching to the
poor beast, as to induce him to bite and
rankle the part shockingly, even to the
bone. Yet this disorder is so little studied,
and so ignorantly dealt with, that no other
remedy is scarcely made use of, to suppress
or cure it, but to powder the part that has
burst and is laid open, with strong white
lime; to give the beast no rest by day, or
food at night, it being then tied up to pre-
vent its biting itself; so that the poor
animal sometimes becomes a mere skeleton
in a short time by such treatment. The
white lime adds pungency to the titila-
tion, which is nearly insupportable to it.
Thus it is kept and put to sidework, till
the disorder wearies, and stops itself for
some time. The cure for this disorder is
simple, and easily effected, and is no other
than laying open with a sharp pen-knife
the flesh on each side the tumoured vein,
both below and above the part affected, till
the vein is sufficiently exposed to see the
N 2


180
CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK.
back part of it. Then having some fine
thread, with a good needle prepared, and
passing the thread, by the aid of the needle,
behind the vein, draw it out by the needle,
to the other side of the vein, and tie up
the vein with the thread above the tu-
moured part. The same operation must be
performed below the tumoured part, cut-
ting the thread short, after tying the vein.
The vein being thus closely tied up, pre-
vents the tumour from extending to other
parts. When this is done with no great
trouble, the wounds should be closed up,
and have plaisters of healing ointment ap-
plied to them, and fastened with a bandage,
which will soon heal, making the beast as
sound as ever.. This disorder is brought
on by a strain of either an artery, vein, or
, sinew, and not by any imbibed infection.
The beast must be kept in the stable for
a few days, with its head tied up, so that
it cannot bite the part under cure, and
be well fed with plenty of fresh ripe


CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF STOCK. 181
grass and pure water, and if low in flesh,
it should have a feed of ground corn
daily, and should be exercised during
that time, twice a day, to prevent its joints
swelling,
N
:


182
CHAP. IV.
THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE.
Before I proceed to treat of the noble
science of planting the sugar-cane in Ja-
maica, rearing it to maturity, and manufac-
turing its essential juices, into the staple
commodity of sugar and rum, it will
naturally be expected, that I should make
some observations on the different houses,
utensils, &c., 'used in producing it, avoiding
as much unnecessary expense as possible,
uniting stability with usefulness, without
unmeaning gaudiness, and giving a central
position to the works, where plenty of
water can be had with convenience. Whe-
ther on a level or a hilly estate, the great
utility of a central situation to place the
manufacturing houses upon, must be ap-
parent to every one interested in such an
,undertaking; still that situation would be


THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE. 183
imperfect, if water, that necessary element,
could not be brought in to aid the works
by its active powers. If a stream of water
does not naturally pass by such a spot, a
course should be levelled for one, from a
source to send down a supply. If such
cannot be obtained, a well or pond should
be sunk, either to draw or collect it from.
But this last is a dernier resort, mostly
found deficient, and of bad quality. A
situation, uniting within itself the blessings
of a plenteous supply of wholesome water,
on a piece of ground sufficiently large to
admit building an extensive set of works,
overseer's house, hospital or hot-house, &c.
with a large mill-yard, and being central
among the surrounding cane cultivation, is
a place most desirable. Having happily
found such a place, a well-contrived plan
of the buildings, their relative, convenient,
and appropriate situations, one to the other,
should be digested, and laid out on a piece
of paper, of a size sufficient to have the
whole delineated upon it. Then having
N 4


THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE. 185
sor
of very little use, take up a great deal of
room, are very expensive, and make the
house large, without any real convenience.
A small back piazza, made comfortable
by moving blinds with stops, would be
proper for the servants. · I think every
dwelling-house on a plantation, should have
a small fire-place in it, with a well-raised
chimney, for fire occasionally in damp
weather to be made in. It will be whole-
some and preservative. The fire-place
should be in an extreme angle of the din-
ing piazza, and the overseer's cooking-
room, washing-room, &c., should be apart
from the house, though not far off, con-
veniently fitted up, and of a moderate size.
The little appendages of a hogsty, fowl-
house, &c., to raise small stock in, are
easily built at a small expence.
On purpose not to interrupt the view of
the works from the overseer's house, I
would build the hospital and mule-stable
in the rear of it, opposite and parallel to
each other, on dry ground, yet not too near


186
THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE.
to the overseer's house. The hospital should
be a strong, commodious building, with
wholesome water introduced into it by pipes
with turn cocks, a pipe to the male and
female common hall, and convalescent
room each; a privy likewise should be made
to each hall and convalescent room, having
a stream of water running through it,
which should be conducted by a sewer, to
the mill back water, or descent to carry it
off. A good piazza, with moving blinds
in the front should be made, for the conva-
lescent slaves to walk in. The body of the
building should be comprised of three
rooms, twelve feet square each, with a large
boarded bedstead, clean plantain mats, and
blankets to each slave, one of which rooms
should be appropriated to sick male, and
the other to sick female slaves. The third
room should be for convalescents, and fitted
up in the same manner. The hospital
doctor's room, should be situated at one
end of the piazza. Each room should be
well secured with bolts and locks, and the


THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE. 187
windows iron barred on the outside, and
comfortably closed with shutters inside. A
fire-place should be in each room, and the
house kept clean and often white-washed.
It has been an old custom to confine the
delinquents in stocks, set up in the hospital,
which I think is a bad practice, as too free
an intercourse is given to imbibe disease by
it. It would be much better to have a small,
strong building made in the centre, between
the hospital and mule-stable, of mason work
for such a purpose, about twelve feet by
nine, with durable stocks fitted up in it, and
well secured with strong hinges, iron bars,
staples and locks. This little place being thus
set apart, and separated from other buildings,
will make confinement more irksome and
dreaded, and perhaps cause less delinquency.
The mule stable as I said before, should
be opposite and parallel to the hospital, and
of a size according with the utmost number
of mules the estate is to have on it, allow-
ing near three feet for each mule, or a
mule-stable of one hundred feet long, by


188 THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE.
thirty feet clear inside, for every seventy
mules. This stable must be divided from
one end to the other, fitted up with a strong
round staved double rack, and a deep
strong manger to each side. Each side of
the stable should be divided into two parts,
by a wall of cut large stone, well cemented,
so that as the spell mules come in, either at
night or in the day, plenty of provender
may be found in each division. The mules
of one spell, should not interefere with, or
take from those of the other. The stable
should be well paved, having an inclination
of at least nine inches, to throw the urine
or moisture down a channel, sunk a little at
the wall, in the rear of each manger; four
good strong gates should be made, and
placed at the outside end of each division
of the stable, with good hinges and fasten-
ings. A loft should be made on it, boarded
and divided, one part of which is to hold
corn as a granary, besides new pads, ropes,
baskets, &c., and be well secured with a
door and lock; and the other part to keep


THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE. 189
the spell mules' tackling in, with rails to
hang the pads, ropes, and straddles, on.
A Hight of very strong steps, with hand
rails on each side, should be attached to
the mule-stable, in order to ascend to the
lofts, and the stable should be white-washed
inside and outside four times a year, with
strong fresh lime, made not too thin.
The mill-house, whether worked by water,
wind, cattle, or steam, should be placed as
near the boiling-house as the nature of things
will admit of, (and the liquor gutter to be
as short as possible, with a cover over it, to
turn on hinges,) so that the cane heap will
not obstruct the passage to either boiling
or distilling houses, or sour trash affect the
liquor. The mill-house should be built of
durable mason work, with strong binding
braces in the walls, and sufficiently capa-
cious to admit of the negroes working with
ease, and permit the machinery to be taken
down and put up occasionally. The cock-
pit should always be kept clean, and the
cogs free from impediments of trash and


190
THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE.
dirt. The gudgeons must always be well
greased and cool, and the green trash
carried away as soon as it is turned out of
the rollers. There must be a pipe to con-
vey water to wash the rollers and mill-bed,
with a turn-cock fastened to it, and a
temporary gutter made from it to the mill-
bed. Care should be taken to keep the
rollers plumb, well wedged, braced up, and
not allowed to be choked with trash. The
mill-bed must be furnished with good strong
feeding-boards, made of seasoned stuff, to
slide to the rollers, with bracing keys, and
be well pointed both in front and rear.
The splash from the water-wheel must be
kept off, (by a feather-edged boarded par-
tition,) from the rollers or mill-bed, and
the house always well white-washed.
Two trash-houses should be built at the
works on every estate, in a substantial
manner, from eighty to one hundred feet
long, by forty-five wide each, well roofed,
with a cupola the whole length of the roof,
to allow the exhalations from the green


THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE. 191
trash to pass off freely. There should be
stone pillars erected at ten feet distance,
as high as the wall-plate, to compose the
abutments of the building; and in the
spaces between the pillars, a firm rail-work
should be made, of tough durable wood,
(not of bamboos, as is generally the case,
which soon get dry and rotten in such
places, inducing the negroes to pull them
out for fuel,) to keep in the trash. The
trash-house should not be entered but at
each extreme end, and the trash packed as
high as possible, to within a foot of the
cupola wall-plate. The firmer the trash is
packed, the stronger will be the fuel.
Little trash should be permitted to lie
about the mill-yard, either to waste such
a valuable material, or to make swampy,
spungy foot-passages, impeding the carriers,
and giving them tender and ground-itched
feet. Both about the trash-houses and the
works, and their vicinity, whatever bushes,
underwood, weeds, or long grass, spring
up, should be stocked up by the root, and


192 THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE.
the place kept as clean as a bowling-green.
If possible, the trash-houses should be built
on a level with the rest of the works, over
the farther side of the mill back-water, or
upon a level spot separated from the rest
of the works by a small stream of water
brought there for that purpose, over which
should be made a firm gangway, well railed
in, for the trash-carriers to pass to and fro,
with a globe lamp on it, to be lighted in a
dark night. In case the trash-houses catch
fire, being detached from the works by this
stream of water, there is little danger to be
apprehended, and water is convenient for
extinguishing the flames. The slaves, or
any other persons, should never be allowed
to smoke pipes in the trash-houses, or about
the works or cane-pieces. Many dreadful
accidents have happened by such wanton
licence; the cooper's and carpenter's shop
should likewise be placed and constructed
in such a manner that the spreading of this
destructive element may be prevented; yet
not so distant but that the overseer can


THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE. 198.
well perceive from his house how they are
going on there. Every building about the
works of a sugar estate should be shingled
instead of being thatched, and kept free
from the hungry, destructive ant, who by
his mighty, though diminutive efforts, will
level a substantial building to the ground
in a short time. Poisoning by arsenic is
the most expedient mode of getting rid of
them, as the living will feed on the dead,
so that the whole nest, (by devouring one
another,) are thus killed. An overseer
should be as careful of saving and preserv-
ing trash as due economy will admit of.
The making of good sugar with despatch is
much to be attributed to its quality and
quantity, for being good and dry, it boils
the liquor quick, throws up its dirty mucous
particles, which is taken off by the skimmer;
and having a quantity of it, prevents the
necessity of detaching the negroes and stock
from other work to procure a requisite sup-
ply of fuel.
The boiling curing houses should


194
THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE.
always be proportionate to the number of
hogsheads of sugar the estate is capable
of making. Those buildings should be
composed of the most substantial materials,
durable, hard, well seasoned timbers, well
put together, and supported by the best
mason work. The roof of the boiling.
house should be cupolaed from one end to
the other; the shingles of the cupola to
overhang its wall-plate considerably. The
end of the boiling-house that is appointed
for the coolers, should have moving blinds,
with stops, to admit air and light; and the
other end, where the receivers and syphons
are placed, should have an open arch, with
a shed on the outside. At this end the
chimney is erected, which should rise con-
siderably above the roof, be built of the
best fire-bricks, and have an uninterrupted
good draft. The receivers, syphons, and
lower coppers, should uniformly extend
from the abutment of the chimney,
gradually lessening in size to the tache.
One receiver containing 270 gallons, will


THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE. 195
be sufficient. Two syphons holding the
same quantity each. The grand copper
must be equal to the syphon, that is, to
contain 270 gallons. The second copper
should contain 190 gallons. The third
copper 110 gallons, and the tache 65 or 70
gallons. I will here venture to assert, that
it would be always better to have a second
tache, to be hung to a separate fire, and to
be boiled and worked occasionally by coal,
in case a want of strong fuel might arise,
on purpose to spare the necessity and ex-
pedient of bringing home field trash or
brush, than which nothing wastes labour
more, or is more injurious to the cane field,
at the same time making indifferent sugar,
with tedious unsatisfactory labour. I should
prefer shell coppers for manufacturing -
sugar, to those whose bottoms are rivetted
to their tops, because they are with more
ease kept clean, and safely scoured, than
those coppers which are rivetted together;
the heads of which rivets, are frequently
burned off by the action of the fire in the
02


196
THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE.
furnace, and then the seams open, begin to
leak, waste the liquor, endanger the boiling-
house by fire, and the coppersmiths and
masons must be called in to put them in
order; all' which causes vexatious delays,
and perhaps loss of materials. A strong
high railway should be made, to reach
across, between the grand copper and sy-
phons, so that the negroes can pass, to
draw the liquor from the syphon cocks with
safety. Many horrid accidents befal them,
by falling into the grand boiling copper.
The parapet wall of the lower coppers
should be so high, that the people in lean-
ing to skim the vessels, may not be thrown
off their balance, and their hands and arms
get dipped in the boiling liquor. Every
copper should be provided with a well-
cleaned ladle and skimmer, so that no delay
may arise in borrowing a skimmer or ladle,
to clear the liquor, or throw it from copper
to copper, to replenish them, and prevent
their burning. The leads of the coppers
should always be kept clean, and there


THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE. 197
should be a couple of well-washed mops
in the boiling-house, for that purpose.
There should be in every boiling-house
four strainers cleanly washed by water. I
should prefer square ones, as they are
more easily managed and fitted to a frame;
one of which, of rather coarse texture,
should be placed and made use of in the
syphons, in drawing the liquor from the re-
ceiver. Another should be placed between
the grand and second copper, of rather
finer quality. A third between the second
and third copper; and the fourth between
the tache and the coolers, of a still finer
texture, which should be fitted to the bowl
of the skipping gutter. Every estate capa-
ble of making 200 hogsheads of sugar
annually, or from 15 to 18 hogsheads per
week, should have three sugar-coolers,
fitted up in the boiling-house. They must
be made of the best seasoned hard wood
plank, closely joined together, and upon
- substantial sills, engrafted in well-cemented
mason work. A receiver or vessel should
0 3


198
THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE.
be sunk underneath them, to contain any
ousings of molasses, &c., that may come
from them, and branching gutterings from
the lower part, where the sills are placed,
should lead those drainings to the receiver.
A footway three feet broad, and raised
four or five inches above the level of the
boiling-house floor, should be made and
terraced, for the people who work in the
boiling-house to stand upon, close to the pa-
rapet of the coppers, to prevent their feet
from being tormented by the heat of the
floor contiguous to the furnace. The stoke-
hole, or place appointed for the negroes to
make fire under the coppers, should be
spacious; capable of holding as much trash
or fuel, as will boil two skips of sugar,
and it should be covered in by a high brick
archway, open in front, and joined to the
boiling-house wall, to prevent accidents by
fire. This archway should be supported by
mason work pillars, and continued as far,
as the length or range of the furnace, and
terminating at the cooling gate. No rub-


THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE. 199
bish should be kept in it, or any quantity
of ashes allowed to accumulate, either
under the coppers, or ash-pit. The former
should be kept particularly clean, that
there may be no impediment to the draft,
from the flues, to the syphons and chimney.
Neither should any water or liquid be per.
mitted to be thrown under the coppers, to
damp the fire, (the cooling gate at the ex.
tremity of the furnace being adequate to
effect it,) as the explosion arising, from the
two opposite elements of fire and water,
causes such a concussion, as to endanger
the coppers in their places, and shake the
perhaps too crazy mason work about them.
Instead of two hanging copper lamps,
which are made use of in the boiling-house
at night, close to the lower coppers, and
the heads of the people there, to furnish
them with light, I prefer a globe lamp,
with three good burners in it, well supplied
with oil. It should be hung in the centre
of the boiling-house, at a height to prevent
its being broken, and sufficiently low to
04


200
THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE.
diffuse general good light. This will serve
the purpose of giving light to the man on
the syphons, as well as to those at the lower
.coppers. " It will likewise cause a saving
of oil and wick, the consumption of which
will be one-third less, the light better and
more lasting, and prevent the thieving of
the negroes, who watch every opportunity,
not only to steal the oil, but the wick
soaked in it. One pint of oil will be
enough for the globe burners every night,
whereas it takes near a quart every night,
when the boiling-house is at work, to sup-
ply the lamps for the low coppers and
syphons. I would recommend exemplary
cleanliness in the boiling-house, and that
the walls be kept well white-washed.
: The curing-house, a building which
should ever be attached to the boiling-
house, as its receiver-general, comes next
to be taken into consideration, as to its
consequence and utility. This structure
should be strong, durable, and built of
the best mason-work, timbers, plank, &c.


