1 7 * ]
The borders of the river Surinam, which were cultivated much
earlier than those of Commewyne,do not, however, appear quite so
pleasant, as much of the land is become impoverished by the con?
tinual planting of many successive years, so that it now fails to
produce good crops. The method here of strengthening and improving
it is as follows. The land is encompassed with a dam. to.
collect the rain water and keep it upon the field ; upon which
bushes soon begin to grow, and it returns, to its former wilderness
state : this ground is then called Cappewirry, to distinguish it
from quite new land, which "is termed Berè-bere; and in the course
of ten years the land becomes as fertile as before. I could net help
remarking, that it was a pity to turn cultivated land into- a waste;
again, and thus to lose for ten years the benefit of it; besides,
changing it to an artificial swamp, if I may be allowed the, ex7,
pression, must make the surrounding country, very unhealthy; and
when it is considered how many acres of ground are constantly
reduced to cappewirry in all the different plantations,; if; mqsfçvesy
much tend to prevent any further improvement in the salubrity of
the air. I asked, therefore, whether it would nôt bp müçh better to
manure the ground with cattle, as I had seen done, at JVlartinic.O;
and Barbadoes; for though it would occasion them more, trouble;
and expense, yet the profit, by having the use of the land sp «meh.
sqqner, wpu]d(fujly recompense them. I was answered that cattle
here,was top scarce fpr this purpose; and that, as; it i&; when any
oxen are killed by the tigers on the plantations, thei owners, of
the plantations who live. in Europe will not believe; the fact,
and therefore refuse to supply the losss by«purchasing, any more
cattle.
Most .of the plantations on the river Surinam produce coffee
and sugar; and as you want not the description of;the/'tree,,which
furnishes your favourite dish, nor of . the sugar cane, Dr. Eprmair
and Captain Stedman having both given already an account of
[ 7 5 ]
them, I shall only take upon myself to make a few observations
not mentioned by those gentlemen. The coffee at Surinam,
is suffered to grow in three stems from the root, and when one of
them does not produce plenty of berries, it is . cut away,, and the
best shoot in appearance nearest the root is allowed to grow in its
room. The trees are not permitted to grow higher than about five
feet, so that the negroes can very easily pluck the berried, for gathering
which there are two seasons, the one in May or ^he beginning
of June, and the other in October or the beginning of November*
I have to observe, that they often pluck the berries of unequal ripeness,
which must greatly injure the quality of the coffee. It is true,
when the coffees is washed, the berries which float on the water
are separated from the others; but they are only those ofthe worst
quality; or broken pieces, while the half ripe beaiig remain at thp.
bottom with the best. Now in the description which travellers in
Arabia give of the method of gathering-Coffee there, it is sgid that
the tree is suffered to grow to its natural height, and the berries are
gathered by shaking the tree and making them fall on mats placed
for them. By this way the Arabians gather only the beans perfectly
ripe at the time, and which must give the coffee a more delicate
flavour. Happening to mention this circumstance to a director, he
replied, that too much time would bedost in gathering all the berries
frdm the trees by this method, and therefore the further preparation
of the beans would be too much retarded. Not being a practical
planter myself, I am not able to judge how far it might be
* Atree will yield each time op’ an average from onfe pound to a pound and a half of
' coffee when pulped and perfectly dried. Art'Sore o f land planted with-cbffee, When
favoured by the weather, becomes mote profitable than when it is planted with sugar-
canes; but its crops arè always vefy precarious, as the blossoms and éven the berries
are sometimes damaged by the heavy rains, which aTe much less injdribus to sugar-
canes ; wherefore a planter feeW himself best secured in his revenue ap soon faë is able
to Cultivate'them both.