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fice the real intereft of their country, he was deprived of his honourable employment.

In the year 1710 Arthur earl of Anglefea was appointed joint vicetreasurer of Ireland, and fworn of the privy-council. On the death of queen Anne, he was made choice of by king George I. to be one of the Jords juftices, till he arrived from Hanover; after which he was again made joint treafurer of Ireland, and treasurer at war. On the 9th of February 1701-2, he was elected high-fteward of the Univerfity of Cambridge, on the deceafe of the duke of Manchester. He died at Farnborough on the 31ft of March, 1737; and was fucceeded by his brother's fon, Richard Annefley lord Altham, who married on the 24th

of June 1715, Anne, daughter of capt. John Preft of Monckton, near Biddeford in Devonshire; but the died without iffue.

Armorial Bearings.] Quarterly, firft pally of fix, argent and fable; over all a bend, gules.

Creft.] On a wreath, a Moor's head and bust, fide-faced and couped, proper; wreathed about the temples, argent and fable.

Supporters.] On the dexter fide, a Roman knight; on the finifter, a Moorish prince, both habited and furnished, proper.

Motto.] Virtutis amore. The love of virtue.

Chief Seats. At Blechington in Oxfordshire; Farnborough-place in Hampshire; and Clemoling-park, in the county of Wexford in Ireland.

To the Authors of the BRITISH MAGAZINE. GENTLEMEN,

Though feveral of your readers may not be very converfant in commercial affairs, yet the fubfequent Hiftory of the Sugar-cane will doubtlefs prove agreeable to all. By giving it a place in your Magazine, you will oblige, Yours, &c. S. C.

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means than by incifion or tapping); or that it had been laid by on purpose, is uncertain; it is, however, probable, both from the quantity and appearance of the facchar of the ancients, that it was only the concreted oil and effential falts of that part of the juice that continued to dribble from these wounds after the principal drains had been finished, which had christalined about the scar, and along the body of the reed; or the produce of fmall quantities of the juice expofed to the more intenfe action of the fun or fire: for the gummy appearance and concreted form with which it has been defcribed, ferve alike to prove it of this nature; and if we confider the various accounts left us by the most exact ancient writers both of the falt and juice, we fhall certainly have no reafon to doubt its being really fo.

The true fugar-cane feems to have been originally a native of the Canary lands, and first known to the inhabitants of Europe in the times of the Romans; for what Pliny records of Juba's account of the Fortunate Islands, if rightly confidered, will undoubtedly leave us but little room to doubt of either. It has not, however, been propagated or known any better among us for many ages after; and probably continued fo until the Spaniards and Portuguese began to trade round the coaft of Africa, and had frequent occafions to call at thofe islands; from whence they first brought this plant into Spain and Portugal, where it was regularly cultivated, as well as in their foreign fettlements. But though fugar had been made from it in many parts, especially in Madera, St. Thomas's, and the Canary Islands, they were but poorly supplied in Europe, until Columbus made the difcovery

of America, and this plant had been introduced and cultivated there, as it was, by that time, in many parts of the East Indies, and along the coafts of Africa, where it now grows almost without culture in every rich and fertile field.

The culture of this plant, which now employs the principal part of the inhabitants of the fouthern codonies of America, and fupplies the moft confiderable branches of their exports, next deferves our attention.

To fucceed well in the culture of the fugar-cane, and to raise it so as to anfwer both your labour and expectation, the ground you pitch upon must be rich and deep, the bottom clofe, the mould free, and the fituation warm; and difpofed fo, that you may expe& a moderate share of every rain or dew that falls, without being too remote from a market or a shipping-place. Your fail thus chofe, cleared, and ready for the cane, you muft next confider your ftrength, calculatej ftly what quantity of land you may be able to plant annually, compute how many acres of canes your ftrength and conveniencies will allow you to manufacture the produce of one year with another, and divide the manurable part of your eftate accordingly into three, four, five, or fix parts; but you may be more free, where the ground is obferved to produce a kind plant, and to rattoon well.