202 THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE.
'
a common centre, and perpendicularly un-
derneath such centre. The molasses cis-
tern or receiver should be placed, of suf.
ficient magnitude to contain some hundred
gallons of liquid. I prefer a long wide
cistern, well put together, with bracing
bars and keys, so that the molasses can
with little difficulty be drawn, or carried to
the distilling-house. A curing-house should
have several glazed windows on each side,
to rise and fall occasionally, to admit air in
dry weather, and to exclude it in rainy or
damp weather. The windows should be
secured with good stops inside, and a
strong wire lattice to cover them on the
outside. Care should be taken, neither to
have these windows open in damp weather,
or at night, for nothing destroys the spark-
ling grain of sugar more, than dampness.
It even changes its colour from a bright
straw, to a dingy, sandy hue, and makes
the sugar sink unnaturally in the hogshead,
which must necessarily be filled up before
sent to the wharf. This is a vexatious oc-


THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE. 203
currence to an overseer or proprietor, who
calculated upon a certain number of per-
manent casks, or hogsheads of sugar. Good
light sail-cloth coverings, painted on the
outside, should be in every curing-house,
to draw over the cured sugar. If accidents
from fire were not so much to be dreaded,
and guarded against, on every sugar estate
the acquisition of a fire-place, situated cen-
trally in a curing-house, for a fire to be
made in occasionally in damp weather,
might greatly contribute to preserve the
grain, quality, and quantity of the sugar,
that, at times, unavoidably must remain for
months in the curing house of an estate,
before it is in order to be sent to the wharf
or shipped. Every curing house should be
kept perfectly clean, and often white-washed
inside with strong lime, to prevent the in-
road and propagating of cock-roaches (a
creature of the beedle tribe) who eat and
mar the sugar.
The distilling-house on a sugar estate,
should be situated at the extremity of the


204 THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE.
curing-house, or in a mean distance be-
tween it and the boiling-house, and lying
a little way from that end of the boiling-
house, where the sugar-coolers are placed.
All three houses may be joined together,
embodied in a building, if the havoc oc-
casioned by fire was not to be contempla-
ted, and the dreaded evil to be guarded
against. This building should be extensive,
and well made of the best timbers and
mason work, with a tank inside the build-
ing, capable of containing from five to ten
thousand gallons of water, for the still
worms to be immersed in. This tank should
have a constant influx of cold water, and
an outlet to carry off the same quantity ;
a pipe should be introduced into the distil-
ling-house, not only to supply this tank
with water, but to wash the vessels and
mix the liquor with, when wanted. This
pipe should not run all round the walls, as
in some distilling-houses is the case, as
thereby, (having cracks or holes in it) to rot
and moulder the walls, &c. but be intro-


THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE. 20
duced through the wall plate, and run pa-
rallel with the centre of the tank, in a
horizontal direction; the pipe should per-
pendicularly dip into the tank to the
bottom of it. A branch pipe should ex-.
tend from that to the mixing cistern, and
another to the main guttering that sup-
plies the liquor still, both with stop-cocks
attached to them. I have ever found that
cisterns sunk in stiff mason work, and
rammed all round with good clay, free from
stones, to within two or three inches of
their top, gave not only the greatest re-
turns of rum, but fermented best, and that
there was little loss sustained by leakage.
Vats .or keyed cisterns fixed on sills, are
more liable to leak in the dry months, do
not retain fermenting heat as well as the
sunk cistern, want constant repairs, and are
not so useful to the workmen. The inside
of a distilling-house, in my opinion, should
be in three compartments ; one for the fer-
menting cisterns, one for the tank, (and
where the worm-cocks. give vent to the low


206 THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE.
wines, and rum from the stills, likewise
where the molasses and mixing cisterns
should be placed,) and one for a small rum
store, to hold three butts, that would con-
tain from twenty to thirty puncheons of
rum. The mason work for the fermenting
cisterns, being raised from about the centre
of the house, carried its entire length, and
the cisterns being ready to be put down,
each of which should contain the same
quantity of liquor as the low wine still, they
should be separated about fourteen inches
asunder, and nicely levelled; so that their
frames, when the work is finished, will ap-
pear on an even surface with the top of the
mason work. The intervals between each
should be neatly terraced to their surface,
and the whole made to appear a neat, com-
pact, firm work. The distilling-house being
in a manner cut in two, by this mason wall
inclosing the fermenting cisterns, the other
half of the house comes next to be dis-
posed of and laid out. The tank neces-
sarily takes up a great part of it. There


THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE. 207
should be a space of three feet left between
it, and the wall inclosing the fermenting
cisterns, for the low wine and rum cans to
be placed under the worm-cocks, and give
ample room for a man to pass and repass,
to carry them to and fro. At one extreme
end of the tank, that next to the boiling-
house, there should be a cistern to hold
redundant molasses, that the molasses may
be drawn from the curing-house, by a gut-
ter or pipe, to be convenient for mixing
liquor; and likewise, a mixing cistern
should be placed there, the molasses cistern
below, and the mixing cistern above it. At
the other extreme end of the tank, the low
wine butt should be placed, close in with
the wall that separates the rum still from
the inside of the distilling-house, and pa-
rallel with that still. It should be fixed on
a firm still, elevated enough, to give a fall
for the liquor to the still, and to preserve
its bottom from any foulness that may rot it.
The remaining part of this end, or division
of the house, between the low wine butt


208 THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE.
and end wall, should be taken up with a
small rum store, separated by a partition,
with a door and lock, from the low wine
butt and other parts of the house. As theft
is often practised by the negroes, on this
tempting liquid, they should be prevented
from so doing by all possible care. This
rum store should have two or three good
sized butts in it, to contain at least twenty
puncheons of rum, and a strong door,
opening to the yard, from which the wag-
gons are loaded, when rum is ordered to be
sent to the wharf. This door should have
a good lock and bolts, and in the centre of
the door a small imbedded frame, with a
pane of glass to admit light, and the inside
secured by two or three cross bars of iron.
All the butts should have a coat of thick
paint once a year, to prevent worms from
eating through them. Strong white-wash
will answer. Two cisterns to hold skim-
mings should be made, (one larger than the
other,) outside the distilling-house, opposite
the boiling-house, which may be covered


THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE. 209
over with a good shed, and boarded in,
with a door and lock, to prevent theft by
the negroes or hogs; the skimmings may
be drawn by a pump, from the lower to the
top cistern, and then left to subside for some
hours to clarify itself, before it is drawn off
to the mixing cistern. The skimmings may
be drawn by a pipe with a stop-cock to
the mixing cistern, and a branch-pipe from
the skimming pump, be introduced through
the wall, into the molasses cistern, within
the distilling-house, reaching to the mixing
cistern, with a cock to stop the working
of the sucker upon the skimmings, while
the molasses is drawing, and the same with
the molasses when the skimmings are draw-
ing.
The distilling-house, stoke-hole, or place
where the stills are hung,- should have a
lofty shed over it, supported by masonry
pillars, at one end of which, the rum still
should be set, parallel to the low wine butt.
At the other end, next to the boiling-house,
and parallel to the guttering, leading from


210
THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE.
the fermenting cisterns, the low wine still
should be placed, leaving a space be-
tween the still and the end of the shed,
for a dunder cistern, which should be sunk
in the ground, and made large enough to
contain, more than double the quantity the
still does. Another smaller dunder cistern,
should be built over the bottom one, (to
contain as much as the mixing cistern) in
order to draw the dunder by a pump, from
the bottom to the top cistern, where the
dunder should remain for some hours to cool
and clarify. The top dunder cistern should
be a little higher than the mixing cistern, to
give an inclination for the liquor to run,
which may be drawn by a pipe, introduced
through the wall, and a stop-cock affixed to
it, to the mixing cistern. The liquor from
the mixing cistern may be drawn off by a
short pipe, with a stop-cock to it, into a
temporary gutter, that should lead to the
fermenting cisterns. The mixing cistern
should always hold as much liquor, as will
fill two fermenting cisterns.


THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE. 211
The stills on a sugar estate are generally
of a large size, the low wine still contain-
ing, from a thousand to two thousand gal-
lons, and the rum still, from five hundred
to a thousand gallons. Being of such large
dimensions, they consume a great quantity
of fuel, mostly large heavy wood, which
requires great labour to hew it; and the
carriage is distant and heavy. Shal-
low broad stills would be the best to be
sent out, and fixed in every estate, because
the fire soon takes effect on the liquor
spread within a shallow still. And when
the ebullition takes place, it requires little
addition of fuel to keep the distilling liquor
running through the worms. High broad
goose necks answer equally as well as large
still heads, and are more portable, handy,
and less expensive. The goose necks should
be soldered to the top of the still, and a
hole cut in the top of the still, (with a well-
fitted copper cover to it,) in order to admit
a negro going down to scour the still.
Round the hole, a firm strong copper rim
P 2


212
THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE.
should be soldered, an inch and a half
deep; and the cover, should likewise have
a firm, strong copper rim, soldered to it, to
fit neat and close within the rim of the
hole. This cover should have two strong
handles, to take it off and put it on with.
When fixed down, it should be fastened
with an iron bar, and locked to a staple,
then covered over with clay, till the still is
worked off. A temporary gutter should
always be ready, to throw water into the
stills when worked off and emptied, and to
clean them out. The main guttering in-
side the distilling-house, should be ready
filled with liquor, or the low wine ready to
descend into the stills, to load them with-
out delay; stills should never be quite
filled; six or eight inches should be left
empty at the top, to prevent accidents by
blowing, or sending the liquor or low wine
down the worms, instead of low wine from
the liquor still, and rum from the low wine
still.
The worms, if possible, should go round


THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE. 213
the tank, and converge (when they make
a circuit of it) to their respective goose
necks, and then dip with many coils to the
bottom of the tank. By having the worms
large, of good length, and making many
revolutions in the tank, with a good supply
of cool water descending to the bottom
of it, the low wine and rum will distil
cool and clean. An outlet from the top
of the tank should always be made to
carry off the warm water, which rises to
the top, which is occasioned by the heat of
the worms. A door with a lock to it,
should be made to the distilling-house wall,
to pass from the tank to the top of the
stills, so that the young man, who super-
intends the distilling-house department, may
occasionally go to view what is doing in
the stoke-hole, and that the fire-maker is
performing his duty. A moving light
pump, of sufficient length for the ferment-
ing cisterns to draw the liquor to load
the stills, is very requisite, and a skimmer
P 3


214
THE WORKS AND OVERSEER'S HOUSE.
and ladle to clean the liquor with. Clean-
liness is the life and soul of a distilling-
house, for good rum, or good returns, can-
not be produced without its purifying
virtues.


215
CHAP. V.
PLANTING. AND CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR-
CANE, &c.
The sugar-cane, in its primitive state,
seems to court the favour and auspices of
the great luminary of day. In its infancy
it is cherished by it; in its youth it is
invigorated, and in its progress to maturity
it is ripened and supported. So many
favours proceeding from this great en-
livener of nature, induces the sugar-cane
to seek, as it were, a situation to benefit
by its sustaining powers. Providence has
so diversified the landscape, that a variety
of grounds present themselves to the view,
of hill and dale, promising welfare to this
benevolent, useful, and desirable plant, and
to attract and induce (by having a genial,
open aspect) the planter to till such a piece
of land for the culture of it. I must, there-
P 4


216
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
fore, beg leave here to premise, that it is an
essential point in plantership to study and
choose ground which may possess an aspect,
and obtain the influence of the sun. The
plants come up sooner and better by this
means; swampy, cold places are dried up
quicker ; the dormant virtues of the land are
called into action by its generative warmth;
the sugar-cane appears strong and healthy,
shewing a luxuriant promise, and the juices
are richer, and with more speed brought to
maturity, and make better, stronger-grained
sugar. So impartial is this luminary in
giving and distributing its nourishment to
the vegetable creation, that some time of
the day its rays will strike progressively
upon most parts of a cane-piece, save such
places as are sunk in gullys or dells, nature
excluding them from its bright beams, yet
giving and granting them the virtues of the
air that is heated and rarified by it. The
bounty of the morning sun is mostly to be
prized, mostly to be wished for on cane-
pieces. It dissipates the rigours of a cold,


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c. 217
damp, bleak night, makes vegetation glad,
spontaneous, and thriving; and generally
when it shows upon land early in the
morning, its visits are prolonged till evening.
Those spots mostly exposed to its influence,
that happen to be gully or poor, I would
invigorate and enrich with solid manure,
that every advantage may be drawn from
it. Not that by so doing, other parts of the
cane-piece should suffer neglect, for the
whole should have impartial justice done to
it. Even the gullies where canes are most
apt to lodge, are generally out of sight; .
and where the canes degenerate to suckers,
and seldom produce rich juices, or good
sugars, should have their share of care and
attention. The canes in those places should
be well trashed, or bolstered with trash, to
keep them from lodging, and hunted for
rats frequently. Having now urged the
necessity and the advantage of an open
aspect for cane cultivation, I shall proceed
to point out what kind of land I presume
to think best adapted to produce good


218
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
canes and good sugar. Though we cannot
always have the choice of ground, a great
variety of soil presents itself to try the skill
of the planter. Ground nearly level, having
a gentle inclination to drain it, and pass off
superfluous water, is best for a cane-piece,
as the carriage to and from, and manuring
of it is easily effected. A thick stratum
(from twelve to eighteen inches deep) of
dark brown, friable, unctuous soil, upon a
yellow, moist, though warm clay, which
may easily be turned up, is the best to pro-
duce good, strong, long-jointed sugar-canes,
and bright-coloured, hard-grained sugar.
Such ground often presents itself to the
planter; yet from the exhausting nature
of the sugar-cane, its appetite, and great
ability in sucking the strength of the
ground, for the support of its large, fibrous,
prolific root, and tall, juicy, numerous
stems, it behoves the provident planter to
keep up the stamina of the soil in those
rich lands, by manuring every time the
piece requires replanting. It would even
13


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
219
be well to manure the ratoon, to prevent
few recurrences of turning the land up to
replant it, for it weakens the land, if it is
ever so good, to turn it up and break it for
a fresh nursery of plants. The ratoon, by
such management, and good care, may make
equal returns to the plant-cane, and far
better sugar; with less boiling, labour, and
fuel. The parishes of St. Thomas in the
East, St. Andrew's, St. John's, St. Dorothy's,
St. Mary's, Trelawny, St. James's, and Cla-
rendon, in Jamaica, possess such a soil in
many places. So luxuriant are the canes
thrown up from this soil, that they often
tempt the planter to give them extra trash-
ing, which should never be done in dry
weather parishes, or districts; as thereby
the cane is dried up, burned, and shrivelled.
The trash often falls off of itself by excessive
heat, when by its dryness, it loses its ad-
hesion to the cane joints, nature thus re-
lieving itself. And this is sufficient, after
the first hand trashing, in dry parishes.
But in moist parishes, such as Portland,


220
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
St. George's, St. Mary's, St. Thomas in
the East, &c., where canes grow from such
a luxuriant, heavy, strong soil, are very
thick, long-jointed, tall, and top-heavy from
their weight, three trashings will not be
too much to give them after the banks are
levelled, for the influence of the sun then
becomes necessary and apparent, by ripen-
ing and thickening the juices. It is one of
the most glorious sights in the vegetable
world to behold a ten acre field of plant
sugar-canes, rising from such a soil, which
has justice done to them by the planter, in
one of those temperate parishes, after it
has received its last trashing, and within a
couple of weeks of being declared fit for
the bill. Nothing in the world of vegetable
substance, that has tried the art of man in
raising, has no noble, so generous, and
luxuriant an appearance.
· Upon level grounds where the cane-pieces
are easily laid out, roads formed, manure
carried, and the crop brought to the mill, I
would not have too much room taken up with


OF THE SUGAR CANE, &c.
221
intervals, and only those formed, that may
be necessary to give access to the farther
cane-pieces. Extra or superfluous intervals
waste much good ground, which might be
planted with canes, and add no beauty or
safety to the cultivation. A general inter-
val of twenty feet broad, between two cane-
pieces, is quite sufficient; cross intervals are
of little use, because those general inter-
vals partition the cane-pieces from each
other, mark their limits, and are commodious
enough for waggons to pass to and fro in
carrying canes, &c. A gang of negroes
when set in to cut a cane-piece, must always
make an opening for cane carriage, as they
cut down the canes. But I have known
many overseers intersect a level cane-piece
with several intervals, losing by such un-
meaning tracks, one eighth of the cane-
piece, or ground that ought to be in canes.
Neither would I waste any ground, between
a cane-piece and the surrounding fences,
farther than would be necessary to allow a
negro to clean the fences, and bank up the
head rows. In my opinion, the lining out


222
ON
PLANTING ULTIVA
A
ND
CULTIVATION
AND and levelling of water trenches, to carry
off redundant moisture from a level piece
of ground, should be much attended to,
and performed by a skilful hand. So
should the lining out the ground there for
cane-holes be done with judgment, that the
holes may all be of an equal breadth, per-
fectly straight, and no cross or half rows
intervening to spoil uniformity, or break
the formation or working of an effective
field gang. Whatever manure is necessary
to be expended upon a rich piece of level
land, should be carried to the ground, and
put up in heaps, at proper distances from
each other, and covered with trash till
wanted, when the ground is to be planted
with canes, and before the piece is lined or
trenched. Nature, in a great measure, points
out the course a trench will take: however,
she must be assisted by art sometimes; and
if impediments of no great magnitude arise,
they should be cleared away, or a circui-
tous track levelled for the trench. In order
to avoid and obviate such a laborious


224
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
sickly appearance, seems to bewail the loss
of its warm productive powers. Survey
then minutely the ground before it is trench-
ed, and let none be cut, but what are
expedient to keep the land clear from cold,
swamps, or springy overflowings; using as
it is lined out a level for so doing. After
the trenches are dug, the piece should be
cleared and stocked up of cane-roots and
grass, &c., previous to lining it for cane-
holes. A level piece of rich land should
never be lined into cane-holes of less than
four feet and a half, or five feet wide, and
a large wooden square, and flagged line
made use of, to strike and measure off thé
rows and distances, setting off from
the heading of a straight interval. Nor
should the ground be turned up deeper
than the surface of the clay, or within an
inch of it; because the clay being cold, or
perhaps sour, may either retard the growth
and sprouting of the plant top, or burn and
wither it in the ground. The plant cane-tops
should be carried, and put down in heaps,


· OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
225
along the interval, the negroes should strip
and trim them there, and bring them to the
spot they are to be planted in, that the banks
may not be broken down by mules, or the
cane-holes broken up by them. The weed-
ing gang should attend with dung-baskets,
to carry and drop the manure into the
holes. The great gang having stripped,
trimmed, and carried as many tops as will
plant out a breadth, they should begin to
clear the bottom of the cane holes well
with their hoes, weed the banks clean, (the
weeds to be put on the top of the banks,
with their roots turned up to the sun, in
order to kill them,) haul the loose mold to
the banks, and the manure being dropt
before them in the cane-holes, they should
spread it pretty thick in the bottom of the
holes. Care should be taken that no tops
are brought to be planted but such as are
fresh, have good eyes, have not been
arrowed or sackered; and the longer the
joints are, the better. I would leave little
or none of the soft, furry part of the top


226
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
WS
to the plant, as a sucker may proceed from
it, by which the nourishment is extracted,
and extorted from the sprout that grows
from the eye. All these preparations being
ready, and the negroes formed in a straight
breadth, a negro to each cane-hole, set them
in to plant the tops. First, the manure being
spread in the holes, let each negro cast a
little light mold over it, that the plant top
may not be scalded, and to keep the sun
from absorbing the strength of the manure.
Then let each negro take two clean fresh
tops, and lay them firmly in the bottom of
the hole, across it, on the soiled manure,
and about eight inches asunder, the bottom
or hard part of one top opposite to the
soft, furry part of the other, then cover
over those two plants lightly with mold,
suffering no weeds or grass to remain on
them, as weeds shake well from any earth ;
and place them on the top of the banks,
with their roots exposed to the sun, to kill
and wither them. When those two tops
are thus planted, and each negro is pro-


