WRAY ' S PRACTICAL SUGAR-PLANTER.
MR. WRAY appears to have been engaged in sugar-planting in Jamaica, the Straits of Malacca, and the East Indies; but, as in the case of other practical men, his experience seems to fail when it has to be applied on a very large scale. Take him to a particular plantation, and show him its capabilities; tell him of the straitened circumstances and scanty capital of the owner ; acquaint him with the difficulty of getting labour, espe- cially at the equivalent to English harvest-time ; ask his opinion upon some schemes of improvement, for which capital and free command of careful and even skilled labour are necessary ; and he would doubtless say at once, that however excellent the proposals might be, they were not avail- able under the circumstances. Yet these circumstances, that would deter a practical man in a particular case, do not deter Mr. Wray in suggesting for the whole of our West Indies. Irrigation, to which he devotes an entire chapter, is no doubt of very great importance in Tropical agricul- ture; but the first thing requisite is a natural supply of water ; the next is a series of artificial works ; the third, a sufficiency of labour always available. But what a mockery it is for Mr. Wray, and Sir Robert Peel after him, to talk to the West Indian, whose capital is so reduced that he is puzzled for means to carry on his routine cultivation, of a system of artificial water-works, that sometimes requires an outlay far beyond indie
vidual means, and always an ample attendance of careful labourers skilled in this particular work. Mr. Wray recommends an immigration of Chinese: but the details of his plan to transport them across the Pacific and the Isthmus of Darien are wild to a degree.
His other plans—such as steam-plonghing, new agricultural imple- ments, and chemical apparatus for the manufacture of sugar—all partake more or leas of this character of hnpraoticability wader the circumstances. When a man's canes are running rank because neither money nor cajolery can induce the labourers to cut them with the requisite celerity and steadiness,—or if when cut it is found better to let them spoil than sub- mit to Negro insolence and extortion as the price of their mauufacture,- its
11/3cICSS to talk of expensive improvements, requiring a considerable oteday, certainty and skill in their practice, and implements easily damaged. Nor, indeed, were the command of labour greater than it is, do we beheve the Tropics are yet fitted for totally new methods; we should rather aim at improving the old. Gross neglect, slovenly cultivation, waste, and bad economy, are things that cannot be too Boon changed. The extraction of all the sugar that is practicable from the cane, and the substitution of coal for megasss with other improvements as recommended by Dr. Evans in his Sugar-Planter's 1Ifanua4* are also important and available means. More consideration of the soil and a better choice of canes, as recommended both by Dr. Evans and Mr. Wray, fall under the same category : but we doubt whether there is much room for improvement as regards the cane. The best kinds seem to be very well known, and ge- nerally used; the preference of one sort over another, is perhaps arbitrary or capricious, or has been settled by the. experience of , the district. At the same time, too much attention cannot be paid to Mr. Wray'a remark that it is as expensive to cultivate a bad cane as a goocl one- with this qualification, that the cane must vary with the soil. Ano;her remark may deserve attention from British as well as Tropical agriculturists— that no more land should be brought under cultivation than can be cul- tivated well with the means at the planter's disposal—thorough cultiva- tion is the word. The substitution of the plough for hand labour has been so often insisted on, that there must be something in it.; yet; though various and numerous experiments have been tried,' it practically makes so slow progress that there is reason to conjecture the existence of some other obstacle than mere inertness or aversion to change. Mr. Wray, however, is so decided upon the point that, he at once gives up to ruin all West Indian plantations where from local circumstances the plough is not available. It is probable that the introduction of the plough,- though seemingly easy, requires a change of manajemeat--a different kind of mind both in managers and labourers—to be made really effec- tual. This is Mr. Wray's description of plough 'economy in Jamaica, as he knew it some half a dozen years ago. "Where the plough lies been tried, in inne, cases out of ten, it was unwillingly; and consequently without due atteeticui being paid to considerations of primary importance, much less to minor details. I havii`rayself keen a dozen cattle taken out of a guinea-grass pasture, all puffed and bloated out With rich green grass, arid at once put to work in a heavy iron plough, without any training, or preparatory csairse of feeding. I have seen such cattle fall exhausted to the ground in twenty minutes' time, with their tongues lolling out of their mouths, and two drivers lash- ing them with whips, beating them over the heal with heavy Sticks' and tor- turing them in various ways to oblige them to rise and perform Work for widen they had not been prepared.
• "I have seen cattle trying to work in collars (purposely made and sent out from England) so large thatit was quite possible for the eattlete walk through them l—things that, had I not Been, I could not have credited it were possible say man could have had made. Surely, if a proprietor or agent in England wishes to send English-made collars to his estates in the West Indies, common sense would dictate that he should first try them on a middle-sfzecVsteer in England, to satisfy himself that they were of the right size; instead of sending out articles more suit- able for full-sized elephants.
"Again, I have seen cattle working with 'yokes' so heavy that it was as much as one man could do to lift one of them up; whereas nothing of the kind was ne- cessary, for yokes of one quarter the weight would have been quite strong enough for all purposes. These little circumstances may seem very trivial, bet indeed they are net aa: they serve to swell the number of reasons why .Jamaica estates do not pay, and account for the heavy leases sustained in the numerous cattle that die offi or rather, that are ignorantly killed, every year. Is it not tole expected that cattle SP abused will die? Is it not, indeed, a matter of surprise that any of them Sur- vive such shocking treatment? It really ie • and when we comities that good young oxen, or steers, cost in Jamaica from 101. to 161. sterling each, we cannot fail to perceive that every possible reason is in favour of a proper selection and management of cattle, in order to obtain from them the greatest possible amount' of work in the shortest possible time, and at the least possible expense and risk. But this is by no means the plan pursued in Jamaica: on many estates it would not be tolerated by the attorney; whilst on others the overseers are too prejudiced, or too indifferent, to attempt an alteration. On almost every estate in the island, the cattle may be seen lying at nights, all the year round, in open and exposed cattle-pens, often knee-deepin muck stud mire; at one season of the year bloated with green grass, at another half-starred, miserable, and swarming with'ticks'; hard worked by day, and wretchedly fed at nights. On no estate have I ever seen good, clean, well covered-in stalls, in which a steer, might be, tied up and fed. Neither have lever seen guinea-grass hay made and itacked, for the working cat- tle of an estate; that they might become firm in flesh, and capable of great and long-continued exertion. Far from all this, I have generally remarked a total disregard for their preservation."