Your land being thus laid out, and one of the parts divided into convenient pieces with proper intervals; you begin to hole, and continue to open the ground gradually until the planting feafon comes on, and your mould be well turned. To have a piece of ground regularly holed, as the beft planters are now obN 2

ferved

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served to do, it must be lined cut into oblong fquares of about three feet breadth, and each of these marked again with a small piece of flick or twig at every three feet distance; by which means the whole field is foon divided into leffer areas, each containing seven or nine fquare feet, ac cording to your chofen diftances: these are feverally dug up, and the mould raised on the banks between them; but you feldom open deeper than four or five inches from the furface.

This plant is propagated by the germ, and people that cultivate it carefully, have fpare pieces to fupply them with plants in the latter feafons; these are regularly drawn, cut into juncks proportionate to the length of the holes, and placed three' or four parallel to each other, or in a triangle, in the bottom of each; but it is remarkable, that the upper joints of full-grown canes, or thofe that are covered by the leaves, and yet fuft and tender, answer beft for this purpose, and are always used when they plant towards the end of the crop-feafon. The plants thus difpofed are covered from the neighbouring banks, but the mould is feldom raised above two inches over them in any dry and loose foil, the remainder being left to be added occafionally at the different weedings. In fiff and clayey lands the holes ought to be fomewhat deeper, and a part of the mould upon the banks to be lodged between the plants and bottom, the remainder being employed to cover them to the height of two or three inches, which will always leave the surface of your field level.

The best season for planting the fugar-cane, is about the month of Auguft, where the ground is found

fliff or chilly; but September and October are obferved to answer better where the foil is free and warm, which is generally the cafe where the mould lies deep over a marly or gravelly bottom; and then you may expect your canes to come in feasonably in the beginning of the fecond year, which is the beft and ufual feafon for making of sugar. The latter part of this, and the beginning of the enfuing year is generally employed in building of the neceffary works and other conveniencies, if these be not already provided; and in the following feafons you hole and plant another part or divifion of the manurable lands, and prepare all neceffaries for boiling early the ensuing feason.

But where the ground has been opened and in ufe, it generally requires more care to answer your expectation; fallowing and dunging become requifite, though they feldom fail to over-pay the toil; and peculiar care fhould be taken to adapt the manure to the nature of the foil; dung, fand, and mixtures, anfwer in the different forts of poorer glebes; and burnings and lime have been always obferved to quicken vegetation in chilly loams.

The feafon being now come, and every thing in order about the works, the negroes are provided with bills, and ordered into the most forward field to cut canes; this they perform very dexterously, they part the plants pretty near the root, chop off the tops, and leave the stalks in irregular parcels to be collected and tied together by the binders; these are again taken up by others and put into carts, cradles, or other vehicles, to be carried to the mill, where the juice is expreffed by paffing them to and fro between three

perpendicular rollers cafed with feel; this, by a declivity formed in the bridge-tree, is conveyed to the firft ciftern, and ftrained in its paffage through a basket lined with hair-cloth, but this is feldom regarded in Jamaica. When this is full, the liquor is discharged by a tap placed in the bottom of the cistern, and conveyed by proper fpouts or gutters to a large ciftern, or immediately to the firft clarifier in the boiling-houfe, where it should be also straired and tempered; the former, however, is feldom regarded in Jamaica, but the latter is always requifite, in the manufacture of fugar, and generally done there by mixing a fmall quantity of good quick-lime in powder, or fome ftrong lime-water with the juice after it is put into the clarifier; the fire is then raised gradually, and continued in a moderate ftate until moft of the filth and naftiness with which the juices have been charged rifes to the top, and is skummed off by fhallow perforated copper fkimmers: then it is again ftrained, by fome, through a thick coarse blanket, and boiled to a proper confiftence in the adjoining coppers: but during this operation, the fire must be conftantly kept very quick, and the liquor fhifted gradually, as it thickens, from one copper to another, until it arrives at the fmalleft, where it is perfected, while the others are conftantly fupplied from behind: and as it is apt to fwell and boil over the rim of the copper while in a vifcid ftate, it must be kept in conftant, and sometimes violent agitation with the skumming or larger ladles, until it begins to granulate.