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
227
vided with a measure-stick of fourteen
inches long, make each of them measure a
space with it, from the farther planted top,
and put down two more good plants on the
soiled manure, as the former were done,
covering them with mold, and weeding
them clean as the two former plants were
managed; and so on progressively to plant
out the breadth till it is finished and com-
pleted. Care should be taken to drop no
more manure in the cane-holes than what
will suffice for one day's planting of tops,
as the sun may injure it by being exposed
to it. The trenches and intervals should
be cleaned of weeds, as the gang proceeds
in planting, allowing no grass to grow in
the interval within six feet of the canes.
When the first breadth is thus planted out,
let the great gang strip, clean, and carry
as many good tops as will plant out another
breadth, and so on till the whole of the
cane-piece is planted with cane-tops, leaving
every thing clean and secure upon it, for
Providence in its goodness to preside over..
Q 2


228
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
The fences round this and the adjacent
cane-pieces should be cleaned, closely made
up, every gap stopped, and the gates well
hung, with iron fasteners to open with
occasionally. The planting of corn or
French beans on the banks of such a piece,
at five feet asunder, can be no injury to
the canes. The crop of corn takes no ad-
ditional trouble to raise, except the planting
and breaking it in, a work of little labour,
and amply paying for such trifling expence
by the plenty which ensues from it. This
crop of corn is taken off in four months
from the time of planting, the same period
that the plant-canes require the banks to
be levelled on, or round them, as the last
molding they are to have till ripe, and
cut down to make sugar. In rainy, moist
weather, the young plant-canes require al-
most constant weeding, so quick and ex-
cessive is the growth of sour grass and
weeds about them. On no account should
they be neglected. As soon as weeds or
grass appear growing among them, the


OF THE SUGAR-CANÉ, &c.
229
weeding-gang should be set in with small
sharp hoes, to clean them of such foul
annoyances, using great caution to pull
out, with their hands, the weeds that in-
trude between the canes, and placing the
weeds on the banks, to be withered by the
sun, first shaking their roots of any earth
that may be about them. The banks should
be well cleaned of the growing weeds, and
a little mold drawn from them round the
young plants, according to their growth, to
impart gradual nutriment to them. Some
supplies may be wanted; I think but few
for the first cleaning, as the tops are not long
in the ground; but at the second cleaning,
which may be requisite shortly after, I
would set in the second gang, (a more
sensible people than the weeding gang,) to
go through them; who should search well
for any dead tops, and replace them by
lively fresh tops, molding such supply tops
lightly, and putting a little dung' under-
neath them. This gang should bring out
dung-baskets ; dung should be ready for
Q3


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
231
ceed wiry, small, dry particles, or leaves of
trash, which should be gently pulled away,
if free to drop, and one half of the bank,
mashed fine with the hoe, should be given
and drawn round them; taking care to free
them from all interloping weeds and grass
which may spring up, and placing them
(after shaking the earth from their roots)
upon the banks, with their roots turned up
to the sun, to wither and kill them. Few
weeds, after the third cleaning, will grow
up to annoy them; they nearly bid defiance
to their attacks. They spread with amazing
luxuriance over the surface of the ground,
claiming the traveller's attention as he
passes by. The fourth cleaning and mould-
ing finishes the operation, for they then
must draw the veterans of the estate to
behold their rising beauties, and minister to
their prosperity. The great gang should
be set in at this period, to level their
mother earth, the banks about them, cut-
ting up every thing with the hoe by the
root that may in any measure blemish their
Q4


232
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
lovely appearance, or retard the quickness
of their growth. Any loose trash that may
be on them, should be pulled away with the
hand. This will give them freedom, but
nothing to injure their joints, or expose
their still tender green stems to the parch-
ing sun, or the asperity of the weather.
The powerful hand and hoe of the great
gang should be brought into action, to
chop the remnant of the bank fine, and
haul the mold about them, but not to
raise any hills to their joints. This some
old planters do, in the vain hope of in-
creasing their growth, or prevent them
from lodging; not considering that by thus
burying their joints, they cause them to
throw out suckers, thus cherking their
growth, vitiating their juices, and making
them slender and spindling. A piece of
ground of this description, planted in the
before-mentioned way, the latter end of
April with cane-tops, will have the May
season to bring them up, and escape
arrowing in the October following, or the


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
233
arrowing months, and attain their full
growth and age, without being checked or
any way empoverished, by this absorbent,
periodical malady of the sugar-cane. As
I said before, in moist parishes, with tem-
perate weather, such a cane-piece, after the
banks are levelled on it, will bear three
trashings before it is fit for the bill, or to be
cut down to make sugar of. But in no
instance, when they are ordered to be
trashed, should any of their joints be bled,
(a common phrase with planters, when
green trash is forced from the joints, and
their fibrous veins exposed to the sun, and
made to drip their vital juices) or any but
the dry, drooping trash pulled away. The
joints which lie under the dry trash, de-
clare their own hardihood, and being
cleared of it, the sun and air will gradually
swell and ripen them. The aspiring sugar-
cane will sometimes require proping, to
keep its tops from coming to the ground,
so heavy do they become, from the fatten-
ing care that has been taken of them. The


236
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
ter, who has the management of a sugar
estate, to bring his cane cultivation into as
close an order, and as contiguous to the
works, as the nature of things, and the
required crops from the estate, will admit
of. Straggling cane-pieces have a confused
appearance, exemplifying a want of con-
nection or method, and principally evin-
cing, either the inability of the overseer,
in point of professional skill in using ma-
nure, his vanity in having a large, unpro-
ductive cane-field, or his want of cattle,
mules, and materials to produce it. In a
former part of this work, I alluded to the
great necessity which exists of having an
adequate number of working and breeding
stock on an estate. For not only there is
less mortality among the stock, by such a
policy, having frequent spells to relieve
them, but a combination of circumstances
occurs, making a sufficiency of manure, to
return, and retain to the soil its strength
and virtue. Labour is hereby saved by not
digging too much, and expence is prevented


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c. 237
by not resorting to jobbing. The negro
strength of the estate is thrown upon the
plants and ratoons, to keep them clean and
do them justice. The land yields one-third
more, by the acre of sugar, and the sugar
of a better quality. The canes are faster,
and with more ease, brought to the mill,
take less boiling, and less fuel. The field
trash is not obliged to be taken off the
cane-pieces, to furnish a supply of tran-
sient fuel, by which the poverty of those
grounds is increased, and labour lost in the
carriage. And, lastly, more negro labour
can be spared to clean the pastures, (which
sometimes run to ruin for want of it) and
procure copper-wood, build lime kilns,
make roads, &c. All this can be done by
making plenty of manure, and confining
the cane cultivation to a moderate sphere.
In the course of this work, I shall beg leave
to relate one or two circumstances, in
which the resident agent had a principal
hand in overrunning an entire estate with
numerous cane-pieces, extending an im-
SO
ST
"OUSE
nu


238
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
mense field of canes, cutting down, burn-
ing, and destroying valuable wood land, &c.
for the sake of stretching out a large field
of canes, which, in the end, did not pro-
duce more, or even so much, as when one-
third less land was in canes, and the jobbing
six times as much. I would begin, by having
cut and brought home from the woods, as
many mortice posts and rails as will make
three temporary or moving cattle pens, to
contain from eighty, to one hundred head
of cattle with ease; so that they could lie
down, get up, move about, and feed upon
what provender there might be in the pen,
without incommoding one another. I shall
premise here, that whatever manure may
be made about the works, from the mule-
stable and cattle-pen, should be heaped up
in pits sunk there, or contiguous to it, of
eighteen inches deep, that the urine, or
strong material of the juice that issues from
the dung, should be retained, and not
suffered to run off, (which is usually the
case,) losing by such neglect or oversight
16


240
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
ferment, intestinely and externally rot, and
become a solid heap of well-digested, avail-
able, and profitable manure. It will be
necessary in showery weather to take the
covering of trash off it, that the rain may
penetrate through, and assist the ferment-
ation and putrifying of it; but in dry,
parching weather, this covering of trash
should be replaced; and it should be the
special concern of every overseer on a
sugar estate that not the smallest particle
of any thing whatever that can contribute
to make or increase manure should be
wasted or neglected, either about the works
or elsewhere. Every convertible substance
for that purpose should be scrupulously and
carefully thrown into the manure-pits. In
this manner should manure be made and
accumulated about and at the works of
every sugar estate. This manure so made
at the works, should be expended on the
near cane-pieces and bottoms, and gene-
rally will be sufficient for that purpose,
except here and there a gully spot, which


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
241
will plead for the aid of the cattle-pen, to
send its penetrating juices into its meagre
earth. This call of nature should always
be attended to, having the posts and rails
at home, with what apparatus may be wanted
of ties and stockadoes to complete it. It
should be considered whether the land is to
be manured for a spring or a fall plant, as
the planting seasons are divided into spring
and fall, the first beginning, as it were,
in March, and ending in June or July, the
latter commencing in September, and end-
ing in December. The first having the April
and May seasons, (or showery weather,) to
promote and bring up the cane-plants, the
latter the October rains to swell the earth,
after the parching months of August and
September, which proves generally effectual,
with good manure, to bring up strong plants.
I would leave the distant, hilly pieces for the
spring, the near hilly pieces for the fall,
and the bottoms for the spring or fall plant,
agreeable to the nature and situation of the
ground. The spring plant comes first to
R


242
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
be considered, and the number of acres
which should put in, to provide for a re-
gular good crop the ensuing year. I would
begin to manure, by cattle penning with
those temporary pens for the spring plant,
in the months of September and October,
and set up two cattle-pens on the piece I
intended first to turn up and plant, by lining
the ground out for them. The mortice-
posts should be seven feet asunder; pitch-
ing the pens on that part of the ground
which proved to be the least productive, or
where the soil was light or cold. On those
parts I would let the. pens remain for a
fortnight or three weeks, all which time
I would be particularly provident in sup-
plying them with plenty of green food,
either of long cane tops, guinea grass, or
both mixed, placed all round the rails, in-
side of the pen, for the cattle to feed on;
and have the bottom of the pen strewed
with dry cane trash, old guinea grass, the
choppings of intervals, &c. for the stock
to lie, dung, or urine on; in order to ac-
16


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
243
cumulate by such means a considerable heap
on the spot at the termination of three weeks.
In each of those pens I would enclose, every
evening, the cattle, (except those which
may be intended for road work,) the breed-
ing and young cattle in one, and the work-
ing cattle in the other, (the road cattle to be
penned at the works,) so that no disagree-
ment may take place among them, and they
may have plenty of feeding. In the morn-
ing they should be dressed and reckoned
there, moving them about for a quarter of
an hour, to give them an inclination to
dung and urine in the bottom of the pens
before they are turned out to graze. By
thus confining the cattle in these temporary
pens at night, with plenty for them to eat,
strewing the pens with trash, withered
grass, or any slips, rubbish, and weeds, that
can be procured by invalid negroes, a heap
of manure will be raised, not only for the
spot where the pen is, but to throw on
other parts of the piece where the pens
are not placed. After three weeks time
- RQ


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
245
come more unctuous, which is discretional,
and easily performed. The pens should
be removed every three weeks to different
spots, well fed, supplied, and covered with
quantities of vegetable substances that will
soon ferment, rot, and unite themselves, by
being closely condensed together. In the
course of eight or ten weeks a piece of ten
acres of poor land will have a sufficiency
of manure ready made upon it to answer
the purposes of planting with ability, in
the ensuing month of March or April ;
which is early enough to put in a season-
able spring plant. The manure made on
this piece will be rotten fat stuff in the
following January or February. : I here
beg leave to request my readers to cal-
culate, that this first piece of ten acres,
having taken ten weeks to make an ade-
quate quantity of manure upon it, it falls
out then that, having began the first of
September to pen it, it will be completed
by this system, by the middle of November
following. Having by this time judiciously
R 3


246
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
chosen another piece of poor ground to
throw the pens over for the same benefit,
remove those two pens to it, taking care to
stop up all the post-holes on the former
piece, and have the manure made up upon
it; taking the same before-recited method
with the other piece, you will finish the
manuring of it likewise by the middle of
the following February. This is taking it
for granted that it will measure ten acres.
Thus the planter may go on progressively
nother distant hilly piece, without de-
viating from the foregoing rules. He will
then have thirty acres of such land, in three
distinct pieces, ready manured by the middle
of May, in order to turn up for a spring
plant; beginning with the first piece to dig
and plant in March, the second in April,
and the third in May, all coming in, as it
were, in succession. All this is beside what
near pieces may be deemed expedient to be
put in for a spring plant, which may be
manured, in a great measure, from what
dung is made at the works, and carried out


248
ULTI
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
in dry parishes, to make the bulk of the
crop; and should be, with equal ardour,
followed up and depended upon. Indeed
if they would go more on the fall plant in
the north side of Jamaica, from Portland
to the west end of St. Ann's, than what
they do, they would get equally as good
returns, by manuring high, as they do from
the spring plant. Their cane pieces would
become ripe in quick rotation, and they
would finish their crops by the end of May
or June ; have most of their sugar shipped
in August, and in the mother country, and
sold, before Christmas ; whereas, I have
known the estates in Portland, St. George's,
St. Mary's, and St. Ann's, to have their
mills about, (with only intermissions for
digging and planting) from January till
within a day or two of Christmas; and
their cane pieces becoming ripe, with strag-
gling irregularity. The vicissitudes of the
weather seem to tell them, that they should
adopt the mode of bringing in their crops
to be taken off without intermission. To


250
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
dition to be shipped. This kind of ma-
nagement concludes with comfortless bad
roads, which are rutted up by bad weather,
for the heavy ox to drag the sugar to the
wharf, over a distance of perhaps 10 or 15
miles, making them a way-worn, weather-
beaten, emaciated set of beasts
Relative to manuring for the fall plant,
by temporary, moveable cattle-pens, I
would without delay commence so doing,
the first or middle of May, and having
chosen some of the poor, hilly, near cane-
pieces for this purpose, or some of the
bottoms which were poor and gully, on
which water cannot lodge; I would on the
poorest piece, pitch two of these moveable
pens, line the ground out for them at seven
feet distance for the posts, secure and
tighten them well with strong rails and
stockadoes; supply them amply with feed-
ing for the cattle; cover them with all the
dry litter, old grass, cane-tops, weeds, &c.,
which can possibly be gathered and thrown
into them; pen the cattle in them every
ure


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
251
evening, and move them from place to
place, where strengthening and renovating
is required; taking care when they are
moved, to fill up the post holes. Cover
the manure with six inches depth of good
earth over the surface. When fermented
for some time, and beginning to corrupt
and rot, let it be chopped, heaped up, and
covered with trash. The weather from the
latter end of May to September, is gene-
rally hot and dry. There should always
be a reserved guinea grass piece or two,
kept for the purpose of cutting, and feed-
ing the pens. The gullies under shade, yield
at this time abundance of assistance to the
grass pieces in feeding the pens, and these
should be preserved to come in at this
period. In dry weather, these pens need
not be moved for a month. They will be
the better for it, as the greater the quantity
of stuff thrown in them, which being pressed
down by the weight of the cattle, and
dunged and urined over by them, will
sooner ferment, and accumulate a good


252
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
heap of manure, when chopped and made
up. But from September till the end of
December, the weather is moist and rainy.
The pens at this period will become swam-
py, from the frequent treading of heavy
stock, and should be moved every two or
three weeks, so that the cattle may be kept
comfortable without lying too damp. Yet
they should remain sufficiently long, to
cause them to tread, mix, and stir up the
stuff in the pen. The grass pieces which
had been rather parched in the hot months
of June, July, and August, assume in those
months their wonted verdure and lux-
uriance, affording abundance of fine grass
for the cattle by day, (which every good
planter should strictly attend to, and have
driven to the best of feeding) and a plente-
ous suppering for them during the night.
As a good deal of what manure is made
at the works (which is generally of the best
quality) can be easily carried out to some
of those near cane pieces, it will, in a great
measure, assist in giving the fall plant


•
255
OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
withered bulrushes into the ground to raise
cane sprouts. I would always then, have
this grand reserve of a nursery, in some
secluded place, to be called in as a maga-
zine, (if it may be so called,) to give effi-
cient plant tops for fall plants, in case no
other good ones can be had, contiguous
on the estate, to answer the wishes of the
overseer, to plant out the piece in proper
time. I have known some select the worst
piece of land on an estate, for the purpose
of a nursery. I would act contrary to
this, and appoint three or four acres of good
ground to be so occupied, in some secluded
spot, not to mar the appearance of other
cane pieces, by shewing its irregular cut-
tings. For in a nursery may be ob-
served several growths of canes, making
a striking singular appearance, owing to
the necessity of drawing plants from it at
different times. I would likewise choose
cane tops of the most approved species,
which may answer the climate and land of
the parish, to put in as plants in the nur-
can


256
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
sery. Be particularly careful to keep it
clean, and not allow the breed of canes to
degenerate, by neglect or trespass. I would
always manage it so, that it should not be
a prey to arrowing, by keeping up the soil
with manure, and cutting it down about
the first of March. By so doing, the canes
will be of considerable height, and will not
be attacked or swelled by arrowing in the
October following, when their services will
be wanted. I would then take three lengths
of plants from each cane, those which are
vigorous and lively, and have plenty of
full, prolific eyes. These seldom disappoint
the well-meant zeal of the expecting over-
seer. I knew an overseer in a temperate
parish, so fond of thick planting, that he
expended sixty acres of tops, in setting out
eleven acres of land, and after all this most
extravagant work and waste, was obliged to
beg plants from his neighbours to supply
the piece, or in a great measure to replant
it, for want of this useful nursery at this
time of the year.


