EfIRA.M. - PLOTIGHING AND DRAINARB IN r WEST, mrirmzi..
North Miami, 12th October, 18691 your last-paper Iestimated the saving of manual- labour by-the use of steam-power in preparing cane land-for planting at 51 per nova; am& supposing that 50,000 acres would have tube planted every year in• order to keep up a supply equal to the demand for sugar for home consumption, • 200,000-tons; I calculated the aggregate saving at 250,0001., or a.quatu-
ter of a million pounds sterling-annually.
If, as I suppose, the land were ploughed.in beds, and that between each, bed a very deep furrow were turned up; and. bamboos. were placed at the bbttono, and these covered by anotherhghterfurraw, so as to serve the pm,. pose of thorough drainage, then the quantity of canes produced on the-land; would be enormously increased. It has-been stated on the-authority of the- Governor of Guiana, in a report to the Colonial Minister, that the quantity of sugar made from a- field of thorough-drained lane in comparison. with the land olose adjoining, which had' been only surfene-druined, 1980 75- per cent increase, besides the addition to the value of the sugar: With: only the additional labour of cutting the increased quantity of canes-and making that of sugar' (say 2Z. per ton), the profits of sugar cultivation would be vastly increased, and a much larger capital consequently directed: to the production of free-labour sugar in future than in past' years: At two-• thirds-the present price, 150,000 tons of- sugar would be worth two millions of money, which is now paid to slave-owners. The vexed question of im-- migraticrn would thus be disposed of, because the hard work of a-sugar-estate would then be performed by a comparatively. few skilled and effective la-. bourers directing mechanical force.
But then, it may be asked, what would you do with the labourers now employed in digging cane-holes' and making. drains?' The answer is easy. Thousands of acres of land would. in the same manner be prepared for the oultivation of cotton, the work of weedingorruning, picking, and ginning,. which, would be more attractive, and furnish profitable employment foritte- surplus labourers.
Net many years ago, one cotton-grower-in the colony ofBernice realieed. fifty, thousand pounds sterling in one year by his cotton corps.; and' another_ forty. thousand pounds. Such. enormous profits cannot now lie expeoted, but a very handzome return for capital would surely result from good manage- ment under a system' of improved cultivation. The cotton-plant has a Ding tap-root. It requires, therefore, deep .ploughing; and were the-best kind-thus cultivated in properly drained'anddeeply ploughed land, it would_ prove MOM Imofitable than ever. Let- a fair trial be made at once. Let West Indian landowners; Eitg- lish capitalists, and the friends of the emancipated negroes meet-on the com- mon ground of suoh.an experiment, as mightserve to show- to all the world, that-the labour of Tree men is infinitely-more advantageous than that of of slaves. When such proof has been practically afforded, the American cotton-growers will, no doubt, gladly put an end to slavery ; and' one great cause of jealousy and strife between those who have a common interestin the promotion of the freedom and peace olmankind will be removed. apprehend it to be as much for the interest. of the American people and: the Lancashire cotton-manufacturers. as• it is. obviously that of the West, Indian proprietors, that such an example of the beneficial. effects of free la- bour and skilled husbandry should be presented as is thus proposed: I- think it would prove that slavery is a mistake as well' as a crime,, which. we owe it to one another to correct, without' any unnecessary delay. In- stead of feather complaints and wranglings, let us all unite in an attempt to. show the advantages-of freedom to all peoples, and. Jamaica may. yet...become a souroe of wealth and:renown: The gold. discoveries in Tasmania- continue to attract. attention. in the colony. It is said that specimens:have been testedwiving an average-yield of eight ounces of gold to the ton, fifteen ounces having been in some eases obtained: Half a ton had been sent to Melbourne to be crushed. Gold had. also been.discovered. on the Wiltnot, a river running into the Perth on its- western side, and on the Forth itself, above the junction of the Wilmot, and some distance below the ford at Middlesex Plains. 'twas, therefore, in- ferred that the gold producing area in that region is extensive.. There was still, however; no certainty that it exists in quantities to yield an average remuneration for labour, such as may be obtained at any. of the ordinary mining districts either. of. Victoria. or New "South Wales.
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