vision grounds, which are usually cleaned twice in the year. In the time of crop the negroes work both by day and by night in the mill-house and boiling-house; this is called "keeping of spell;" that is, a fourth of the number work till midnight, when they are relieved by an equal number, and the other two fourths perform the same task the night following; so that this duty, on the whole, falls easy on the negroes. Not so does it fall on the poor book-keeper on some estates, where there are perhaps only two; he, in this case, has to sit up the whole night, and that too every other night; so that to him it is a most severe and distressing duty, which, if rigidly exacted by an unfeeling overseer, tends to destroy his health, throw a damp upon his spirits, and finally, shorten his days. But this subject will be touched on more at large in giving an account of the nature of the situation of book-keepers.

Various opinions are entertained here on the subject of turning up the land. The following may be considered as the most general and correct. A heavy and stiff clay may be ploughed; this is necessary to be done some months previous to halling, in order that the land may have time to pulverize. This mode of tillage on such soils, is performed with considerable less labour thản by merely halling the ground, which is a most severe and harassing task to the negroes. But the lighter soils, particularly if not very fertile, would

perhaps sustain some injury from this previous ploughing; besides that it would not materially facilitate the halling of such fields. There is much of the cane land in Jamaica that cannot be ploughed; such as the steep and stony fields, of which there are a considerable proportion in the island. The manure chiefly in use here, is that collected from the cattle-pens, mule-stables, &c. Some estates use lime occasionally for the stiff cold soils; but this excellent manure is not in such general use as perhaps it should be; for such soils, it may be said, indeed, to be indispensable: the wonderful effects produced by it in the mother country have been experienced, to the great profit of the farmer, and the fertilization of his fields. There it is often used in the proportion of an hundred and forty, or an hundred and sixty bushels to an acre, in dressing the land for a crop of wheat. Estates that have much of the soil which requires this powerful manure, and can easily obtain it, should methinks be not sparing of it. Marl and ashes are also used for the cane land; these are best suited to strong soils. As for those of a lighter quality, well digested stable manure is as good a dressing as can be applied.

Some of the gentlemen of landed property in the county of Cornwall have lately formed themselves into an agricultural society, the first thing of the kind ever heard of in this island. The intention

I

is certainly laudable, though it is much to be feared, that it contains the seeds of dissolution within itself:-it is formed on too confined a basis; it wants scientific men, to guide its labours and speculations, and direct its experiments: there is besides, in such a society, a thousand petty ambitions, feuds, and jealousies, to crush and repress it in its infancy. Be this as it may, every well-wisher to the prosperity of the island, must be grateful to the authors of such an undertaking, and join in wishing it every success. Some of the premiums, offered by this society, are for discoveries and inventions that are of little merit or importance:-some indeed of a trifling nature. It holds its sittings at Montego bay.

Under the head of agricultural observations, it may not be amiss to remark, that the pens of Jamaica in some measure resemble the grassfarms of Great Britain. Cattle, horses, mules, and sheep, are bred in great numbers upon them. But cheese is never made from the superfluous milk; nor is there more butter usually made than is sufficient for the consumption of the place. The butter is very good; though the milk is not so rich as that in England; neither do the cows here yield it in half the abundance which they do in the mother country.

CHAPTER IX.

Travelling in Jamaica-Pictures of a Decem ber evening and morning in Jamaica.-Times and modes of travelling.—Travelling in Great Britain and Jamaica apared.Thoughts on the embellishments, &c. of a country.

TRAVELLING in Jamaica is infinitely less pleasant than in England, and other temperate climes, and finely embellished countries of Europe. Here the sun blazes so intensely, and the whole atmosphere is so heated with his sultry beams, that travelling on horse-back at mid-day, and at particular times of the year, is absolutely insufferable, even to a person seasoned and accustomed to the climate. It is even fatiguing and disagreeable in a carriage. If the weather be dry, clouds of suffocating dust often envelope the passenger; and, during the rainy seasons, he is impeded and annoyed with the badness of the roads in the interior and liable, at an instant's notice, to be drenched by deluges from the sky. December, November (when dry), and the three or four following months, are in general the most pleasant for travelling; December, January, and February are strikingly so;

these months being the coolest of the year, and being usually fair, save now and then that the air is cooled, and vegetation refreshed, by gentle showers. So that, while the inhabitants of the temperate zone are shivering beneath a bleak and frigid sky, carefully guarding themselves from cold by pelices and furs, and mourning the temporary annihilation of vernal beauty, the people of these more southern climes are enjoying their sweetest season, and exulting in the unperishable verdure that adorns their fields: while on this subject, it may not be amiss, before proceeding on the subject of travelling here, to present to the reader pictures of a December evening and morning, taken on the spot.

The sun was just setting below the western horizon, and the heavens were mildly irradiated with his farewell beams; it was clear and serene an around; the air was mild and bland, and the distant green eminences gleamed with a reflected lustre. Nought disturbed the stillness of the scene, save the busy and officious musquito, who is kind enough to warn you of her approach by an unwelcome buzzing in your ear, the screachings of the wild parrots, who, in detached parties, skim the arch of heaven, in their retreat to their haunts; and now and then the scream of the clucking-hen, an unsociable bird, delighting in the solitude of the deepest retreats.

The following is a landscape at sun-rise in this