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c. 257
Hilly land on account of its various in.
equalities, requires the attention of the
skilful planter more than level ground, to
lay it out in roads, and lining for cane
holes. But being steep or of sufficient in-
clination, it does not want so much trench-
ing to carry off rain and moisture. It has
two disadvantages, that it is more liable to
be broken into chasms, the banks tumbling
into one another, and the land sooner wear-
ing out by heavy rain, than level ground.
Yet with all these dispositions to prepossess
people against it, nature has thrown it in
such a form in the planter's way, that he
must take it for better or worse, and turn
his mind sedulously to work, to obviate its
defects, and improve its deformities and
imperfections. After feeding and clothing
it with manure, he must then lay it out for
cane carriage, and for cane holes, having
his large wooden square, level, lines and
pegs ready for so doing. He should lay out
his winding road so, that it may not rise
abruptly, or take up any unnecessary space;


258
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
it should be made to serve for a general
travelling road, for negroes and stock
through the piece, to carry off and on the
canes, that a second road may not be re-
quired, thus occupying the ground which
should be in cultivation. I shall here beg
leave to quote an instance of this needless
display of art, in having a multiplicity of
roads through hilly cane pieces, with no
other apparent view but to excite the at-
tention of the traveller, his praise might be
resounded to this road-making overseer,
without knowing whether he was right or
wrong in so acting.
The estate I here allude to, lies in the
parish of St. Mary, with a ridge on it,
separating two rivers, which bend their
course north-west, but form a confluence
about three miles below the estate. From
thence their united stream, flows over a
rocky channel to Rio Nuova Bay. This
overseer had likewise a great inclination
for small, trifling cane pieces, insomuch,
that an old cane piece, or a new piece of


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
259
ground, was sure to be mutilated by an
extraordinary number of intervals and
roads, perspicuous without utility, and
confounding the cultivation book of the
estate, with a list of new fangled and
complimentary names. Two cane pieces
which lay on a declivity, over some bot-
toms, nearly opposite the overseer's house,
were to be planted. They were thrown
out to rest for some time by the former
overseer. One contained ten, the other
about six acres, and had the remains of
former well laid out roads upon them, for
mule carriage; fully adequate to the crops,
with as much ease and safety, as the nature
of the ground would admit. These inter-
vals and roads were left open, and the
stock naturally bent their way to them: a
sure sign of their being of easy inclination
for the beast to carry its burthen. It then
became apparent, that making extra roads,
was only wastefully cutting up the land,
and throwing the best negro labour of the
estate away, which should be expended on
s 2


260
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
some more necessary work. The cane piece
of ten acres, he intersected with three ad-
ditional roads, and that of six acres, with
two additional roads. At the same time
making them so narrow, that when the
canes became high, they were covered. In
some places of these roads, where great la-
bour was used to dig down high banks, the
banks gave way, overwhelming the canes,
breaking them up by the roots, stopping
that part of the new useless road, and for-
ming galls, ugly and dangerous spots on the
cane piece. At last, when the canes were
cut down, it was discovered, that little or
no way had been made by the stock through
the tracks. That the mules instinctively
moved through the pieces, by natural easy
passages, to the old road, and that the
new roads, made so deranged an appear-
ance, that they were stopped up and dug
into cane holes. This was an experiment
practised by a self-taught overseer, who
happened to obtain a situation from the re-
sident agent, on account of some interest


262
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
are marked degrees of elevation, and a
plumbet, to move or swing to those de-
grees, (according as it is wanted to rise or
fall the road) should always be used in
such an undertaking. High stakes should
be driven into the ground, through the ·
parts of the piece which it is designed
the road should run at certain distances
from bottom to top, as land marks, to di-
rect the attention to, from the point of
departure. And level from that departure,
either at nine or twelve feet on the radius,
towards the first of those directing stakes,
a peg should be put down every three or
four feet; till it arrives at such stake, and
so on to the next directing stake; levelling
with the radius, and pegging the ground
at every three or four feet, till it reaches
the summit of the piece, or where the road
is to terminate. Then place the great gang
with hoes, pickaxes, and iron crows, to dig
from those pegs, a road eight feet broad.
The mold dug out from the top of the
bank, should be spread on the lower part,


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
263
of the piece, adjoining the road. Any stones
raised from it, may be placed firmly at the
lower edge of the road, and the road have
from the top bank a gentle slope, or lean to
the lower edge of it, with here and there a
small shallow trench to carry off the water
after heavy rain. I would let as little loose
mold remain on the road as possible, so
that it may soon get hard and durable.
After having made this general road, in a
winding manner through the piece to a
given point, what few trenches may be
wanted, can be laid out and cut, and the
ground cleared of grass and cane roots,
previous to lining it into cane holes. I must
next propound my design in lining a hilly
piece for cane holes. The situation of such
a piece should be well considered, as to its
inequalities, its turnings, and its gullys.
For such a work, there must be a large
wooden square, of four feet, or four feet
and a half on each angle, to lay out the
rows from the interval, or centre of the
piece, and measure the distances of the
s 4


264
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
rows, or breadth of the cane holes with.
Besides which, there must be an extensive
pliable line, flagged or marked every four
feet, or the width of the cane holes ; two
or three mule load of strong wooden pegs,
to mark the rows with, and a number of
high slender stakes, to take an observation
or direction from. According to the wind-
ings or turnings of the hills, I would di-
vide the cane piece into so many breadths,
putting a long stake down at the top, where
the turning makes an angle, and another
stake at the bottom, where the turning
forms another angle. Then having stretched
a head line down the steep interval, which
separates that from the adjoining cane
piece, and close in with the head row of
the piece, which head line, when stretched,
should be pegged off at every four feet, or
the width of the cane holes, to the end of
the line, I would either begin to line the
cane holes from the top or centre of the
piece, but generally from the top, the head
row being marked out by the heading line ;


266
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
on the steep interval, would put the peg
attached to it fast into the ground, and
then take the measure stick or square
of four feet, or four feet and a half long
and peg off this head line, the same distance
for the cane holes, that the head line was
pegged off on the parallel steep interval.
This being done, I would take up the flag-
ged line, and put it down, and stretch it
tight, between the parallel pegs of each
head line, across the piece ; peg this row
off, take up the flagged line again, stretch
it between the next two parallel pegs, and
then peg this off, and so on, till the breadth
is lined out. Then I would begin at the
top of the piece again, stretching the flag-
ged line by the top interval, to where the
next directing stake is placed, which I
would peg off, and from that stretch another
head line down the hill, by the edge of the
square, pegging this off with the measure
stick parallel to the pegs upon the angle of
the first turning of the hill, and taking up
the flagged line, stretch it tightly between


• OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c. . . 267
the parallel pegs, peg this likewise off.
Thus I would proceed, moving the flagged
line between the parallel pegs, and pegging
off the rows by it, till the second breadth is
finished or lined out; going on, till the
lining of the piece is completed. Care
should be taken to have no half rows in the
middle of the piece, but if any should
happen, to cause them to come out at the
top or bottom interval. It is difficult to
instruct some young men in this exercise of
their duty, though they should be proud to
attain it, as it forms one of the prime ac-
complishments of a good planter. There
are many overseers, who know when a
cane piece is well lined, but are diffident in
attempting the work themselves; there.
fore, on a great many estates, this part of
the duty is performed by an experienced
slave, (with an assistant to hold the line,)
who has long been accustomed, by the ob-
servance of some former example, to lay
out land in this way. Bottoms are much
more easy to be lined, as the square, used


268
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
nor
with precision, will tell well and true there,
but only to set off the head rows and inter-
vals correctly, which will lead to a general
and fair finishing of the work. I would
never line hilly land at a greater distance
than four feet cane holes, because the
banks are so liable to tumble, the land
being much loosened, and apt to run into
ruts and gullys by wide digging. Hilly
land is more exposed than bottoms, to air
and sun, and does not require such great
distance in the rows, for the air to circulate
and sun to penetrate through them, to ripen
the canes, as bottoms do. The land is
likewise generally poorer on hills than
bottoms, sooner gets worn out by heavy
rains, which wash away some of the best
soil, and often open the ground into dread-
ful chasms, sometimes carrying it away
altogether. It would be adviseable, then,
where the land is rather steep, to bind it
here and there, by digging check, or
chequered holes, which can be marked out
on the flagged line, pegged off when the


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c. : 269
piece is lining, and the negroes, when they
are digging the piece, observing where to
leave the checks, or small undug spaces.
In the cane holes of these steep places,
good strong manure should be thrown to
help the land, and throw up a strong cane,
Those spots are generally poor and gully,
and disfigure a cane piece, and do not yield
equal to the rest of the piece, unless so
attended.
I shall now beg leave to offer some re-
marks on the difference of turning up
land, for cane cultivation with the plough,
and that of the hoe. Although in many
instances I have thought fit to condemn
old customs, which had little to recom-
mend them but stubborn practice, yet I
will here incline to give my vote for turn-
ing up land with the hoe, in preference to
that of the plough, and by adducing a few
reasons in support of it, to throw the dis-
paragement on the side of the plough.
First, the land being loosened by the close
turning up of the plough, gives the sun a


270
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
superior influence in absorbing its enliven.
ing prolific powers, for it penetrates with
rapid violence through the soft loosened
stratum, and before the banks are made up,
or a gang can be set in to raise them to
regular distances by the hoe, the parched
earth loses most of its stamina, by moulder-
ing into a crumbled, a dry, wasted, spent
substance. Secondly, the people in that
country are most ignorant of the art of
ploughing; the cattle and negroes are
hard to be trained to it; ploughmen sent
out from home are at a nonplus for what
they think are requisites ; much time is
spent in getting every thing to their liking,
and when they do set to work, the cattle
are restive, and the negroes refractory; the
arduous task begins too much to be borne
in that hot climate, by the white plough-
man; he becomes tired, listless, and per-
haps sick, before the piece is finished; and
if it is finished, it has taken an immoderate
time to do so, (even longer than if dug by
the hoe,) and all this time the loosened soft
13


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
271
earth is exposed to the parching rays of the
sun, to dissipate its strength. Thirdly,
after the piece has been turned by the
plough, a gang must be set in with hoes,
to haul up and form the banks regularly,
and clear the cane holes for planting, which
is extra work. For if the piece is turned
up by the hoe, this work is done at once,
the cane holes are properly dug, opened,
and the banks hauled evenly up, and every
thing left in statu quo, to commence plant-
ing the piece. The labour, and perhaps
the lives, of the best cattle on the estate
will be saved, by not adopting the plough
in this work ; time will be saved in getting
the piece planted, to catch the favourable
seasons; the strength of the soil will be
preserved by not being too much loosened,
and the salary and maintenance of a white
ploughman will also be saved. The work
being gone through with, and perfected by
the hoe, the implement mostly used, and
best understood in that country, will be
timely and satisfactorily completed, to the


272
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
advantage of the estate, and the good
understanding and comfort of the white
people and slaves upon it.
By digging with the hoe a piece of land
into cane holes, there is always some part
of the ground left undug, that is, the base
of the banks. For although the cane holes
may be lined four or five feet wide, yet
the bottom of the cane hole is not near so
broad as the distance between the top of
each bank. The banks are hauled up to
the forming pegs with the hoe, in a sloping
manner, making the bottom of the hole not
more than sixteen or eighteen inches broad;
whereas the distance between the top of
each bank may be four or five feet; so that
when the canes are planted, and the banks
are levelled to them, the distance between
each row of canes will be three or four
feet; giving liberty to the negroes when set
in to clean, trash, or cut them, to have
room to work without injury to the canes,
and the sun and air to penetrate through
to ripen them. Another matter to specu-


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c. 273
late upon, which I believe few have thought
of or attempted, is (by a simple process) to
gain fresh ground for digging, the next
time the piece is to be turned up for cane
holes. Having before stated, that the base
of the banks, in digging cane holes with the
hoe, is left untouched or undug, it surely
must strike the attentive observer, that
such base is virtually fresh ground, or
nearly equivalent to it, so that when this
cane piece is to be dug again, in order for
replanting, by either narrowing or widen-
ing the interval so much as the breadth of
this base or undug ground, fresh strong
land to dig and plant in is gained; and the
former space between the rows of canes
becomes, by such a plan, the ground in
which the subsequent canes will be planted.
I will not, however, in adopting this simple
plan, any way derogate from the maxim
and system which I so strenuously recom-
mended for keeping up the strength of cane
land, by rich, and the never failing art of
manuring. This little alternative will give
axim
I-
T


276
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
in a regular unbroken breadth, but have a
more sightly and better marshalled appear-
ance. Their relative strength, one with the
other, is better observed, equalised, and
apportioned. Besides the piece is sooner
dug by this regulation. However, if it
happens that the entire gang cannot be
ranged in a regular breadth, let the gang
be split or divided into two bodies; one of
which should be placed at about fifteen
or twenty rows below the other, that the
driver and bookkeeper may have them
nearly in view, to observe and make them
do good work. When the top division
finishes digging to where the bottom di-
vision began, they should be moved down
fifteen or twenty rows below that, and so on
as often as possible, till this breadth or angle
of the piece is dug out; then rise to the
next breadth, digging each down in like
manner, till the piece is completed. Care
should be taken, as they dig the ground,
to make them haul the mold well up to
the forming pegs. It should lie firm in
ma


278
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
none shall surpass him, and no fault be
found with him, I say, no wonder, that some
little recompence should be given to him,
some little reward for his pains, to refresh
his exhaustion, prevent him from catching
cold, excite his powers, and sustain him un-
der the fatigue. At this period it is found ab-
solutely necessary to give each negro a cer-
tain quantity of rum and sugar, not so
much as will make them drunk, but suffi-
cient to keep their spirits from flagging,
and prevent if possible the intrusion of cold.
The sugar being diluted in water, with a
mixture of limejuice, is found to be both
refreshing and nutritious for them, and they
should never be denied these salutary,
grateful restoratives, when engaged in the
laborious, arduous undertaking of digging
cane holes. An addition likewise of salt
provisions daily, should be allowed them
when so employed. There will be found
no loss in it, for though ignorant and bar-
barous, they are extremely sensible of
favours and rewards, and made amenable
. 17


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c. 279
by such simple, such trifling, cheap gra-
tifications.
It is a common practice in planting the
sugar-cane, to let the land remain unplant-
ed for four or six weeks, to induce the
banks, by being exposed to the weather, to
pulverize. This speculation comes from
the old school, so much noted for dictating
rules, without much reason for them;
thoughts coming suddenly into the head,
or from some philosophical hints, which
they transiently have heard from the mouth
of some occasional visitor. These they
eagerly have caught at, treasured up, and
followed (as they thought) with infallible
devotion, and certain success. In my re-
marks relative to plough and hoe turning-
up of land, I made bold to descant on the
bad effects of having loosened land exposed
ence of the parching rays of the
sun; for though that luminary is benefi-
cently kind, it is armed with fatal burning
shafts, which the Great Father of the uni-
verse bids us be prepared and guarded
T 4


280
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
against, that while we court its favours, we
should studiously avoid its killing powers.
Those old dogmatists in this case, very sel-
dom have taken into their consideration,
what a long continuance of dry, and some-
times wet weather, happens in Jamaica,
even in the temperate parishes; and that
by exposing land in this way, for their for-
tuitous schemes, they, ten to one, fail en-
tirely of the wished-for pulverizing result.
That by a month of scorching hot sun, the
banks or clods are rendered harder, any
stamina that might have been in the soil'is
absorbed and expelled, and by exposing it
to incessant rain, a great part of the banks
are levelled, broken away, the bottom of
the cane holes swamped and chilled with
water, the grass and weeds grow with
rapidity and luxuriance, scarcely to be re-
pressed, both in the cane holes and on the
banks; that require a strong gang of ne-
groes to clean them, before the cane-holes
can be planted with tops. And what is
worse, the land gets no way enriched, no


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
281
way improved by such exposure ; on the
contrary, the sun cannot enrich it by burn-
ing, with its hot penetrating rays, nor the
rain by swamping, and carrying away its
best particles of growing virtue. It would
be much better then, not to depend upon
the casual event of this parching, swamp-
ing; pulverizing scheme, but to plant the
land with cane tops as early as possible,
after digging it, and have the virtues of the
soil imparted to the plant, with as few ac-
cidents of this nature as possible, or when
it is possessed of its native vigour, and when
it is fresh; giving Providence a paramount
right to have a sway over it, by taking ad-
vantage of the earliest opportunity of time,
place, and circumstances, to get the plants
in the ground. The seasons must not be
suffered to pass by, that are propitious for
planting; take then and plant the ground
out while it is fresh, if it is possible to pro-
cure good tops for so doing. The seasons
that the pulverizer waits for, will be more
favourable for bringing up, or making the


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
283
trimmed, and carried as many good fresh
cane tops to the holes as will plant out a
breadth, should set in to plant, placing a
negro in each row. They are to spread the
dung thickly in the bottom of the hole, first
cleaning it well out, and weeding the banks,
which weeds and grass must be shook well
from any earth adhering to them, and their
roots turned to the sun, to wither and kill
them, placing the weeds on the top of the
banks. I would make them plant the tops
across the holes, in the hilly land, that they
may not be so liable to be displaced by rain
or accidents; and although I am no friend
to thick planting, I would do it rather
closer than bottoms, the sun and air having
greater power on it. I would then make
each negro take three good plants, and
sprinkling the dung over with earth, place
firmly in the bottom of the cane hole, on
the soiled manure, at eight inches asunder,
the hard end of one top opposite to the
furry end of the other, and then cover them
lightly with mold. Each negro being


284
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
provided with a measure stick twelve inches
long, should measure with it a distance or
space, from the most forward of the three
tops last planted, and having the manure
spread and soiled as before, plant three
more tops, at eight inches asunder, which
likewise he should cover lightly with mold.
Taking the measure stick again, he should
mark out another distance with it, spread
the dung and soil as before, take three
more good tops, plant them firmly, at eight
inches asunder, cover them lightly with
mold, and so proceed in planting out the
piece till it is finished; taking special care
to weed the cane holes and banks well, as
he goes on planting, and place the weeds
on the top of the banks, with their roots
turned up. The trenches likewise should
be well cleaned and cleared as the gang
plants the piece; the surrounding fences
trimmed, cleaned, and made up. The in-
tervals cleaned of weeds, all grass hoed off,
six feet distance from the cane plants, and
it should be billed down to thirty feet dis-


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
285
tance from it; so that rats will not have an
asylum close to the plant canes. Indeed,
the last direction is a most necessary one :
it not only may be the means of preventing
a great deal of destruction to the cane
pieces adjoining, by the depredations of
these lurking gnawing pests; but where
these places are cleaned, guinea grass can
be planted and cultivated, which at all times
will be of essential use in feeding the cattle
pens and mule stable. The grass cutters,
as they cut the grass daily, can keep it clear
from bushes, and the rats will seek safety
in a great measure, by retiring further back.
As I explained before the utility of plant-
ing corn (for the sake of plenty) over and
through cane pieces, I will here again ven-
ture to support that measure, by planting it
on the side of the banks, at five or six feet
distance. No injury can happen to the
canes by so doing, it being a hasty crop,
and gathered in four months after planting,
in favourable weather. It has been known
even in very hot weather, to have been of


286
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
service to the plant canes, by shading them
from the scorching sun ; I would then give
it always a sanction, having a great many
virtues, and but few vices. It will be un-
necessary here to repeat the mode of weed-
ing and moulding the plants as they come
up, till they require the banks to be levelled
to them. This I trust I have sufficiently
explained in a former place, where I dwelt
on the method of planting canes on bottoms,
weeding, manuring, and molding them,
till fit to have the banks levelled to them ;
to which I beg leave to refer my readers.
· Much depends on the kind of weather
which happens, or the soil it grows upon, to
instruct the planter when to trash the canes.
In dry weather parishes, such as St. Cathe-
riñe's, St. Andrew's, Kingston, part of St.
David's, St. Dorothy's, part of Clarendon,
part of St. Elizabeth's, the west end of St.
Ann's, and Trelawny, one trashing is suffi-
cient after the banks are levelled, for there
the sun and the soil together, in a great
measure, combine to dry up the juices, and


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
287
ripen the canes at an early age. Plant
canes in those parishes will be fit to cut at
twelve months old to make sugar; and they
are obliged to adopt a hardy callous species
of cane to plant there, called the riband,
and transparent cane, in order to withstand
the force of the sun, and the light weak
soils of those districts. They must manure
high, the cane will grow exuberant, but not
yield the quantity of liquor they do in tem-
perate parishes. They give a great quantity
of trash from the mill, even more than ade-
quate to boil the sugar, which is frequently
thrown into the cattle pen to make manure,
but often produces neither so much, nor
such good sugar as the yellow, long jointed,
thick Bourbon cane. This last, and the trans-
parent cane, is what I would promote the
planting of in most parishes, where I could
find strong soils to support them, for as to
the action of the sun upon the cane, that in
a great measure can be obviated, by not
trashing much. The Bourbon cane is a
cleaner, longer jointed, and more productive


· OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
289
fore cut to make sugar, and one trashing to
the ratoons, after they are six months old,
before cutting them down for sugar. But
those operations of dressing the canes, to
bring on maturity and good yielding, in
such temperate places, must be considered
ás casual ; for the influence of weather
should direct this event. Hilly lands do
not require so much trashing as bottoms,
but the canes are more liable to recline,
and lodge on those rising grounds; and
whenever they do receive such dressings,
çare should be taken to place the trash in
bolsters under the recumbent canes, to pre-
vent them lying on the bare earth, their
joints taking root, throwing out early
şuckers, breaking off from the roots, and
vitiating their juices. Every time the cane
pieces are cleaned by trashing or otherwise,
the gang should uniformly clean the inter-
vals and trenches of weeds, or any thing
else which impedes or injures the canes in
their advance to maturity. I have now
brought this part of my system to a state of


290
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
forwardness, preparatory to commencing
crop on a sugar estate in Jamaica.
I must beg leave to draw the attention
of my readers to the establishment of
fences on a sugar estate, principally to
those for the security of the cane cultiva-
tion. Few intersecting fences are wanted
between cane pieces, except where a line
fence between the canes of two neighbour-
ing estates may be deemed necessary, to
mark the boundaries or prevent trespass.
The girding fences are those which claim
attention, to prevent intrusion from roads,
outlets, and pastures, into the bosom of the
cane pieces. These defences should be so
established and kept up, as to form an im-
penetrable barrier against cattle, mules,
pigs, or sheep; and at the same time, not
to allure (as an asylum) the crafty, hungry,
and destructive rat, to take up his quarters
there. For this purpose, I should always
prefer quick-fences. As to the erection of
stone fences round a cane piece, I esteem
them as ever truly pernicious and tottering.