We fear the promises of Mr. Wray as to what may be done under his system prove too much. Except some minor items, he shows, in figures, a profit of 4,000/. on an outlay of something less than 4,000/. from the cultivation of 150 acres; a result which is simply impossible. If the West Indians exaggerate their distress, the Governors of the Colonies have no reason for doing so.; and the universal return is—no profit to speak of, in many eases a loss. A profit of 100 per cent on the capital in agricultural operations is so large that we do not believe it is yielded anywhere, upon any cultivation. The topics of the book are extensive.. Mr. Wray begins with the dif- ferent varieties of the sugar-cane, and the influenoe of soil, climate, and seasons. He next passes on to the different modes of cultivation as practised by European and native planters in the East and West Indies and the &nits, oI.Malacca. Ile then Arcata- of manuring, with the
modern chemical appliances, but with reference to the produce on a augar-plantation. Irrigation and improved modern implements follow ; after which, he handles the construction and arrangement of a sugar and rum manufactory very extensively, and the manufacture both of rum and sugar. In all this Mr. Wray exhibits a practical acquaintance with his subjects, but a want of acumen to enable him to penetrate to the pith and marrow of the matter. The Practical Sugar-Planter seems rather a compilation by a man who knows parts of his subject, than a work by one who has mastered the whole. As a repertory of the latest improvements in implements, machinery, and so forth, the book will be found useful, as well as for a variety of incidental remarks, and for bringing the subject of sugar-planting before the reader in its extent, if not its completeness. The most really valuable parts of the book we the results of Mr. Wray's own observations; but they are more of the nature of travelling remarks than matter for a scientific treatise. We have already quoted a passage of this sort in reference to the economy and management of cattle in Jamaica ; the following exhibits the Chinese and Malays as cultivators. "In the Straits of Malacca, land so circumstanced is termed by the Malays masam (acid or sour); and they are often sadly perplexed and prejudiced by the partial or total failure of their rice crops from this cause. But with the Chinese an the same locality no inconvenience of the kind is felt, when they pursue their usual system of cultivation. This fact induces a belief that the Chinese choose &sweeter and more fertile description of soil; whereas, in nine cases out of ten, no difference in this respect really exists. For the information of the sugar- planter and others in the Straits, I will explain how this change is brought about by the Chinese mode of operation. When a. Chinaman cultivates land, he gene- rally acts on the principle that it is more profitable to cultivate one acre thoroughly than two in an imperfect and partial manner; hence we are in the habit of terming their system garden eultivatker,'—which indeed it is; and a very wise and admirable system it must be allowed, to be, which obtains from one acre of lana as much as two or three acres commonly yield.
"On this principle, therefore, the Clunaman proceeds to choose a patch of land of manageable size the jangle of which he cuts, allows to drys and then burns; untie seta to work on the roots and stumps of all trees and bushes remaining in the groond : these he carefully digs out, piles up in heaps, and covers over with earth. The- intense heat of a Tropical sun quickly dries the heaps sufficiently; when the Chinaman sets them on fire, and attends constantly whilst they aro burning, that every portion may be consumed. The ashes and burnt earth re- sulting are carefully scattered over the land; which is then dug (by hoe) and thoroughly- turned up. He next digs a trench, and throws up a bank around the land he has cleared, to drain it; and at the same time to keep out all water from the adjacent lands. Finally, he gives it a second eLarikoling (hoe-digging), and plants out his sugar-canes, or whatever else he may please. Thus the first shower of rain saturates the alkalis contained in the ashes (so abundantly spread OE the surface of the land), and in solution conveys them to the soil; in which they speedily enter into combination with sulphuric and ether acids (existing as before noticed), arid form insoluble compeuna„ Hence we never hear a Chinas man complaining of acidity in land so settled by him. There certainly are lazy- Chinese as well as lazy Englishmen, who are sufficiently careless to neglect such precautionary measnres-' but these form exceptions to the general rule; and they suffer in common with the Malays disappointment and frequent loss from the failure of their crops.
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"To any one who knows the Malay.ehameteesmartrffis seen their slovenly modes of bringing. lands under and keeping themin cultivation, it is needless to tell how different is their practice from that above detailed. A Malay- considers that he has done all that is necessary if he cats down and burns the jungle in his.ewn peculiar and partial manner, gives the land a. hoe-digging—which, by the way, is indeed Huta miserable apology for that important operation—and then plants out. his rice or other crops. If. he. be fortunate enough to obtain a favourable return, he is a proud and balmy man—proud of his own singular in- dustry, and happy in contemplating iM pleasing results. If, on the contrary, his crops turn out unfavourably after the first and second trials, he is still quite pleased with himself and his exertions; but pronounces the land masa= (acid), and_ forthwith removes to another locality; not for an instant allowing a doubt to enter his mind as to the correctness of his mode of cultivation."
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