generally fatten, and improve more, than at any other season of the year. It is also observed, that the most meagre and sickly among the Negroes, after drinking plentifully of the juice of the cane, when the mill is set a-going, exhibit in a very short time, a surprising alteration. So that not only is every part of this invaluable plant a source of wealth to the proprietor, but it also affords a grateful and nutritious beverage to man, restores to health the sickly Negro, and furnishes an ample supply of food for the lower animals. From these considerations, it is evident, that the sugar-cane is the most valuable of all vegetables*.

It is but proper here to state, that by far the greater part of the facts mentioned in this chapter, are taken from Mr. Edwards's observations on the subject, as, on an accurate investigation, he was found to be, beyond comparison, the safest authority.

SECTION II.

COFFEE.

THE coffee tree is equally with the cane, a native of the east, and is now very extensively and successfully cultivated in Jamaica. The coffee of this island is generally esteemed inferior to that of Mocha; but it seems more probable, that this inferiority proceeds rather from the greenness of its age, and the manner in which it is prepared, than from any actual inferiority in the plant. The Arabian coffee is generally reared in a very dry climate, and flourishes most on a sandy soil, or on mountainous slopes, which give an easy conveyance to the rains. Similar situations are generally chosen by the Jamaica planter. Coffee, indeed, will thrive in every soil in this island; a cold and stiff clay, and a shallow mould on a hot marle, excepted. But the best and most highly flavoured fruit, is unquestionably the growth of either a warm, gravelly mould, a sandy loam, or the dry red, which abound in Jamaica. Frequent showers of rain, are, however, friendly to its growth; but if water remain long about the roots, the tree will certainly decay and perish.

Where the land is fresh, coffee plants may be set out at all seasons of the year, not excepting even the driest. They will thrive in any situation, provided it be screened from the northwinds, which often destroy its blossom; indeed, they have sometimes entirely stripped the tree of both fruit and leaves, blasting, in a moment, the fairest hopes of the planter.

The usual mode of planting coffee, is, to line out the land into squares of eight feet; in other words, to sow the seeds, or set out the young plants, eight feet distant from each other on all sides, which give six hundred and eighty trees to each acre; and where young plants are easily procured, they are preferred to berries. The plants which are intended to be set out are generally of about two feet in height. They are cut off ten inches above the surface of the ground, and care is taken, to dig them up with the roots as entire as possible. The holes in which they are set, are made large enough to hold the lower part of the stem, and all the roots; and the upper fibres are buried about two inches below the surface. But though eight feet be the usual distance of setting out the plants in all soils, it is frequently found, that, in rich lands, the trees as they grow to maturity, become, from their luxuriance, so closely intermingled, as to impede the free passage of the air: In such cases, it is thought adviseable to cut down every second row, within ten or twelve inches of the ground, and by well moulding the stumps, they will furnish a succession of healthy young trees, while the rows which are left, will bear much better for the room which is given to them. Old plantations, (or walks, as they are called) cut down in this manner, and not dug up and replanted, will give a tolerable crop the second year; and the operation may be frequently repeated.

In the cultivation of a young walk, the general and the most approved system is, to keep the trees perfectly free from suckers, and to rear only one stem from one root. If, therefore, a healthy shoot spring near the ground, all the original plant is cut off close above it, by which means, when the plant is moulded, the root becomes well covered. At the height of five or six feet, which the plants generally attain during the third year, the trees are topped. At this height, a single stem

produces from thirty-six to forty-two bearing branches, and the pruning required annually, is to leave nothing but these branches.

The produce of the coffee-tree varies in quantity and in value, according to the nature of the soil and climate, the age of the plant, and the mode of preparing it. When the trees are raised from young plants, no produce is procured until the third year, in which, indeed, they produce very little. During the fourth year, in lands of a middling richness, seven hundred pounds weight per acre are produced. The average annual produce after this period, if the walk be properly cultivated, will amount to seven hundred pounds; and one Negro is sufficiently able to take care of an acre and a half.

When the berries of the coffee-tree acquire a blackish red colour, they are supposed to be sufficiently ripe for picking. The Negroes employed for this purpose, are each provided with a canvass bag, with a hoop in the mouth of it to keep it open. This bag is hung about the neck of the picker, who empties it, as often as it is full, into a basket. The usual practice is, to pick the trees at three different stages of their ripeness. One hundred bushels in the pulp, fresh from the tree, produce about one thousand pounds weight of merchantable coffee.

There are two methods employed for drying or curing the coffee-bean. The first is, to spread out the fresh coffee in the sun, in layers of about five inches in depth, on a sloping terras, or platform of boards, with the pulp on the berry, which, in a few days, ferments and discharges itself in a strong, acidulous moisture; and the coffee is left in this state, until it is perfectly dry, which, when the weather is favourable, takes place in about three weeks. The husks are afterwards separated from the seeds by a grinding-mill, constructed for the

purpose; or they are pounded with pestles in troughs, or large wooden mortars. Coffee cured in this manner, weighs four pounds per cwt. heavier, than if cured without the pulp.

The other method of curing the coffee-bean is, to remove the pulp immediately, when it comes from the tree. This is effected by means of a grinding-mill, consisting of a horizontal, fluted roller, about eighteen inches long, and eight inches in diameter. This roller is turned by a crank, or handle, and acts against a moveable breast-board, which being fitted close to the grooves of the roller, prevents the berries from passing whole. The mill is fed by a sloping trough, and the aperture of the trough from which the berries drop into the mill, is regulated by a vertical sliding board. By this simple machine, a Negro will pulp a bushel in a minute. The pulp and the bean (in its parchment skin) fall promiscuously together. The whole is then washed in wire sieves, to separate the pulp from the seeds; and these are immediately spread open to the sun to dry. There is another method of airing the coffee by stoves; but this method requiring an extensive apparatus, and imparting, in some degree, a disagreeable taste and smell to the berry, is seldom employed. It is, perhaps, difficult to determine, which of the two former methods of curing the coffeebean, is to be preferred. The first generally produces the best flavoured coffee; but the second method, being more expeditious, and consequently more profitable, is most frequently employed.

Coffee is now much cultivated in Jamaica, and forms no inconsiderable portion of its political strength, as well as of its wealth and commerce. Coffee-plantations are generally situated in the hilly regions, of which nearly two thirds of the island consist, and which are from their nature and situation, unfit for sugar-plantations. They are also more conducive to