292
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
stone walls, without mortar to keep them
together, they were ever tumbling in some
quarter. I suppose also that such overseers,
know very little how to plant, or establish
a quick-fence in Jamaica. They are
ashaṁed to shew their ignorance, impatient
to produce something worthy of notice, but
loth to wait for the gradual, yet durable
and beautiful production of a well-esta-
blished quick-fence. Nothing is more
ornamental, and durable on an estate, if
well attended to. The logwood and lime
quicks are mostly planted in Jamaica. For
this purpose, in the proper season, when
the seed of those trees is ripe, (from Au-
gust to the end of October), there should a
quantity of it be gathered, and dried in the
sun. A small piece of ground may be dug
up and prepared, in order to sow the seed,
from which to draw plants; or there may
be a drill lined out, where it is intended to
put down the fence, which should be dug
about four inches deep, and eight inches
wide. In this the seeds are to be sown,


OF THE SUGAR CAŅE, &c.
293
but not too thick. Previous to digging the
drill, sowing the seed, or setting the plants,
there should be a durable post and rail
fence made, on the outside of the place
where the quick-fence is to be planted, not
only to protect it in its infancy, and to esta-
blish permanent high growth, but to en-
sure safety to the adjoining cane pieces,
from the trespass of cattle. When the
fence is put up, let the drill be lined out,
and dug in the inside, according to the
turning of the road, or the formation of the
cane piece ; keeping about four feet dis-
tance from the edge of the canes. If there
are logwood or lime plants to set or put
down, let their tops be first nipt off for an
inch or two, then be set six inches asunder
in the drill, in a zig-zag manner, making a
hole with a setting stick in the drill for
each plant; into which introduce the root
end of the plant, as deep as the fibres of
the root appear on its stem. Take care
that the stem is some inches above ground,
and press the earth (but not too hard)
U 3


294
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
about the root. After the plants are set in
this manner, draw round them, into the
drill, some of the earth that was dug out of
it. The plants will soon strike root, and
when that is the case, give them more
mold, and let them be kept clean from
grass and weeds, and neatly and evenly
trimmed. Care should be taken to let no
stock, of cattle, mules, sheep, or pigs,
touch them, till they are established. As
they grow up, preserve them close, with
their branches horizontally, and trans-
versely interweaving each other, so as to
form a compact, firm barrier, when they
are about five feet high. This should be
their standard, and they should be kept
lopped or trimmed to it. A logwood fence
in my opinion, grows quicker, inclines to
closer contexture, is more hardy, durable,
and firmly resistible, than a lime fence. It
is equally as beautiful to the view. It re-
sembles, in a great measure, the white thorn
fence of the mother country; and when
established, requires cleaning and trimming


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
295
only twice a year, in February and August.
It harbours no rats or vermin, withstands
tempests and rain, gives adequate security
to the cane pieces, and highly embellishes
the estate. If it is intended to sow log-
wood, or lime-seeds in a drill, for a fence
round a cane piece, it should be dug five
inches deep, and eight inches wide. The
mold must be hauled well out of it to the
edge of the drill, broke fine, and made
a bank of. The seed should be dropped
along the bottom of the drill in a zig-zag
manner, but not too thick, and covered up
lightly with mold; it will soon shoot up
and bud sprouts, which when two or three
inches high must have more mold; and if
found to come up too thick, the superfluous
ones should be pulled out. After this they
should receive the same kind of treatment
as the fence put down from drawn plants.
The bamboo cane is a great acquisition
upon every estate, not only to make and
support fences for rails and stockadoes, but
as fuel for the distilling-house. When a
U
4


296
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
e
property happens to be either divested of
the article of copper-wood, or the woods
lie at a great distance from the works, they
are excellent fuel, and if planted at a small
distance from the works, they save a great
deal of negro and mule labour, in cutting and
carrying home wood from a distance; and
when established they are inexhaustible,
for a new, strong, and luxuriant growth will
rapidly spring from the same stock every
year. Two or three acres of them, planted
even in indifferent ground, and taken care
of for twelve months, till they begin to stock
well, with a fence round to protect them
till that age from the intrusion of cattle,
will, after they are two years old, give an
ample supply of copper-wood annually for
the distilling-house, and abundance of long
stout rails for fences and stockadoes. So
little do some overseers know the value and
utility of this very beautiful, shady, and
profitable production of nature, that few
plant them; and others, when they have
been planted, and half-reared by their pre-


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
297
decessors, suffer the cattle to go in among
them, eat their tender leaves, and tread the
young stock out of the ground. It is sup.
posed that there is no vegetable production
in Jamaica which grows so quick as the
sucker from the bamboo stock. They often
shoot more than twelve inches in twenty-
four hours, and in a short time acquire a
degree of hardness scarcely penetrable. It
is hollow, and chambered within ; some of
the chambers from joint to joint will be
two feet long, and may contain a couple of
quarts of liquid. It soon gets dry when
cut, and assumes a beautiful yellow outside,
but will burn equally as well when green,
for nature has given it an oily texture.
It should not be planted close to a cane
piece, because the roots when established
spread to an amazing extent in length,
breadth, and depth of ground. It over-
shadows the canes, which is injurious to
them, and may harbour an infinite number
of rats, which would be still more hurtful.
For the purpose of planting them, I would


298
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
choose a patch of waste land, not far from
the works, but apart from the cane pieces,
of two or three acres. This I would fence
round, to prevent any trespass in it of cattle,
mules, pigs, or sheep. If the ground was
foul, it should be billed, hoed off, and
cleared; then let the ground be lined out
twelve feet square, and pegged off to that
distance. They must be planted wide, to
give space for their roots to spread, and for
the numerous stems which spring from the
stocks, which grow in clusters of thirty or
forty from one root, of a considerable thick-
ness and great height, and require room for
their lofty magnificent stems to wave.
They are armed with long slender branches,
and clothed with long, narrow sharp leaves,
which throw shade round their vicinity.
A gang of negroes should be set in with
hoes to dig good deep holes at each peg,
two feet long, one foot broad, and nine
inches deep. They should haul the mold
out of the hole to the edge and break it, if
the clods are too large: and having the
16


: OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
299
bamboo plants ready cut and trimmed, of
about two feet long each, (and taken from
the ripe green joints, towards the top of the
stem), the negroes should plant one in each
hole, letting them lie a little reclining in it,
with a small part of one end above ground;
then let them take half the bank and cover
the plant with it; if seasonable weather,
young shoqts will appear, sprouting from
the joints of the plant, in a month after they
have been put in the ground; and when
six or eight inches above the ground, they
should have the remainder of the bank of
mold given them, and be cleaned from
any foul grass or weeds; they require as
much cleaning and molding as a piece of
sugar cane, till they are twelve months old;
then they will take care of themselves, ex-
cept from trespass of cattle. The sur-
rounding fence should be kept up, to pre-
serve them till they have well taken to the
ground, and become hardy, tall, and well
established; then they will begin to repay
all the attention given to them, by affording


300
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
a perpetual supply of copper-wood annually,
and materials for fences. Every overseer
who knows their value, I am sure, will be
an advocate for establishing a patch of them,
on every sugar estatė.
Things being left in this forward clean
state throughout the cane cultivation, I
shall next beg leave to call the attention of
my reader, and the planter, to another care
which is particularly incumbent on him; and
that is, the cleaning, planting, and fencing
the guinea grass and common pastures on
every sugar estate, previous to beginning
crop ; the neglect of such is sure to bring
on some heavy loss or misfortune at no
remote period. Whatever may be the ef-
fective strength of the estate in slave po-
pulation, this most essential duty should
ever compose a part of their annual work.
Even twice a year would not be too much
to clean those grounds, which are appropri-
ated to raise provender for the maintenance
of the cattle and mules, as little can be done
on an estate without their assistance. It


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c. 301
would be better to contract the sphere of
cane cultivation, than suffer the grass pieces
to run to ruin, or become an open common,
as a heavy loss and painful disappointment
must be the consequences of neglecting
them. They are easily kept clean, the
growth of nourishing grass maintained, if
regularly once or twice a year they are well
billed, and the sour grass and noxious weeds
stocked up; but if they are suffered to run
to ruin, the grass wears out, the sun is ex-
cluded from giving its vital succour to the
roots; the strength of the ground is ex.
hausted, in the support of superfluous bushes
and weeds; the natural and artificial nu-
tricious grass for feeding the cattle becomes
extinct; want ensues; the cattle and mules
exhibit a lean, ragged, starved appearance;
weakness seizes them, and they are unable
to go through the heavy work that is allotted
to them. Such are the effects of letting
pastures on a sugar estate go to decay.
This is done for the sake of the shallow,
ostentatious motive, of keeping up a large


302
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
.
field of canes, a great part of the product of
which must, in the sequel, be laid out in
the purchase of cattle and mules, which
have been killed by over-work and stary-
ation ; or what is nearly as bad, being
forced to employ a jobber, at a heavy
expence, to bill the neglected pastures,
which can scarcely be reclaimed, the dis-
ease becoming incurable. Neither (will I
make bold to assert) is any work of this
kind ever done so well by a mercenary,
superficial jobbing gang, as it will by the
estate people. Another matter I must beg
leave to advert to, is the propensity in most
overseers of the old school to try every
means to swell the crop of sugar, at the
risk and expence of every thing else, of
equal magnitude, if taken upon the great
principle of preserving the capital of the
proprietor. Nothing argues well with the
persons but the magnitude of the sugar
crop, which by its sickly bulk brings on a
fatal malady to other component parts of
the estate ; and the only thing gained by


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c. 303
it is, that the overseer's vanity is fed, and
his fame spread about, for making a large
| crop of sugar. The resident agent seldom
visits the estate, and when he does, saunters
a little in the great house, takes a transient
view of some of the near cáne pieces, and
asks a few cursory questions. The distant
cultivation is not often noticed ; and he is
kept ignorant of the wretched state of the
once verdant and flourishing pastures. He
mounts his horse, or gets into his chaise,
and drives off somewhere else, quite satis-
fied that the overseer and himself have done
their duty, and does not pay another visit
to the property for six or twelve months.
At last the mortality among the cattle and
mules is such (the woeful consequence of
hard work, starvation, and disease), that
the overseer must divulge and make known
to him the sad story. He prays for a fresh
supply of cattle and mules. This astonishes
the resident island agent: he is roused
from his lethargy, hastily comes to the
estate, and there beholds the sad remnant,
OT
rem


304
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
the miserable spectacle of the few remain.
ing cattle and mules, reduced to such a
state by intense work, in taking off a heavy
crop of canes, in all weathers, and starved,
by the improvident measure of neglecting
the pastures, in order to increase the over-
seer's reputation in making a great (but
overcharged) sugar crop, and to swell the re-
sident agent's charge of per centage on the
account sales. He then, to exonerate himself
from any charge of dereliction of duty, ac-
cuses the overseer of imposing false accounts
on him, assumes an air of dissatisfaction,blus-
ters a little, goes home, and seeks for another
overseer to succeed the former. In a short
time he proceeds to relieve him of his charge;
and then the whole history of former mis-
management is developed and explained.
A gang of forty negroes will clean better
than one hundred acres of pasture in a
fortnight, if not too foul. . The masons
on an estate should, at the same time, go
round the stone-wall fences, to repair them
where they are broken. This being finished,


. OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
305
(except very dry weather ensues for a long
time,) there will be plenty of provender for
the stock during the crop, with the addition
of guinea-grass intervals, gullys, and mar-
gins, (which are contiguous to the cane-
pieces,) to cut, in order to provide feeding
for the mule stable and cattle pens. While
the great gang is employed in billing or
cleaning pastures, the second gang should
be engaged in the cane field, where most
necessary. The carpenters should be em-
ployed in making the necessary repairs to
the buildings, preparatory to crop. The
coopers should be employed in splitting
staves and heading, in the woods, which
may be carried by mules to the works, and
heaped and piled up there. After the stone
wall fences are made up, the masons should
be at the works, making preparations in
their department for what may be wanted
about the coppers, stills, the different build-
ings, and white-washing the whole of the
houses, inside and outside. The copper-
smiths and plumbers should be soldering


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c. 307
may be somewhat stony, will suit it,
and if it abound with stones, may be cleared
of them, to build a wall round the pastures
where wanted. If a piece of land, of eight
or ten acres of this description can be ob-
tained, close to, or adjoining the other pas-
tures, so much the better; it will be still
more favourable, if a spring or pond of water
is in it, as the fences of the old pastures will
divide it from them, and partly surround it.
To plant and establish this piece of land in
guinea-grass, I would set in the great gang
with good sharp bills and hoes, and if the
land has any underwood upon it, it should
be cut down, junked, and sent home by
mules to the works, for copper-wood; then
billed down and hoed off from bushes and
weeds ; no fruit trees, such as lemons, limes,
oranges, citrons, or even large guavas,
should be cut down, except they are too
thick on the ground. When the bushes
and weeds are dry, they should be burned,
and the land being thus cleared and pre-
pared, the masons should be put in, to make
x 2


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c. 309
the piece, and begin planting them, by
placing the two plants for each hole oppo-
site one another, in a reclining position, in
the bottom of it, with their roots down in
the hole, and nearly touching each other.
The stalky part of each plant should be
above ground a little, and extend in a re-
clining way, opposite each other, to the
extreme length of the hole. Then the
mold should be drawn from the bank upon
them. In this manner the ground may be
planted out in guinea-grass. The best time
to plant it, is the month of May, for it will
seed (if taken care of and kept clean) in
the following October. Guinea-grass re-
quires to be molded, when the stalks and
roots throw out new stalks and grass shoots.
The holes should be well filled up with
soil, and any sour grass and weeds, which
may spring up through the piece, must be
well hoed off, whenever the piece begins
to be foul. It will require at least two
cleanings before October, when it will seed,
and when ripe, the seed will scatter through
x 3


310
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
the piece, and sow and establish itself.
After the first seeding, some light cattle
may be turned into it, to nip the top of the
grass, but no more, and their feet will
tread the seed into the ground. Then let
the gates be fastened, and the piece shut
up from grazing or cutting, till the grass
is quite high, and the seed has taken to the
ground, and grown high.
When the great gang has finished clean-
ing the pastures, and planting guinea-grass,
they should be set in to cut, and split as
much copper-wood as may answer to boil
one-third of the distilling house crop. The
able negro men ought to have sharp axes,
and bills, and the women sharp bills for the
purpose. The wood should be procured
in the most convenient place, for the carry-
ing it home, and lopped to such lengths, as
will fit the mules' backs without galling or
incommoding them. This copper-wood
should be brought home to the works in as
favourable weather as possible, the carriage
being distant and burthen heavy, so that
S


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
311
the mules may have the advantage of dry
roads, and the burthen made comparatively
easy to them; and should be piled up com-
pactly near the distilling-house.
It may be necessary to build a lime kiln,
preparatory to commencing crop on a sugar
estate ; for this should never be done if
possible during crop. If no fixed kiln is at
the works, it will be absolutely necessary
to take the great gang, together with the
carpenters, masons, and all the able hands
which can be mustered, and proceed to the
woods, for the purpose of making, one, the
men with axes and bills, and the women
with bills and baskets. It is a most labori-
ous, expensive, and dangerous work. Some
of the best timbers and wood on an estate
must be felled and lopped to certain lengths
for the purpose; each tier of wood must
have its different measured lengths, ac-
cording as they proceed in building the
kiln. The bottom tier, may be composed
of the heaviest timber, and greatest lengths,
with the thick end of the timber outwards,
x 4


312
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
in order to give an inclination to the kiln,
according as it burns, for the lime to fall in-
wards. The masons and coppersmiths
should be provided with sledges, iron crows,
hammers, and picks, to raise and break the
stones small. When wood and stones
enough are cut and broke, to form the bot-
tom tier, a circle of twenty feet in dia-
meter, should be scribed and marked out,
on a spot, where the materials are contigu-
ous, and a high stiff stake drove in the cen-
tre of this circle, to form the draft funnel
by. The negro men should then lay the
thick end of the heaviest wood to the edge
of the circle, and the thin end towards the
stake in the centre of it ; leaving a small
space for the funnel to be raised from:
when the tier of heavy wood is laid all
round the eircle, and close together, and
the interstices filled up with small wood, so
as to make it level and even, then the women
and inferior people must take their baskets,
which they are to fill with the broken
stones, and throw them on the top of the


