, 1894-11-14

at once TO Hope Gardens where ne was lm.
pressed with the results attained IN many
directions, especially with the seeding sugar
cane experiments and with the appearance OF
the oacao trees which he thought splendid
examples Of what full grown cacao trees
should be. 1T is proposed aA says ito
make Hope Garden the headquarters Of tha
Botanical Department and it is being laid out
in geographical sections, a separate division
being allotted to each county,. 1t covers a
considerable area, and when completed will De
not only very beautiful but highly Interesting
and instructive.' 1t 50 happened that during
Mr.. Gro wther's visit to Hope the weathsr was
extremely wet. and ho mist. therefore, have
obtained an erron 9ouS impression Of the eli
mate Of the district and the suitability of the
grounds for botanic %st,tion. On his way
to Cinchona he visited Cedar Valley and he
cannot resist Tho temptation to e~Xpltilte on
the magnificent views obtainlbie from the
hills. standing OH the summit Of a lofty
peak and looking down upon the lesser hills,
richly clothed with vegetation Of varying
hues. with here and there majestic tree ferns
rearing high their enormous heads; and again
upon The numerous valleys, clothed likewise
with luxur,ant vegetation. and threaded in
all directions with rushing torrents, and still
again upon the town ID harbour Of Kings
ton in the distance, one beheld a scene Of
the utmost grandeur and beauty" Mr..
Crowther WAS much interested in Cedar Hurst
plantation whore he was afforded every infor-
nation 10y Mr. Francis and he gives a long ac-
count of the processes of picking. pulp
ing, drying, &c, of the coffee. He next
proceeded to CinohonA which he dis
misses in a line or two and merely
mentions Mr.. Fawcett' who lives there"
in connection with some letters Of introduce
zion. He very quickly returned to Hope and
subsequently, paid i visi. to Caymanas Estate
and the Irrigation Works In company with
Mr.. Cradwioh he went to C%ast!eton Gardens,
which later knowledge enabled him to style
one Of the prettiest botanical gardens IN the
West Indies. He was charmed with the
taste displayed in the laying ont Of the Gar
dens and with the many rare and interesting
botanical specimens. Mr.. Campbell was ex-
tremely kind and afforded me all the informa-
ti0h in his power concerning the tropical plants.
The arrangement and working of the Gar
dens are excellent" Soon afterwards he left
for Barbados, where he spent some time
examining the sugar cane experimental Gull
%tlvati0n. Sugar cane from seed WAS first at
tempted in 1888 and since then the work of
investigation and observation has been going
on. In Demerara Mr.. Cr0wthor studied
S'OAJ UN'oAi n IhO AOl0 Pl"OOoo " ~ hoA
f1cture Of the sugar from the cane. The
sugar growing country there is fiat aud below
! the level of the sea, and trenches have to be
dug to carry off the flood waters, a reversal
Of the conditions prevailing in the majority
of the sugar districts here. In Tri-
nidad the cacao Industry was carefully OBJ.
served. There is a system Of contract and
advance in vogue there which enables new
plantations to be established. A certain
quantity of land is cleared, and let to an ap-
plicaut for three years on The condition that
he plants the land with cacao and that at the
end of this period the trees become the pro-
perty of the land owner on payment to him
of u certain sum for each tree. The fault of
this system is that, in order to rear the trees
with as little trouble and expense as possible
the contractor plants the most hardy and rS-
bust trees, which are generally the inferior
varieties. No machinery is required for the
curing Of cacao-the only necessary
works are q sweating house and a drying
house and it fascinated that for an estate
of 300 acres the cost Of these buildings
need not exceed f160. However an appar-
atus is described by which cacao can be salts
f~actoriIy cured without tho aid of the
sun. The mode of cultivation of arrowrOot
was gone into at st. Vincent and at Grenada
all the information respecting nut-megs OBJ
tainable from a practical introduction to the
plant was secured, and this visit ended Mr..