, 1889-03-30
Jottings on a trip to Barbados.
.,BY A DEMERARA PLANTER.

> Az NAS
InAis. a yearly amount to keep the mach.
merry in proper order, AMI out OF this they
meet all expenses, except III the case of
an actnAl hrpikage, wien the estate haN
s&J1IaN., When thu manager wishes to
cdnHnence his crop, be notifies the day h"
wItksart, to the engineer. who visits and
ItEis ttlp' machinery about; and ~ Mr.. c..
Simpson the engineer had to visit the ma
ciNhFFy of CaAtl IL. ON Monday, the 4th Fell.
rnary, an estate situated 10 miles from
BridgelOWn, he asked me TO accompany
him, and Az he had 10 visit another estate
OH the way down, an early start was lie.
ceSSary, go | lett Hastings by first tra,ncar
and met bin at half past six O'Clock in
NELSON'S Square. A cool morning, u smart
%tFOttpr, our way lying along the sea coast,
the drive promised 10 be "a pleasant one.
WeYwtht through FontabrIle, one of The
ptpttiest suburbs o. the town, and a VT
tering place, bnt not SO much frequruted
al Hastings. We next reached Black
Rock, 80 called from the dark colour of the
rocks, and here / may say begins the home
OF those poor whites whom | Shall refer to
further Oh. There is fne bathing to 10
had here, and we had q dip in the hriny
OcPan. We SoOm after. reached Sandy
Lane, where Mr.. Simpson WAS to put
about the machinery the mill was soon
ut work the juice WAS magnificent, Ii
Beaume, fresh from the mill,bed. The
crushing like that on most of the estates
j saw in Barbados was-"wtll, the least
said the soonest mendpd." Remember
'this is not the engineers fault. Ole ma
nager told me that his attorney had .yisi.
ted him while the crushing Was very good
the attorney at once ordered the rollers to
be alackPd, - it was dangerous, and fuel
waS'dear ; the simple man thinking only
that the cOarser he crushed, the more fuel
he got, forgetting he had Oh the other side
not only the loss in sugar, but the length
OF time the megass took to dry. Another
thing | noticed everywhere in the island
is the size Of the CHARTERS and receivers.
The usual capacity for juice is 800 gal.
lofs,-thls for q IL horsepower engine
capable OF only filing one of these in an
hour and a quarter. TdycheS so small as
only to be able to evaporate juice to about
81 .Beaum6, to be boiled into sugar by n
BrOcklehnrSt pan, at the rate of about sou
gallons al hour. Receivers half the SiEe
" would give a better Qualification, Hubside
quicker and enable the planter to mani
pulate his juice TO u better advantage.
Their tayches are all copper, soldered OH
the saddles, no brick work such as we
have in Demerara they boil quickly, but
AE0 tOO NIudIt. i WUutU Ike 10 pit - Gar"
,rOu tayches with a small striking tayche
against them. l am certain the saving in
time and fuel would be great and sugar
of 4 better quality. I am here referring
TO the common process estates. not to the
vacuum pan ones, in speaking of CHARTERS;
although | maintain event forFthein.' with
their Juice Heaters the small ones are
best and / do think, barring the triple
ehet. the Carron iron tayches are what
these large plants require to make much
more perfect than they arr.
Oar way from here to the Castle lay
through Hole Trwn and. Speight's Town,
or as our Barbadian labourers in; Demerara
call it, Spikeses. We soon came to, the,
fol nSel; lU consists of one shop not half the
size Of an estates provision shop, and o
few Atragg)ing houses. | asked Simpson
WHERE the town was "Passed through
the Whole Of ito says he. A mighty. poor
hnle Assido1. i believe he saw it. This
place,ta6viG . Sothing, was once of some
impertaeeest bus improved roads aud the
distance to Bridgetownl being slight, it;has
fallen to it's present state ; it is, now -
Ashing" village. It had associations for
me-. IS ny great grandfather .was a ma.
gistrateiliving Tiers over a century ago,
hut no remains OF the house he ,ow Ierk zeah
nowb b. Feeeb. We NEXT reached Speight's
Tow1. This - Aplace OF aAanssinp0rtance,