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c. 313
wood, which the people who laid the tier
of wood should spread on it, at least a foot
thick. An experienced carpenter negro
should be placed at the centre stake, to
build the funnel, as the kiln advances in
height. When this tier of wood and stones
are laid compactly, the axe-men are to cut
lengths of timber, about twelve or fourteen
inches shorter than the under tier of wood,
sufficient for another tier ; and stones are to
be broken likewise for it. When this is
done, let them lay the second tier of wood,
on the top of the tier of stones, with the
small end of the timber close to the funnel.
This must be made to lie close, and fill in
the crannies and spaces with small wood,
so as to make the kiln gradually small to
the top, and incline to the centre. Cover
this likewise with about twelve inches of
broken stones, taking care to proceed in
forming and making the funnel, as the kiln
gets high. In this manner keep on build-
ing the kiln, for six or seven tiers ; gradu-
ally making each tier of less diameter, and


314 PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
putting a sufficiency of good heavy timber
in it, intermixed with small wood, in order
to ensure the burning of the stones
thoroughly. When the lime-kiln is built
as high as is requisite, or the before-men-
tioned number of tiers, let a dry ants' nest
be obtained, which being set fire to, must
be thrown down the funnel, and some dry
sticks along with it, and placed over it, so
as to catch fire. A negro should be placed
to watch it, and feed the fire at the bottom
of the funnel, with light dry chips, till the
fire catches the adjoining timber with pro-
per effect. There is then no fear of the
lime-kiln not burning well, and in a few hours
the whole of the timber will be consumed,
the stones burned through, and lying in one
promiscuous heap of strong lime. A kiln
of twenty feet in diameter, will make six,
teen sugar hogsheads of lime, or perhaps
more. It will take some days to cool be-
fore it is fit to carry home; and it may be
necessary when it gets cool, to make a shed
over it to protect it from the weather,


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
315
The building of a lime kiln in the woods of
Jamaica, should never be done if possible :
it is laborious, dangerous and expensive, in
drawing off the principal people of the estate
from other work. By having a fixed kiln at
the works, a few hogsheads of lime can at any
time be conveniently and speedily burned;
there will then be fresh lime for tempering
cane liquor whenever required, and a great
waste of it prevented; which cannot some-
times be avoided in the alternative of going
to the woods to build a kiln. One half of
it often lies there to be washed away by
rain, or stolen by the negroes. It likewise
loses its active alkaline qualities, by expo-
sure to the weather and air. The carriage
home will be saved, which is a troublesome
job, for the negroes and mules.
One thing more I shall beg leave to in-
trude on the notice of my readers and the
planter, which is, the care and cleaning of
the provision grounds, previous to beginning
crop, that were . planted or established for
the support of the resident white people on


316
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
the estate. There are many planters who
think this duty even worse than a minor ob-
ject in the scale of true plantership. This
is a despicable thought, for if there are no
such provisions, if there is a dearth of them,
where is their resource for a supply? Is it
by begging of their neighbours, or the
slaves of the estate, that they are to obtain
it? or is it by bartering away the produce
of the estate, that they are to be furnished
with such necessaries ? In any of those
cases, there is a lamentable precarious de-
pendance. If we do not sow, we cannot
reap; if we do not plant, we cannot gather;
and if we abandon those necessaries of life
when planted, to perish for want of care,
we commit a double crime against God and
nature, and deserve the punishment and
affliction of famine: especially in such a
climate as Jamaica, that is subject to such
violent vicissitudes, such perishing heats,
and destructive storms, we should be ever
watchfully provident, to have a good scope
of ground provisions planted in patches, to


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c.
317
1
become ripe in succession ; such as cocoas,
yams, cassava, and sweet potatoes ; the me-
thod of planting which, I shall describe in
another place. The space of ground they
cover, is trifling in comparison to the cane
and grass cultivation on an estate. Three
acres of ground provisions, kept moderately,
clean, after they are established, will give
an ample supply, even for years, for the
support of the resident white people on an
estate. The cocos, cassava, and sweet po-
tatoes, will ratoon for two or three years,
the negro yams are a yearly crop, but the
white yams will last in the ground for
several years. A gang of thirty negroes
will clean and mold three acres of ground
provisions in little more than a day, and
all they require is two good cleanings in a
year, yielding by this trivial attention a
supply of provisions, in case of storms,
which will in a great measure bid defiance
to their effects. Other provision grounds,
which will not bear storms, should likewise
have their share of notice, that is, the plan-


318
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
tain walk, or walks, which an estate is gene-
rally provided with, but if suffered to go to
ruin, will produce very little. The plan-
tain walk will stand very dry weather,
though not a storm, so that in case the
ground provisions should be backward, on
account of dry weather, the plantain walk
will furnish the table with excellent nutri-
tious food, generally esteemed by the
negro epicure, as his best vegetable diet;
and the white man in Jamaica terms it
bread-kind, or a good substitute for it. I
have known some overseers, after receiving
the charge of an estate, where abundance
of all kinds of provisions were already
planted and established to their hand, so
shamefully neglect them, that in about
eighteen months, they had scarcely any
provisions to gather in and eat. They then
resorted to the expedient of bartering to
procure some, and had courage (or rather
audacity) enough to ask their employer, to
purchase flour for them, to supply their
table, instead of what they wantonly and


OF THE SUGAR-CANE, &c. 319
improvidently neglected. Let me here
strenuously impress the necessity of paying
impartial regard to this most essential re-
quisite, to avoid the sad consequences of
famine, by such fatal short-sighted conduct.
To conclude this part of my work, I must
observe, and lay it down as a rule, that
after the copper-wood, staves, &c.
brought home to the works, the mules
should have rest for a fortnight, with good
feeding, and attention paid to their wounds
if they have any, before crop begins.
are


320
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES,
CHAP. VI.
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES AND MANUFACTURING
SUGAR.
Having (with as much precision as I pre-
sume to think attainable) brought the theory
and practice of plantership in general into
a system, so far as relates to the manage-
ment of a sugar estate, down to the period
in which the sugar cane is deemed fit to
cut, in order to be manufactured into sugar;
I will now venture progressively to go on
in describing the method of cutting the
cane, and transforming its juices into sugar
and rum. The necessary apparatus for the
working cattle and mules being ready to
tackle them with ; the mill in proper order
to bear stress of work, well secured and
clean ; the gutterings, coppers, and stills
perfect, scoured, clean, and fit for the re-
ception of ripe uncontaminated cane liquor;
the curing-house cleaned out, the mill-yard


322
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES,
the canes. The tiers, or rear division, to.
be only one-third as numerous as the front,
or cutters ; because the tiers will bundle
the canes up faster, than the cutters can
supply the proper number. A gang of forty
negroes will compose thirty cutters, and ten
tiers of canes. The gang should be set in
on a fair breadth, generally at the farthest
end of the cane piece first, as it may suit
best, to prevent the ratoon sprouts as they
come up being injured or eaten by the
stock, when carrying canes or tops off the
field, or as that part of the piece may come
ripe first. Each negro in the front division
should have a cane-row assigned him, and
they should be made to cut their rows, or
work in as regular a manner as possible.
The rear division, or tiers, must keep re-
gular pace or time with the cutters. The
driver and book-keeper should have a strict
watch over them, to prevent any sour, rat-
eaten, or sucker canes being tied up, to be
sent to the mill for sugar boilings. These
will make bad sugar, plague and distract
ed
21


324
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES, -
how to top the canes, whether long or short.
Much depends on such skilful circumspec-
tion in making good sugar, with little boil-
ing or fuel, and preventing subsequent
trouble, in correcting the bad effects of
spurious liquor being mixed with the ripe,
genuine cane juice ; which a little previous
and experienced forethought might have
obviated. In rank, moist, heavy soils, the
sugar cane, when ordered to be cut for
making sugar, should be long topped; that
is, the plant top should be left long, as the
juices in the four or five joints towards the
summit of the canes is poor, unmatured,
and difficult to granulate in the boiling;
taking an overplús of lime, not only to pre-
vent it turning sour soon, but to separate
the essential salt of the liquor from its
spumy muscous parts. If this is not at-
tended to, the sugar will be soft grained,
dingy coloured, take a great deal of boiling,
and expend much fuel in the operation.
Canes which are, or lately have been ar-
rowed, suckered round the top joints, or


AND MANUFACTURING SUGAR.
325
suffered to run foul by not being brushed,
require to be long topped; but canes which
have grown from poor, dry, light soils, are
not arrowed or suckered, and which have
been kept even moderately clean from trash,
do not need such long toppings. Two
joints in that case left on the top will be
enough, as the juices in canes from such
lands sooner become ripe, are richer, take
less time, boiling, and fuel, to convert them
into good sugar. .
The borer, an insect of a subtle, perni-
cious nature, often infests both half grown
and ripe sugar canes. It is a dreadful malady
in this plant, which hardly any experiment
can get the better of. It rages like a plague;
its pestilence is insinuating and contagious,
and makes horrid havoc for some time, and
when not expected, it suddenly ceases its
ravages and disappears. This insect is so
diminutive, as scarcely to be perceivable.
It makes its way into the cane by a small
puncture through the rind, which quickly
(by its venom) appears black, communi-
Y 3


326
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES,
cates its poison to the circulating juices of
the cane, and soon renders it an unfit sub-
stance to be converted into sugar ; at least
that part of the plant, and its vicinity, that
happens to be the seat of this destroyer.
The pith of the cane, by its active putre-
fying nature, assumes a light crimson color,
soon dries up, acquires a foetid sour smell,
and all the part so affected, must be cut and
thrown away. If it is mixed with the un-
injured, untainted part of the cane, which
is proposed to be made into sugar, the juices
will be perverted, and all the art and skill
of the manufacturer cannot turn it into
sugar. I generally found that this pesti.
lence attacked the canes which happened
to be foul, had a quantity of rat-eaten canes
lying in the cane-pieces through the rows,
and close to the stocks or roots of the canes;
which in the middle of the year, when the
sun is unusually powerful, and after show-
ery weather, caused quick and intense cor-
ruptive fermentation in such foul ingre-
dients; these generate such noxious insects,


AND MANUFACTURING SUGAR.
327
and bring this curse upon the canes. As
in the community of mankind, and the
animal creation, cleanliness is not only con-
ducive to health, but the principal means
of prolonging life, and preventing distem-
pers; so it is likewise with the vegetable
world; all means to promote and secure
their welfare by cleanliness (the best and
most salutary of doctors) should be attended
to by those who have the care of them, and
to remove from them and their vicinity,
whatever may either be of no use, or inju-
rious to them. For this reason, whenever
a cane-piece is cut down, I would put in a
gang of negroes carefully to pick and tie
up all the rat-eaten sour canes, have them
brought to the mill-yard, heaped up there
by themselves, and when no sugar is mak-
ing, have them put through the mill. Any
juice which may come from them may be
sent to the distilling-house, and the trash
carried to the trash-house for fuel. This
would answer a double good purpose, in
cleaning the cane-pieces from such an
Y 4


328
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES,
annoyance, and adding to the stock of fuel.
Immediately after these pernicious canes
are removed from the cane-piece, I would
set the gang in to turn the trash off the
cane stocks; give them air, clear them from
weeds or grass ; and if the sprouts are any
height, give them some mould. I am not
an advocate for burning off cane-pieces,
especially in dry weather parishes; as the
surface of the ground, the trash, and other
light vegetable substances, which soon
make, or are converted by the weather,
into some kind of light manure, and keep
the ground and cane stocks cool, may be
injured by so doing. But when the borer,
or even many rats invade a cane-piece, I
would set aside this consideration, and re-
sort to the alternative of burning off the
cane-pieces so infected, after I had picked
and carried off the ground the refuse rat-
eaten canes ; steady attention to cleanliness
in cane-pieces, keeping the trenches free
and open, no stagnated, putrefying water,
or pervading sour substances suffered to


AND MANUFACTURING SUGAR.
329
rem
remain on them, the rat-eaten refuse canes
removed from them, the trash turned with-
out delay, and lastly, (but perhaps not the
least remedy,) that of burning off, after the
cane pieces have been cut down, is the only
feasible cure, that I think can be devised,
with a hope of success, to annihilate and
counteract the workings, of this cruel
scourge the borer, from and among sugar
cane pieces.
· At such a period as crop time, the never-
to-be-forgotten cure of the stock, should be
a leading consideration with the manager;
some weakly people may be put in to follow
the gang, which is cutting and tying sugar
canes; to tie up long tops for the cattle and
mule pens; that is, tops with the leaf at-
tached to them, which are lopped from the
spungy end of the plant tops; they should
always be gathered fresh and green, pre-
vious to being tainted with sourness. The
stock would relish, eat heartily of them,
and not be bloated or attacked with the
gripes by feeding on them. They are


330
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES,
strengthening enlivening provender, for
both cattle and mules ; greatly assist in
furnishing the pens, both for day and night
feeding, and spare the consumption of
guinea grass, which would otherwise take
place. I do not approve of turning stock
into a cane-piece to feed, (which is very
often done) as the negroes cut down the
canes, as they tread, with a heavy impres-
sion, the ground too much; break and
crush the projecting, and peeping cane-
roots, which may bring on them ruin; and
the feet of the stock are liable to be cut by
the sharp ends of some of the cane stocks.
However, in wet weather, they should never
be turned to feed on a cane piece, except
one thrown up, and it matters not, in what
kind of weather, they are turned into such
an one to eat it down. It should be a
necessary routine of duty in every overseer
on a sugar estate, to regulate the number
of cattle and mules for work daily, or by
spells or teams in crop time; either in
carrying canes to the mill, turning a cattle


AND MANUFACTURING SUGAR.
331
mill, or drawing sugar to the wharf, and
carrying provender to the pens. The
mules and cattle which work one day,
should not (if it can be avoided) be worked
the next day. Sometimes it will be expe-
dient to bring home canes to the mill, by
both cattle and mules. Light carts should
be had for the cattle, and plenty of good
tackling for the mules. On an estate where
bottoms in cane cultivation, lie contiguous
to hilly land which is to be cut, fewer
mules will answer. They can carry the
canes, from the hilly distant land to the
bottom, where the carts may be loaded,
and thence by the cattle, drawn in carts to
the mill. Where bottoms alone are to be
cut, no mules need be employed in carry-
ing canes to the mill; the cattle and carts
will perform all that service. But when
an estate is mostly hilly, or no roads fit for
carts to be brought to act, the entire of the
cane carriage must be done by the mules.
It then requires an additional number of
mules, according to the distance of the cane-


332
' CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES,
piece from the works, but generally, I
found, upon an average of distant and
near cane-pieces, that fifteen or eighteen
mules, in moderate weather, when the
roads are tolerably good, were adequate to
keep the mill supplied with canes, to pro-
duce fifteen hogsheads of sugar weekly.
This quantity, one set of coppers, compris-
ing two syphons and four low coppers,
were equal to turn out weekly, to be potted
in the curing-house. It then comes to
bear, that if fifteen mules can keep the mill
in canes, to make this return weekly, and
that those fifteen mules can be spelled by
fifteen others, at a stated time in the day,
making thirty mules for one days' work, to
carry canes to the mill; and that thirty
more mules are in readiness, to work the
following day for the same purpose, that
the mules which work one day, need not
be imposed upon to work the next; and
that sixty mules will perform the requisite
cane carriage to the mill, with ease, safety,
and satisfaction, if well fed and tackled :


334
.
CUTTING RG
UGA
C
,
OF SUGAR-CANES.Cit is a dead loss. No one will purchase
such a live, worthless trunk. He prowls
about the property, breaking fences, tres-
passing on some enticing provisions, which
he instinctively finds out, is a mischievous
freebooter, and devours what the effective
stock should feed upon. A poll-tax is
assessed for him equal to a prime beast;
and I believe he is suffered to exist, chiefly
on account, that his name should not be
included in the decrease list, or bills of
mortality for an estate ; than which nothing
is more dreaded by an overseer, as his cha-
racter for good or bad plantership, is in a
great measure estimated, by this recorded
criterion.
It is at this crisis of plantership, after a
cane-piece has lately been cut down, when
nature swells and animates the cane-root,
when the earth makes it bud forth new
shoots, that the fostering care of the planter
is required, to administer to its succour
and support. The trash which has fallen
from the canes, (as they have been cut
SIL


AND MANUFACTURING SUGAR.
335
down,) lies promiscuously with dry cane
tops, sour rat-eaten canes, and other rub-
bish, on the imbedded cane-roots, which
naturally call to be relieved from its incum-
bent burthen, and silently implore the be-
nefit of a free expanse of air, that they
may quicken in their growth. - The over-
seer should then, as soon as the cane-piece
is cut down,. (except he intends to dig
and replant the piece,) set in the great
gang to turn this load of trash off the cane-
roots, place it regularly in the spaces be-
tween them, and clean the trenches out,
to prevent water from lodging. It would
be rather soon then to dig any mold to
give them. They only want and demand
freedom and air, to cherish and make them
start from their stocks. This turning of
trash off them, is transient work, and soon
performed. But in about two or three
weeks afterwards, or when the sprouts are
six or eight inches high, it will be necessary
to put a gang in, to give them a plentiful
molding, in order to cover their roots and


336
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES,
feed their stems; and likewise to hoe off or
pull up any grass or weeds which may grow in
the spaces, or between the sprouts, and clean
the intervals and margins, from bushes or
weeds. This work comes in the line of me.
thod, which every overseer should prescribe
to himself, in the management of a sugar
estate, which if once lost sight of, will en-
danger and confound the whole system,
making it both vague, deranged, and ulti-
mately unproductive.
Cleanliness should ever be strictly ob-
served in every department connected with
sugar boiling, as it chiefly promotes the
manufacture of sparkling, strong-grained,
fair-coloured, marketable Muscovada sugar.
Slimy sourness will be prevented or coun-
teracted by frequent cleansing and washing
the mill-cases, mill-beds, liquor-gutters, re-
ceivers, and syphons; the leads of the low
coppers, strainers, ladles, and skimmers ;
no trash should be allowed to remain long
in the mill-house, nor spumy pith in the
mill-bed or gutterings, which often gathers
se
SI