When the liquor has acquired a due confiftence, it is put into broad fhallow wooden coolers; after it has

obtained a proper and stronger confiftence there, it is carried in tubs or other veffels and emptied into pots, barrels, or hogfheads, according to the conveniency or fancy of the planter; thefe are placed on ftanchions underlaid with convenient flanting platforms and cifterns to receive the molaffes, which continues to dribble through every hole and crevice for fome days; but care is always taken to leave proper vents for the difcharge of this glutinous juice, which otherwife would fpoil the grain, colour, and confiftence of the fugar.

When they have cut as many acres, and manufactured as much of this commodity as their strength and feafons will permit, they begin to hole, plant, and weed again; but where the foil is rich and kind, this labour is much lefs, for the fuckers that fhoot from the roots left in the ground the foregoing feafon, which are generally called rattoons, grow often fo luxuriant and rich, as to contribute much towards the crop of the enfuing year, nay, are sometimes found almoft equal to the first plants, and in a very rich foil frequently continue to answer many for years: but in poorer grounds thofe of the first year only are made into fugar, and the growth of the fecond ferves for plants or is thrown up.

We shall now give fome account of the manufacture of rum, another principal commodity obtained from this valuable plant.

In the manufacture of the former commodity, the course and order of the operation prevented our having mentioned the gradual addition of juice, that is conftantly fupplied în a regular fucceffion from the first clarifier to the last copper, which is hung immediately over the fire-hole,

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that it may be the more readily managed as occafion requires, without retarding the procefs in the other coppers, or raising the rarefaction to too great a height; this fucceffion continues until all the liquor of the day is boiled off, which hold often until late at night; and then the coppers are charged with water gradually, and the fires extinguished as the liquor is fhifted forwards: the coppers are well washed with water the enfuing morning to make them fit for the labours of the day; and the washings difcharged into the common spouts or gutters that convey the skimmings of the juice, by which they are carried to a proper receiver in the still-houfe.

The general method and portion in which the ingredients that yield this fpirit are mixed and compounded, is as follows, viz.

Take one third skimmings, one third water from the washings, and one third cool and clear lees to warm and ferment the whole; but though this, with an after addition of a few gallons of molaffes, be the general proportion now in ufe, it may be varied with good effe&t by a judicious diftiller: when thefe ingredients are put together pretty cool, and well mixed, the fermentation begins foon, and will rife in twenty-four hours to a proper height for admitting the first change of molaffes, which is about three gallons for every hundred gallons of the wafh or liquor; this enriches the mixture, thickens the fermentation, and about four and twenty hours afterwards it is fit for the fecond and laft charge, which is nearly the fame quantity with the firft;; but care must be taken to give it this fupply before the

fermentation abates, for otherwise the liquor will grow fluggish, and never yield a due proportion of spirit. The fermentation falls gradually after the fourth or fifth day, and when the liquor grows fine, and comes to throw up its air bubbles clear and flowly, it is fit for the still, where the fpirit is drawn off by a conftant equal fire, during which great care fhould be taken to keep the water cool about the worm, for the more it is fo, the stronger the fpirit will be, the more in quantity, and the mellower.

But though this be the common proportion and method of managing the ingredients of which rum is made, a great many planters, who diftill confiderable quantities of that fpirit yearly, mix up their liquors in the following manner, and take three parts of water, ohe and a half molaffes, and as much lees: but this requires a long fermentation, which generally continues from ten to twenty days, and yields a great quantity of good fpirit: And others, who by being weak-handed, neglect, or accident, happen to have large quantities of bad canes, fcald the juice and put it to the fame use ; but this ferments fufficiently in about three days, and never affords either a good fpirit or a confiderable quantity.

The beft managers of plantations generally get about two hundred gallons of good common proof rum, for every three hogfheads of fugar; this proportion must however vary with the cane; for in fome plants the juice is more clammy, and throws off more skimmings and molaffes, than that of others.

Some

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