Department of Agriculture [pp. 417-429]

428 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
6.-GRAINGER'S SONG OF TIlE CANE FIELDS.
In our August number, p. 243, we gave a short sketch of the history of that curious work on
the sugar cane, written in the last century, in poetry, by Mr. Grainger. To the extracts then
furnished, we add several others, for the gratification of cur readers, reminding them again that
the author's experience extended only to the British West Indies.
HUSBANDRY IMPROVED. And, inconsiderate, deems his Indian crops
Planter, Improvement is the child of Time, Will amply her insatiate wants supply.
What your sires knew not, ye, their offspring From these i,sidious droles (peculiar pest
know;' Of Liamulga's hills) wouldst thou defend
Buthath your art received Perfection's stamp 9 Thy waving wealth? in traps put not thy trust,
Thou canst not say.-Unprejudiced, then learn However baited; treble every watch,
Of ancient modes to doubt, and new to try; And well with arms provide them; faithful
And if Philosophy, with Wisdom, deign dogs,
Thee to enlighten with useful lore Of nose sagacious, on their footsteps wait.
Fair fame and riches will award thy toil. With these attack the predatory bands;
Then say, ye swains, whom wealth and fame Quickly the unequal conflict they decline,
aspire, And, chattering, fling their ill-got spoils away.
Might not the plough, that rolls on rapid So,when, of late, in numerous Gallic hosts,
wheels, Fierce, wanton, cruel, did by stealth invade
Save no small labor to the hoe-arm'd gang? The peaceful American's domains,
By Ceres' son, unfailing crops secure; While desolation mark'd their faithless rout,
Though neither dung nor fallowing lent their No sooner Albion's martial sons advanced,
aid? Than the gay dastards to their fobrests fled,
NEGROES; AT WORK. And left their spoils and tomahawks behind.
Nor with less waste, the whisker'd vermin
Thy negro train (in linen lightly wrapp'd), race,
Who, now that painted Iris girds the sky, A countless calm, despoil the lowland cane.
(Aeriel arch, which fancy loves to stride!) These to destroy, while commerce hoists the
Disperse, all-jocund, o'er the long-hoed land. sail
The bundles some untie; the wither'd leaves Loose rocks abound, or tangling bushes bloom,
Others strip artful off, and careful lay, What planter knows?-Yet prudence may re Twice one junk, distant in the amplest bed. duce.
Oer these, with hasty hoe, some lightly spread Encourage, then, the breed of savage cats,
The mounded interval, and smooth the trench: Nor kill the winding snake; thy foes they eat.
Well pleased, the master swain reviews their Thus, on the mangrove banks of Guyaquil,
toil, Child of the rocky desert, sealike stream,
And rolls, in fancy, many a full fraught cask. With studious care, the American preserves
So, when the shield was forged for Pelus' son, The gallinazo., else that sealike stream
The swarthy Cyclops shared the important (Whence traffic pours her bounties on man task: kind)
With bellows, some revived the seeds of fire; Dread alligators would alone possess.
Some. gold, and brass, and steel together fused
In the vast furnace, while a chosen few, WORK IN THE CANE FIELDS.
In equal measures, lifting their bare arms, Some rending, of their sapless burden ease
Inform the mass; and, hissing in the wave, The yellow pointed canes, (whose height ex Temper the glowing orb; their sire beholds, coeds
Amazed, the wonders of his fusile art. A mounted trooper, and whose clammy round
TRIPPING TH E CANE Measures two inches full,) and near the root
STR ING THE CANE. Lops the stem off, which quivers in their
And now thy cane's first blades their verdure hands
lose, With fond impatience; soon its branchy spires
And hang their idle heads. Be these stripp'd (Food to thy cattle) it resigns; and soon
off': Its tender prickly tops, with eyes thick set,
So shall fresh sportive airs their joints em- To load with future crops thy long-hoed land.
brace, These, with their green, their pliant branches
And by their dalliance give the sap to rise; bound,
But, O. beware! let no unskilful hand (For not a part of this amazing plant
The vivid foliage tear: their channel'd spouts, But serves some useful purpose,) charge the
Well pleased, the watery nutriment convey, gang:
With filial duty, to the thirsty stem: Not laziness declines this easy toil;
And, spreading wide their reverential arms, E'en lameness from its leafy pallet crawls,
Defend their parent from solstitial skies. To join the favor'd gang. What of the cane
Remains, and much the largest part remains,
ENEMIES TO THE CANE FIELDS. Cut into junks, a yard in length, and tied
Destructive, on the upland sugar groves, In small light bundles, load the broad-wheel'd
The monkey nation preys: from rocky heights, wain,
In silent parties, they descend by night, The mules crook-harness'd, and the sturdier
And posting watchful sentinels to warn crew
When hostile steps approach, with gambols, With sweetabundance. As on Lincoln plains,
they (Ye plains of Lincoln sound your Dyer's
Pour o'er the cane grove. Luckless he to praise!)
whom When the loved snow-white flocks are numerThat land pertains! in evil hour, perhaps, ous penn'd;
And thoughtless of to-morrow, on a die The senior swains, with sharpen'd shears, cut
He hazards millions; or, perhaps, reclines off
On luxury's soft lap, the pest of wealth; The fleecy vestment; others stir the tar;