AND MANUFACTURING SUGAR.
337
imperceptibly there, soon ferments, and
diffuses, by its slimy sourness, rank pesti-
lence to the cane liquor, as it descends to
the boiling house. A perforated plate of
copper or lead should be soldered across
the liquor-gutter, a few feet from the mill-
bed, to prevent particles of trash or slime
from running with the liquor ; but this is
so often neglected, that sometimes the re-
ceiver in the boiling house gets partly filled
up with this poisonous stuff. A negro boy
or girl should always be stationed in the
mill-house, to keep this plate or strainer
clear; and likewise the mill-bed and gutter
free from trash. It has been a custom to
keep' a barrel in the mill-house to throw
this vile stuff into, but I condemn such a
practice, and would have a vessel, stationed
outside the mill-house, at some distance to
receive it. The best vinegar obtained on an
estate is from the drainings of this barrel,
which plainly evinces its quickness in be-
coming a strong acid. The smell of it is
wafted to the adjacent cane liquor, its con-


AND MANUFACTURING SUGAR.
339
work, to guarantee, by his presence and
experience, the safety of it; to keep the
mill-gang to their work; to see that the
stokeholes are supplied with dry trash, the
green trash taken from the mill to the trash
houses, and well packed there, the mill
furnished with canes by the cane carriers ;
the mill well braced; the cogs and gud.
geons greased; the mill-bed, cases, and
gutterings, well washed three or four times
a day, and plenty of water to turn the
water wheel. This officer should be a car-
penter, who understands the formation of
the mill machinery, can easily detect any
fault or tameness in its members, and quick-
ly find a remedy for the defect. The mill-
gang and inferior boilers are chosen by the
head driver, from among the great and
second gangs, and are composed of such
effective people as he may deem proper for
the work. The head boiler should always
be an experienced negro in such work.
He is chosen by the overseer, to follow his
directions, and to conduct the critical busi-
z 2


AND MANUFACTURING SUGAR.
343
off on Saturday night, when plenty of
water should be thrown into them, in order
to have them cool, to be ready for scouring.
By stopping fire, in order to restore, or re-
gain a proper quantity of liquor to those
coppers, a good week's work is interrupted,
labour is lost, as some of the workmen
remain idle; fuel is wasted; the coppers are
apt to scale and burn; whatever liquor re-
mains in them becomes rancid, cloudy, and
skips indifferent sugar. Some overseers are
passionately fond of night work, and send
the mill-gang and boilers to the field during
the greater part of the day, on purpose to
push on some favorite field work, which, in
my opinion, is a bad plan, if it can be
avoided. There may be an excuse for such
stoppages when they have not stock to sup-
ply the mill with canes, when there is a
dearth of water, or the mill is not powerful
enough to supply the coppers with liquor;
otherwise, I presume to think, such schemes
are untoward; have nothing but shallow
policy to justify them, and are designed to
24


AND MANUFACTURING SUGAR.
345
and weeds, and are top-heavy from arrow-
ing. All this must be taken into the account,
and a nice circumspection used (knowing
these different circumstances) in tempering
the cane liquor with lime. I have seen
some cane liquor, take more than a pound
of strong lime to three hundred gallons,
and other liquor, not more than two ounces
of lime to the same quantity. This is a
problem which requires to be solved, to
make the efficacy of the operation certain.
The only way to elucidate it, to make it
perceptible to the mind, so as to form it
into a fixed practice, is to pay attention to
the before-mentioned remarks. There are
two motives for mixing strong lime with
cane liquor; one is, to prevent and super-
sede the souring of the liquor, the other to
cause it to granulate, (after it is purified by
boiling and skimming,) and separate its
essential salts from its spumy, mucous sub-
stances. The addition of lime is as a pre.
server ; it does not clarify the cane liquor,
nor give a fair color to the sugar. On the
ca


346
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES,
contrary, a large quantity of lime mingled
with the cane liquor, gives a dark blackish
hue to the liquor, makes the grain of the
sugar too large and hard, liable to crack
and scale in the coolers, and sink in the
hogshead when potted, shewing a scaly,
porous, light body, and gives a reddish
brown color to the sugar, not suitable to a
good market, and therefore not profitable.
I would strongly recommend, when cane
liquor is to be tempered with lime, that
only one half of what is requisite to be
given it, should be mixed in the receiver
with the liquor, purely to keep it from
turning sour; and after the liquor gets
partly clarified in the syphons, is drawn
from them into the low coppers, well puri-
fied and boiled there; passed to the tache,
and boiled there to a proper consistency,
then add to it, the remainder of what lime
may be necessary. This the head boiler
will soon know, by dipping the ladle or
skimmer into the tache, drawing it out,
and observing how the syrup or sugar runs


348
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES,
handle on the rail over the coppers, or
keeping it in a position, so that the edge
of the skimmer will drain off what syrup
may be on it. When most of the syrup is
run off, if there should be a thin membrane,
or glossy web appear, pending from the
edge of the skimmer; if this should break,
and drop suddenly from the skimmer, with-
out forming wiry threads, the syrup is suf.
ficiently boiled, granulated, and becomes
sugar ; but if otherwise, it will take more
boiling and perhaps more lime, before it is
fit to be skipped into the coolers. . But I
prefer the former mode, as by it the double
purpose is answered, of knowing when the
sugar is properly boiled, and rightly tem-
pered with lime; or the alkaline prevailing
over any acidity, which may happen to
have been in the liquor ; besides the former
mode of assay, is performed and acquired
with more ease.
When the liquor is tempered with lime
in the receiver, the vessel full, and a syphon
ready to contain it, with a moderate fine
strainer placed over the syphon, for the


AND MANUFACTURING SUGAR.
349
CO
liquor to run through, it should be drawn
off from the receiver into the syphon, but
no grounds or filth should be allowed to
follow it into that vessel. The damper be-
longing to the flue, which revolves round
the syphon, should then be hauled up, to
convey heat to it, till a thick scum gathers
on the surface of the liquor, denoting the
effects of the purifying heat. The syphon
should not be allowed to boil, but as soon
as this scum appears, the damper should be
run down the whole of its groove to the
bottom; and the negro stationed to mind
the syphons, should take a skimmer, and
gently take off the greater part of the scum,
though not by any way to disturb the body
of the liquor. I must here premise, that
all · skimmings and washings from the
syphons and coppers, should be thrown into
a gutter, and conveyed to the distilling-
house. Nothing of this kind should be lost
or wasted, as the distilling-house crop is
much increased, by mixing it with the
molasses, in preparing liquor in that depart-
ment for fermentation, in order to produce


350
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES,
rum. When the liquor is drawn off from
the receiver, that vessel should be particu-
larly well washed out with pure water,
which will not take long in doing. It
should then be filled again with liquor, and
tempered with lime while filling. When it
is full, and the other syphon ready clean,
let the liquor be drawn from it to the second
syphon, taking care to place the strainer
as before on the syphon, for the liquor to
run through it, and no mud or filth suffered
to go from the receiver into that vessel,
The damper belonging to that syphon
should then be hauled up, till the oper.
ation of the heat through the liquor, causes
a thick scum to form on its surface. Then
let the damper down as before, take the
scum gently off with a skimmer, without
disturbing the body of the liquor. When
the liquor in these two syphons is partially
purified, by moderate heat pervading it, it
is to be drawn down by a stop cock, from
the first syphon to the low coppers, so far,
as the convex part of the bottom of the
syphon may be seen. Then stop the cock


AND MANUFACTURING SUGAR.
351
for a short time, for the remainder of the
liquor for two or three gallons is muddy
and scummy stuff, (which descends with
the liquor, upon its surface, according as it
is drawn off to the low coppers,) and unfit
to be mixed with the rest of the liquor to
make sugar. When the cock is stopped
for a short time, in order to prevent any
filth from running into the grand copper,)
it is to be again opened, and what filthy re-
crement is left in the syphon, should be
turned into the skimming gutter, which
leads to the distilling-house. This syphon
should then be well washed out with pure
water. All this should be run off the
syphon before the cock is stopped; when
well washed, the syphon should be again
filled with liquor from the receiver, and its
damper hauled up; then the liquor from
the second syphon, must be drawn off in
like manner to the low coppers, observing
to stop the cock for a short time. When
the bottom of the syphon appears, let the
dross be turned to the distilling-house, then
the vessel well washed with pure water as


AND MANUFACTURING SUGAR.
353
him the materials of sweets to do so; or filches
from him (because he is possessed of para-
mount authority,) the very dregs of the
boiling-house coppers, and boils the sugar
so hard and high, that little drainings of
molasses will issue from it. The resident
agent seldom visits the boiling-house. A
cooler of good sugar will be made now and
then by such an overseer, a sample of
which he dexterously sends to the agent,
who approves of it. He is lulled and
duped into an approbation of the abilities
and integrity of the overseer, and imagines
this sort of sugar prevails throughout the
crop; but it is only when the account sales
arrive from home, depicting the miserable
sales of the sugars, on account of their bad
quality, that this fraud will be clearly seen.
If this overseer happens to be a favourite
with the resident island agent, he only re-
ceives a 'rebuke, with injunctions to mend
his practice in this particular for the future.
I perfectly remember a most heinous trait
of this description, in a certain elderly over-
AA


AND MANUFACTURING OF SUGAR.' 357
should be called on to make a strong fire
under the tache. The fire made in the fur-
nace communicates, with amazing force and
rapidity, by draft flues collateral to the
chimney to the other coppers and syphons.
According as the liquor slowly works up,
by the force of the fire, the head boiler
being at the tache, and the other three low
coppers, having a negro each attending
them, should be cleanly skimmed from any
foulness or scum that is thrown up to the
surface; such skimming may be turned into
the gutter leading to the distilling house.
This requires constant attention, according
as the liquor evaporates in the tache, it is
to be filled from the liquor in the adjoining
copper; the adjoining copper to be replen-
ished from the second copper, and the
second copper from the grand; straining
the liquor from one copper into the other,
but taking care not to empty the coppers
so far that they may burn, but keep their
sides cool with liquor, till beyond the power
of the fire to injure them. Nearly all the
A A 3


358
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES,
,
liquor should be passed from the grand cop-
per to the other low coppers (to which it is
tributary) before fresh liquor is drawn into
it from the syphon. As what has been
already boiled in the grand copper has been
in a great measure clarified by skimming,
it would be wrong to add impure to pure
liquor. The grand copper being again filled
from the first syphon, which has been par-
tially purified by heat, the syphon, as be-
fore directed, should be well washed out,
again filled from the receiver, and the con-
stant routine of skimming the low coppers
persisted in. The fire having penetrated
through every aperture of the furnace and
flues, by being constantly fed with the
strongest dry mill-trash, its power becomes
so great that the surface or leads, which
unite the low coppers, appears a sheet of
foaming liquor. Keeping up such a con-
stant good fire (if the liquor is pure and
good) will be a principal means of making
fair-coloured crystaline sugar. The over-
seer, head-boiler, or book-keeper, should


360
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES,
hard or high. In about a couple of minutes
after this operation the syrup becomes sugar,
and fit to skip into the cooler. This is as-
certained by the head boiler ordering the
stoker to stop the fire, and open the cool-
ing gate at the tache end of the furnace, so
that the coppers will not burn while the
sugar is skipping into the cooler. This be-
ing done, and the grating bars in the fur.
nace cleared of ashes and cinders, the liquor
from the third copper passed into the empty
tache, that from the second to the third cop-
per, and from the grand to the second cop-
per, and the liquor from the syphon that is
longest purified drawn into the grand cop-
per; then fire is again to be made under
the tache, and the same routine of steady
strong boiling kept up, straining, skimming,
and passing the liquor from one copper to
the other, as waste by evaporation demands,
till the liquor in the tache is again con-
densed into syrup, sugar again produced,
and fit to be skipped into the cooler. In
this manner the work is to go on in the


AND MANUFACTURING OF SUGAR. 361
boiling-house, with little interruption, till
the coolers are nearly full, or sufficient in
them, to pot one or two hogsheads of sugar.
As soon as the sugar is skipped into a cooler,
the head boiler is to take a stirring-stick, a
long stout rod, made flat for eighteen inches
at one end, and three inches broad where
it is flat, and with this stick work the sugar
to and fro in the cooler to mix it well, then
gently pass the end of the stick over the
surface of it, till it is streaked by so doing
all over. Then let it rest for about twenty
minutes, till it forms a crust on the surface,
at which time, before it is too cool, take the
turn stick again and pass it over the sur-
face gently to break the crust, and give a
crystalised variegated appearance to the
sugar in the cooler. This method is to be
observed with every skip of sugar that is
passed into the coolers.
When a sufficiency of sugar is collected
in the coolers to pot one or two hogsheads
of sugar, and that it is so cool that the
finger may remain in it, then let a couple of


364 .
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES,
canes, and manufacturing their juices into
sugar, by stating, that though much depends
on the care and management the cane re-
ceives in the field, to be successful in
making bright strong-grained fair-coloured
sugar, together with a due and satisfactory
quantity of it, according to the means which
can be brought into action for that purpose :
yet this prudent judicious management may
be in a great measure defeated by wilful
neglect, ignorance, inattention to cleanli-
ness, bad fires, or clandestine plotting in the
boiling-house. So that though much has
been done in the field towards prosperous
results, the operations in the boiling-house
should ever claim due attention, as there
the long weary trial of patient skill is to
stand a philosophical test ; for a happy or
an unfortunate termination.
Once more I shall beg leave to intro-
duce to the notice of my readers and the
planters, the necessity and effect of manur-
ing high for cane culture, as the rearing
of that plant causes great exhaustion to the
land. And further, strongly to urge the


AND MANUFACTURING OF SUGAR. 365
good consequences which follow from con-
fining the cane cultivation to an improved
compact compass; and having all the cane-
pieces within that compass well manured
and taken care of, instead of stretching an
unbounded, scattered, ill-attended, and ill-
cultivated field of canes, that would be
accompanied and saddled with immense
labour, loss of stock, and indifferent re-
turns of sugar. As an instance of this false
and destructive management, I shall here
beg leave to introduce a circumstance of
deplorable and unbounded extravagance in
a resident island agent; or rather to point
out his partiality for waste and destruction,
his ostentatious prodigality, his tyranny in
prosecuting it, his deception in tampering
with and ensnaring his constituent into a
belief of the immense advantages to be de-
rived from his ill-fraught, ill-digested, but
selfish scheme ; his bold, bụt weak, rash
undertaking ; his choice of overseers to pro-
secute his darling object. The fate of this
estate, and its entire capital, will be remem-
bered for many years by those concerned


366
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES,
in it, and exist, as an indelible mark of
folly and vanity.
In an angle of the parish of St. Mary's,
in Jamaica, bearing nearly equidistant from
Port Maria, Oracabessa, and Salt Gut, and
about three miles from the borders of St.
Thomas in the Vale, lies an estate, whose
amphitheatre of hills embosoms, and nearly
wraps up its compact, eligible, set of works.
Its only public road, for the carriage of
its produce to the wharf, winds by the
course of a rivulet, which, after running in
a serpentine direction, for about a mile and
a quarter, joins the main road in a corner
of the vale of Bagnals. The almost insu-
lar position in which it is placed, and
sequestered station, the narrow winding
road leading to it, the view of its durable
works, which bursts suddenly on the sight,
and its surrounding abrupt hills, which are
cultivated with sugar-canes, in some places
nearly to their summit, impress the stranger
(nay even those acquainted with it) with
the romantic sublimity of the place, and
draw forth an expression of admiration, as


AND MANUFACTURING SUGAR.
367
to the persevering, arduous labour of man,
in establishing it as a sugar estate. A most
noble spectacle in the scenery here is, a
stupendous white shelving rock, that with
dreadful grandeur spreads to a considerable
curve-like breadth, and upwards of one
hundred feet in height, overhanging in pro-
jecting strata, from its immense base to its
impending summit, which threatens mo-
mentary destruction to every thing under-
neath ; yet the hand of Providence, and
natural adhesion of the massy strata of this
frightful precipice, keeps it from tumbling
to the bottom, and preserves unshaken its
terrific aspect. · In rainy weather, from the
top of this rock, and out of a channel,
(which time has formed, by the action of
an impetuous stream from heavy rain,) de-
scends a torrent of water, into a natural
basin below. This cataract is seen from a
great distance after heavy rain, and the
foaming surge made from it, causes a roar,
and mist to arise, which is truly striking
and picturesque. Even in dry weather,
when some springs cease to pour forth a


368
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES,
supply of water, the strata of this rock is
always seen to percolate, and drip down to
the receiving basin beneath, a gentle shower
of filtered, limpid water. From this basin
likewise, as well as from some neighbouring
springs, a large mill-dam is supplied, whose
water turns an extensive mill on the works
of this estate, and is also the parent of the
rivulet which flows at the base of its hills,
along the margin of its winding, barquadier
road, that at last loses itself in the Rio
Nuova river.
• The resident island planting agent for this
estate had to deal with a constituent, who
though residing in the island, was wholly en-
grossed in mercantile speculations, a stranger
to the duties and qualifications of a planter,
and had his residence in the emporium of
the island. He confidently trusted to the
skill and unbiassed conduct of this (as
he thought) efficient planting agent. The
estate was a partnership concern for some
years, and one of the partners resided on it.
It was involved in a chancery suit. In the


AND MANUFACTURING SUGAR.
369
year 1809, the partner who lived on the
estate was induced to leave it, and resign
his claims for a certain consideration to the
representative of the other partner, who
now became its possessor, although still
pending in chancery. When the resident
partner (who was likewise the overseer of
the estate) was about leaving, it was found
necessary to send an overseer to obtain pos-
session from him, and take charge of it.
These changes were anticipated for some
time. Every thing was in a state of back-
wardness for commencing crop, though in
the month of March. No copper-wood
was cut; half the pastures in ruin; no land
prepared or dug to put in spring plants; and
the coppers in a deranged state ; but few,
and they all worn out, crippled Spanish
cattle on the estate, to make manure and
carry the produce to the wharf; immense
jobbing, which previously was spent on the
estate, was suspended or withheld; and it
was not till the month of May that the over-
seer who received possession, and took
BB


AND MANUFACTURING SUGAR.
373
part of the island family, and employed and
patronised them. In thus giving protec-
tion, and affording impartial opportunities
to the deserving and the upright, they never
reflected on the licentious views which
might have been transplanted with those
emigrants, or the dark but aspiring policy
which has marked their gradual exaltation.
They have now mastered the Floridas, and
will soon have a powerful navy, both sta-
tioned in, and sweeping the gulfs of Flo-
rida and Mexico. We may look to Cuba
and Jamaica for their next enterprising at-
tempt; for they will seize an unguarded,
favourable moment to attack and possess
themselves of those valuable colonies. No
matter in what corner of the world, any of
those ramblers were, or are placed; a latitude
has been given to their endeavours and enter-
prises, which has levelled almost every thing
to their mental standard, and made them
partake of the enjoyments and privileges,
not only of British subjects, but of citizens
of the world.
BB 3


