The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-03-03
FARMING In JAMAICA.
How Mrs. Julian Hawthorne
Grows Vans and Tomatoes
FOR THE NEW YORK MARKET.


lGkk E&&Slk1x Ez@LT. t&IkH - F4ENf miles
from the coast. and between 4ip and a.sss
feet up ca the hillson the north side.
An area OF ore hundred acres contains
no less than seven small but aggressive
hills from one to three hundred feet In
height, but all capable OF holding crops
OF one sort or another. Jamaicans always
uss their hilisi6es. partly because they
have to- and partly because the soil il
especially rich In these situations. Here
are planted yams. coacoa and the like
tropical produce. A hoe Ii scraped among
the loose rocks wherever a little sosl has
accumulated. yam Is planted and a poie
stuck In beside IL unless a small tree
offers a substituted. and anon the yam
has in an fnexplicable manner grown I'M
clothing its pole with pretty, hop-lIks
festoons of dark green leaves. In year
from planting the vans are dug. and lie
they had chance TO expand they will Of
ten be a yard long and as thick as a
mans leg
Upon taking possession of our little farm
our first task was TO clear a patch for
the home garden. The ''rsainate'-that is
TO say. the tgees and brush which spring
up after land has been cultivated and
ahandoned-was first cut down. This cut
ting is done with neither ak nor seythe.
but with tool peculiar to the West In
dies. called machete. 1t il a sort OF
gigantic knife. the blade two feet In
length and three inches broad, with a
formidable curve to 1t like q scimetar.
The handle Is like that OF the sword
bayoness used In the army. The lower
part of the edge only Is sharpenea; the
metal is of poor quality and the edge
often needs reTiving. though II can be
very sharp for while. This picturesque
implement does all the cutting and now
ing work In Jamaica. and with this and
a pickax and crowbar the primeyal forest
is subdued-
The brush. having been cut. must be
carried OF on the heads of the men Cor
women) and piled up In heaps TO burn,
The grass and weeds. IL very rank must
also be cut, and then comes the pickax-
Ing. Pickaxing costs from 81 to $3.50 per
square chain IL the sod be thick and
tough, all roots must be shaken out be-
fore raking and planting can be done, for
pickaxing has not the same burying effect
that blowing has. The roots are, of
course. put in the compost heap, so as TO
get whatever value as manure they
possess
The soil, as revealed by these opera
lions. is a dark chocolate color or deep
crimson, turning lighter on exposure, IL
is of friable quality and there Is no
trace of a subsoil: 1t seems to go down
to any depth. Our home garden runs
along the top and side OF swell of land
about twenty feet in height. and in one
place We made an excavation six feet
deep. a, the bottom of which the charac-
ter of the soil was the same as at the top.
and going still downward indefinitely.
The soil always is loose and crumbiy.
and even after rains does not pack"
altogether. II is most peculiar stuff.
In our immediate neighborhood are
numerous caves and sinkholes In the
limestone. rock. many of them of iage
size, and In one of these there was a coli
lection Of bat manure which had been
accommodating for unknown ages. We
bought the cave and Its conents for $50.
Next we bought donkey. with PAN
niers. for SIS. A boy of II or so, at wages
of dollar a week. makes himself use
full by cutting and fetching wood from
the mills (which are densely overgrown
with forest) for the kithen fire-no coal
Is used or needed-and bringing from the
cave three loads of bat manure per diem.
This creates in the soil fury of pro-
ductiyeness, and we have peas. cucum-
hers. etc. ready to eat six weeks after
planting. Tomatoes. with four trans
plantations. take about four months from
seed to fruit, and are of beautiful Quail
ity. Potatoes are small. but wonderful
~ clean and smooth. There are no pota-
to beetles, nor so far have we found in
sect pests of any kind. Ants are said 10
devour all seeds planted, but We have
suffered nothing from them. Cabbages
grow TO immense size and have firm,
hard heads. When cut the stalk Ia left
In the ground and sprouts grow from It.
bearing fresh cahbages. The Jamaicans
declare that this second crop is as good
as the first, but we have not as yet had
an opportunity of confirming the asser-
ton in our own experience.
We planted, TO start with, about two
hundred tomato plants-a quantity which
has paraiyzed the neighborhood. We
were warned on coming here that the
particular plot we had chosen for our
garden would not grow anything. the
soil there being dry or poor Our neigh
hors, as said. are all colored: the estates
are ten or twenty miles from one an
other; between them are settlements OF
negroes. who do the work on the estates
when they have none OF their own 10 oc-
cupy them, and happen to feel in, the
mood for labor.
After getting our garden in good shape
we turned 20 the farm proper. There Is
a plot OF about twenty acres running In
and out among three or four OF the hills
Quite a heavy timber growth covers II.
with the exception OF one piece OF FIVE
acres on which only some twenty pimea-
tos ana other large trees grew. The roots
OF the pInento lie near the surface. and
we attacked them with an American Ak
mot the straightforward thing sometimes
used by Jamaicans. but real ak i'm
ported for the purpose) and the roots
having been severed. thu trees were pull
ed down By ropes. thus leaving no
stumps AS this piece OF ground Is fair
ing IL and planting II with cucumbers
and potatoes for the New York spring
market. Another patch at the eastern
end OF the valley has been pickaxAd.
and will be devoted 70 tomatoes for the
same destination. There are 70 seasons
at this height above the sea: the Their
uson,eter never drops below fifty on the
coolest winter nights. Tor rises above
eighty in summer: there are showers
almost daily. and heavy dsws. In Au-
gust everything Is as green as In May.
Our American tools are a nevcr-ceasing
source of wonder TO the col0red popaia-
ton. For example. everything here Is