374.
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES,
. An estate in the parish of St. Thomas,
in the vale, (nearly two miles to the north-
east of Bogwalk, which verges on a branch
of the river Rio Cobre,) nurtured a middle
aged, but now nearly superannuated soldier,
of this western tribe of emigrants. He
there basked in the sunshine of prosperity for
some years, and patronage accumulated on
him, till his ambition made him vain, super-
stitious, and at last not very scrupulous how
this estate, and others under him, was at-
tended to. Always aiming at personal
aggrandizement, he did not regard a little
infraction of justice. After a number of
years spent with various success, he ven-
tured, in his advanced age, on the solacing
scheme of matrimony, and united himself
with a young Creole lady, not twenty-five
years old. In the natural course of time
she blessed him with so many children, as
to alarm him, and cause his brain to be
prolific in ways and means for their sup.
port, education, and future fortunes. Re-
trenchment was first adopted, his constitu-


376
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES,-
with the discharge of the first overseer, be-
cause he imagined that man (as he often
said, was of rather too independent a turn
of mind for him) was not, or would not, be
congenial to his schemes, and that contri-
butions for his table would be but slowly
and scantily sent in.
Although this estate had a number of
excellent Negro carpenters upon it, and
belonging to it, who were fully adequate to
what work of that kind might be wanted,
yet this agent, in the unrestrained latitude
of his spirit, called in the assistance of a
white carpenter, at a considerable expense,
to erect a shoot, or strong wooden trough, in
order to precipitate the canes from one part of
his field to the bottom of the hill. This was
a piece of rude mechanism, which the estate
carpenters could accomplish, with no ex.
pense but their own labour. He not only
heaped this expense on the property, but
threw up and destroyed a valuable produc-
tive cane-piece of eleven acres, which lay
contiguous to the works, to make room for,


378
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES,
soil, unfit and unprofitable for the cultiva-
tion of canes, a bad, distant, and a broken
up track or road, for carriage to and from
it; and what was of infinite injury to any
canes that were planted there, the entire
neighbourhood of this land was surrounded
to a great distance by ground which har-
boured an endless number of large rats.
To the extent of twelve to eighteen acres of
this wood, did he order his novice of an
overseer to have cut down, burned off, and
planted with canes, though even the plant
tops were obliged to be carried by mules
from a great distance to it, through a bad
road, over the stumps of trees, and through
tough, boggy holes. This land was sepa-
rated by a high rocky hill from any of the
cane-pieces, or cultivated spots on the estate,
and unprotected by fences. Although land
of far better texture for the cultivation of
canes was on the estate, which was divested
of wood, and had not been much exhausted
by tillage, lay more commodious for carri-
age, had an exposed aspect to the sun,
13


AND MANUFACTURING SUGAR.
379
(which this wood land had not) and much
nearer the works than this, which some ma-
nure would have made adequate to produce
three hogsheads of good sugar per acre, yet
it was passed by unheeded. After bestowing
the most arduous labour of the negroes and
mules, cutting down, burning, and destroy-
ing this valuable wood, and striving to esta-
blish this land as a cane-piece, it yielded
only two poor crops of bad sugar. The
rats became masters of it, and it now lays
a ruinous memorial of the folly and extrava-
gance of this vain resident planting agent.
In enumerating the almost endless, and I
may say fruitless folly of this man, in the
planting system, I should too much digress
from my main subject. Suffice it to say,
that he not only destroyed this wood land,
by putting it in canes, which was thrown
up shortly after, but he made this and two
other successive overseers mutilate the
estate, and its fine grazing pastures, and
devote one-third of them, at a great dis-
tance from the works, to cane-culture : he


380
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES,
half-starving the cattle and mules, a great
part of whom perished by overwork,
and want of the plenty they were accus-
tomed to, All this while, the old cane-
pieces of the estate were turned up, dug
and planted in canes, without intermission
or rest, and little manure, save one solitary
piece. Even the very negro grounds, that
had thrown up guinea grass, and which was
serviceable and convenient, for cutting as
provender, for the mule-stable, and cattle-
pens, was taken up in cane-pieces; so that
an immense field of canes was spread out
in every direction. Such an extended
field necessarily required a great deal of
negro labour, to plant and preserve. A
jobbing gang belonging to a neighbouring
mountain, was by this agent's command,
called in to aid this work. Not less upon
an average than 40 effective slaves daily,
throughout the whole year, were constantly
employed on this estate, at this period,
which could not be less than an expense of


382
CUTTING OF SUGAR-CANES,
supplies. This agent never made up an
annual crop, during the three years I be-
fore mentioned, of 200 hogsheads of sugar,
which the estate could have produced from
a field, of 60 or 80 acres less of cane cul-
ture, in far better order, and a saving of
8001. or 9001. a year.
But though vanity and pride were the
principal features in this agent's character,
he never could divest himself of an in-
clination to support himself and family, at
the expense of his constituents. No dimi-
nution of his per centage occurred, in the
account sales of the produce; or reduction
for the maintenance of himself and family.
This was amassed with rigid parsimony.
Though wealthy, he was ever needy. The
spirit of avarice was never abandoned by
him; and though detected in his meanness,
his schemes exploded, himself and family
banished from his former abode, he still,
with matchless effrontery, sought for
another asylum of this kind, and esta.


AND MANUFACTURING SUGAR.
383
blished himself on a property belonging to
another of his constituents, who resided in
England; and made changes of overseers
on several plantations, to suit his conveni-
ence and interest.


MAKING AND DISTILLING OF RUM. 385
cold from disuse,) to bring on free, quick,
and strong fermentation in the liquor, after
it is compounded. It will be requisite, in
order to promote this essential property, to
bring into action something to assist its
natural efforts. The fermenting cisterns
should be well cleaned and dryed out, then
filled with some green milltrash, which has
not been much squeezed, that the fer-
mentation arising from it may sweat and
warm the cisterns. This trash should re-
main in them covered up, till they are
wanted to be filled with liquor from the
mixing cistern. The house should have a
fire made in it so central, that the warmth
of it will diffuse through it, and dispel the
chilly cold dampness of the fermenting
part of the house. The liquor should be
compounded the first round of the fer-
menting cisterns) rather lightly of heavy
sweets, so as to induce by its volatile light
quality, quick fermentation, and that in
two or three rounds of the house, by
gradually strengthening the liquor with


390 MAKING AND DISTILLING OF RUM.
till it begins to ferment. The foul drossy
head should be skimmed off it, and the
fermenting cisterns being ready for its re-
ception, it should be pumped, or allowed
to run into them till they are full. In this
manner should liquor be set in the height of
crop. The liquor, when it is passed into the
fermenting cisterns, must be kept clean by
a skimmer; when no skimmings are to be
had, the full quantum of molasses must be
mixed at the rate of fourteen per cent.;
that is, one hundred and sixty-eight gallons
of molasses, with fifty per cent. of good
pure dunder, or six hundred gallons of it;
making together with the molasses, seven
hundred and sixty-eight gallons. The
cistern must be filled up with pure cold
soft water, and will require four hundred
and thirty-two gallons at the rate of
thirty-six per cent. on the measuring rod,
making a total of twelve hundred gallons,
being the contents of the mixing cistern,
comprising fourteen per cent. molasses, fifty
per cent. dunder, and thirty-six per cent.


396
PLANTING AND CARE OF PROVISIONS.
such provisions as are natural to the soil,
but to have plenty of them to resort to,
for the support of himself and the white
people living with him; and for the benefit
of some of the slaves, who may happen to
be devoid of provision grounds in bearing.
A magazine or reserve of ground provisions
will always be of great service. It is true,
that an annual supply of salt provisions,
with five or six barrels of flour, comes out
to almost every estate for the use of the
white people and slaves; but this will go
but a little way indeed towards their main-
tenance. It will be a mere mite to depend
upon. Almost every article for human
subsistence must be raised by the planter
and slaves themselves. The rearing and
care then of provisions is concomitant with
the principle of plantership; for it would
be imperfect and lifeless without it..
Some managers have a hiding propensity
in the choice of a situation to plant pro-
visions in; for which purpose they fix
upon one of the most remote corners of


398
PLANTING AND CARE OF PROVISIONS.
when many patches of good strong land
lie unoccupied in various sheltered corners
contiguous to the cane culture, capable of
throwing up strong luxuriant provisions.
These have been deemed, perhaps, too dis-
tant for the carriage of canes, too laborious
and tedious for the stock, to bring home to
supply the mill, and not wanted to convert
into pasture, as enough of grazing grounds
may have already been established for the
support of the stock. To this it may be
added, that by having provision grounds
for the white people close to the farthest
cane cultivation, any weeds that might
otherwise grow there, would be kept down,
and done away with, to the advantage of
the canes ; because the system of cleaning
the provisions so close to them would be
an essential safeguard, a benefit to the
canes. A watchman would be stationed
there, the subordinate white people would
often frequent the place, and have pro-
visions cut and gathered; and the over-
seer's visits would be necessarily drawn to
21


PLANTING AND CARE OF PROVISIONS. 399
such a convenient spot. By taking up land
of this kind in provisions, the new virgin
woodland would be preserved, the cane
culture would not be intruded on or in-,
jured, and labour would be saved. I have
no doubt but every reasonable employer
would be satisfied with the work, and
applaud the undertaking as a laudable one.
So much corn is usually grown through
the cane pieces, that seldom a separate
corn piece is wanted on an estate to afford
a supply. However, when the overseer is
forbidden to plant corn in the cane pieces,
he must have a separate piece of ground,
as an alternative to sow corn in for the sub-
sistence of small stock; on which himself
and the other resident white people are to
live; for occasionally giving to the negro
children, convalescents, and weakly dis-
tempered mules and cattle. There should
in such cases be a piece of about ten acres
of tolerable good land set apart, contiguous
to the cane culture, and fenced in, where
liable to trespass from cattle, by a post and


PLANTING AND CARE OF PROVISIONS. 401
CON
should be steeped in water for a few hours
previous to planting. Let the gang be set
in, a negro to each corn-row, each negro
being provided with a small calabash or
vessel to hold his quantity of seed corn,
and make each of them drop four distinct
corn seeds in every hole; not too close
together in the hole, and then cover it up
with the bank mold. If the weather is
seasonable, it will in a week begin to shew
itself above ground. When it is four or
five inches high, the weeding gang should
be set in to clean, weed, and mould it up.
It will then grow rapidly, and will require
another cleaning and moulding in four or
five weeks' time. This crop of corn will be
ripe for breaking or gathering in, (if favour.
able weather,) in four months. The corn
planted from March to October is generally
the best and most productive. There is
one advantage in having a separate corn
piece from cane cultivation. It can be
underplanted, in the spaces between the
corn-rows, when the first corn is near three:
DD


PLANTING AND CARE OF PROVISIONS. 403
happen to be on an estate. I now wish to
lay before my readers the way to plant such
provisions. I would begin with a patch for
ground provisions. Supposing that three
acres will be adequate to support the white
people on an estate, I would look out for
ten acres of as good land as could be
found, adjacent to the cane culture, and in
as sheltered a situation as possible, that
was thrown out of such culture, by reason
of its laborious distance for cane carriage,
giving indifferent or bad sugar for want of
proper exposure, or the soil too rank and
spongy to continue in canes. This ten
acres I would subdivide, first, in a patch of
three acres for ground provisions, which I
would parcel out into five or six divisions ;
the remaining seven acres should be laid
out in a plantain walk, and be the most
sheltered part of the ground. The whole
of this ten acres of ground, should be well
stocked up and hoed; if heavy in grass, or
weeds, cleanly burned off, and any lodg-
ments of water let off the land by a trench.
D D 2


PLANTING AND CARE OF PROVISIONS. 405
A patch should be planted every six weeks
till the ground is occupied; two patches of
bourbon, and two of country cocoas; the
ground should be lined out two feet and a
half square, and be pegged off; the gang
should then be set in to dig the cocoa-holes
at every peg, which should be six or eight
inches deep, and a foot square. When the
holes are opened, the bank must be hauled
up to the edge of the holes and broke fine;
then having obtained some good, ripe, dry
cocoa heads, with good vegetating eyes, let
them be cut into plants of two and a half
inches square, with good eyes to each plant,
and carried to the piece of ground. Each
negro must take a parcel of these plants,
and put two of them firmly in the bottom
of each hole, three or four inches apart
from each other, with the skin-side down-
wards, and cover them up well with the
bank mold, and so finish the planting of
the patch. At the end of six weeks, put
in another patch; when this is planted, the
former will be above ground, and may re-
DD 3


406
PLANTING AND CARE OF PROVISIONS.
quire cleaning and molding, which should
be attended to. In this manner proceed
in planting the two acres in cocoas, till
completed; taking care to clean and mold
the other patches which were planted. The
first patch will cover the ground, and be
thick strong stems, by the time the last is
planted. Cocoas will require two moldings
and three cleanings, before they begin to
button or bear at the roots, and get the
better, or overpower the growth of weeds
that spring up among them. Bourbon
cocoas will be ripe in nine months, and
country cocoas in twelve months after they
are planted. According as each patch is
dug, it should be well hoed; the cocoa
heads made steady in the ground, the old
leaves mostly lopped off the heads, (except
the top sucker) and the head well molded
up. After this, by giving them one mold-
ing, and two cleanings annually, there then
will be a succession of cocoas for years.
There are several kinds of yams. The
negro and white yams are principally cul-


410 PLANTING AND CARE OF PROVISIONS.
I
growth of the plant, which descends into
the ground, as the vine advances in height
and magnitude. The stakes being perpen-
dicular above, the yam inclines to grow
perpendicular downwards, and hinders it
from appearing above the surface of the
hill, which would give it a disagreeable,
bitter flavour. The yam swells, lengthens,
and descends into the ground as it grows.
When the vine stops growing, or begins to
wither, the yam is nearly ripe, and will be
soon fit to dig. When grass or weeds begin
to make them foul, they should be hoed off
in the spaces, and the weeds or grass
gently pulled from the hills. The hills
should have additional mold, so that none
of the yam may be uncovered, or appear
above ground. In the month of August,
one half of the negro yam piece may be
cut for heads, that is, a number of negroes
should be put in with sharp knives; and
gently introducing one of their hands into
the hill, where the yam is growing, with
the other hand and knife, cut the head of


PLANTING AND CARE OF PROVISIONS. 411
the yam off, near the but of the vine ; then
dig the bottom of the yam out of the hill or
hole, leaving the but of the vine, with the
small piece of the yam head on it, firmly
sunk in the hill; which, by Christmas, will
again grow to a considerable large bulbous
head, with a sizeable bottom to it, and will
serve for future plants. The yams which
have been dug out in this manner in August
are young, they are to be brought home,
and soon made use of for the table. They
are similar to young potatoes at this time,
being rather soft, moist, and will not keep
long; however, they are esteemed a rarity.
At Christmas time, the negro yam vines
are all withered; the whole of the yams
should be dug in, carried home, cleared
from earth, powdered with lime or ashes,
then heaped up, so as not to bruise one
another, and made use of when wanted.
The white yams are to receive the same
mode of management, only that they are
not to be cut for heads or plants in August.
They should be planted in February or


PLANTING AND CARE OF PROVISIONS. 413
ing it is necessary, as the plantain root or
sucker is extremely prolific, the plantain
tree majestically thick, large and high,
when full grown, and many of these ex-
uberant stems grow at once from the
same stock ; throwing out a foliage of sur-.
prising shade and beauty. It is then neces-
sary to plant them wide, in order to let them
have a freedom of air, and that the sun may
prevail to mature their fruit. The ground
being all cleared from grass, bushes, and
weeds, and lined out, the great gang should
be put in with hoes, to dig the plaintain
holes at every peg, a negro to each row.
The holes should be dug deep, two feet
long by sixteen inches broad, to give room
for the large, ponderous plantain sucker to
be placed in them. The mold must be
hauled up to the edge of the hole, and
broke if too large. The plantain suckers
being ready, and trimmed, each negro
should take some, and place one good
sucker at every hole in the piece, and be-
gin to plant them, by taking a sucker, and


414 PLANTING AND CARE OF PROVISIONS.
placing it with the but, or rooty end in the
bottom of the hole; make the sucker lie in
a leaning, reclining, or half horizontal
position in the hole, with the small, or
sucker end of the plant a little above the
ground ; and when thus placed, draw the
mold from the bank, and cover the plant
well with it, leaving a little of the plant
above the ground. In this manner the
plantain walk should be formed. In a few
weeks (if the weather is favourable) the
young plantain shoot will be seen rearing
its perpendicular head, perhaps three or
four growing from the same stock. They
should then be carefully molded, and
cleaned of grass and weeds, when they
are a few inches high. No cavities or
water logging holes should be near them.
The banks must be levelled about them,
the holes filled, and properly closed up, and
some fine mold given them, to encourage
their growth. There will be no occasion
to give them more than two moldings
till they are established, but they must


418 PLANTING AND CARE OF PROVISIONS.
be cleaned and molded with care, till the
leaves cover the ground and begin to blos-.
som. When the blossom falls off naturally,
and the leaves wither, the roots are ripe,
and may be dug up. They yield a per-
petual annual crop, by leaving some of the
fibrous stalks in the ground, and regularly
molding and cleaning them. The flour
or starch produced from the root (after it is
washed) by compressure, and being steeped
in pure water, is what is esteemed so much
by the faculty.'
The rhubard is quickly and luxuriantly
produced here, by planting its bulbous root
in the same manner as in English gardens.
I need not expatiate on its virtues, as it is
so generally known and made use of for
various complaints, and even as a delicacy
for the table.
The cotton tree, or shrub, is extremely
useful in many cases; it gives its warm
down, not only for many beautiful fabri-
cations, but for surgical aid to the hospital,
and supplying wick for lamps in crop time.


PLANTING AND CARE OF PROVISIONS. 419
It is easily reared from the seed or sucker,
and should be planted at seven feet distance
from each other.
The palm-nut tree is an elegant and
stately production of nature, whose lusci-
ous nut gives a fine flavoured, thick red
oil, of a penetrating and invigorating kind,
which can be made use of internally and
externally, with simple, flexible, and heal.
ing effect, and without any dread or danger.
It can be produced from the nut or sucker,
planted at twelve feet distance from each
other; and when once established, is almost
perpetual, and is ornamental in its appear-
ance.
These especially, and several other plants
of a healthful, salutary character, should
be industriously sought after, and planted
in a spot contiguous to the kitchen garden,
on every property in the country parts of
Jamaica, (as likewise the introduction of
a few swarms of bees in such a place,
which thrive well, and give delicious, fine-
flavoured honey and wax,) as they are, and