s, or three hundred square feet.

In the first instance, the suckers of the plantain (the tree being
propagated by cuttings or suckers which shoot up from the bulb),
should be set at ten feet distance from each other; this proposition
gives 300 plants on one line of trees, or 900 on the surface of one
quarree of land. Each plant propagates itself and gives upon an
average ten trees of the same size and bearing. On one quarree of
land, therefore there would be 9,000 trees, yielding four pounds of
fibre and one bunch of fruit each, which is 9,000 bunches of fruit,
and 36,000 lbs. nett of fibre, in the whole. In good ground the same
plant will last fifteen years without any further trouble. Flat
lands ought to be cultivated in preference to any other. The
plantain thrives with the root in the water, and the head to the
sun. On the borders of the river Orinoco it grows to the height of
twenty feet, is one foot in diameter, and the stalks of the branches
are three inches in circumference.

_Cutting_.--The tree which has not produced its ripe fruit ought to
be cut, for two reasons--first, that the fruit be not lost; and
secondly, that the tree will not have arrived at its full growth and
ordinary size, and the fibres will be too tender. In cutting it
down, take it off six inches above the surface of the ground, then
divide it longitudinally into four parts, take out the heart, which
must be left to serve for manure, and if fermentation is decided
upon, leave the pieces at the foot of the tree, otherwise take them
to the mill to be crushed. The tree being very tender, may, on being
bent down, be cut asunder with a single stroke of a hatchet,
cutlass, or other convenient instrument. One man can cut down 800
trees, and split them in a day.

_Carrying_.--The trees being thus divided, may be immediately
carried to the mill to be crushed, or may remain until the
fermentation separates the juice of sap from the fibres and the
pith. By fermenting the trees, their weight will be so much reduced
as to render their carriage considerably lighter than if taken away
when first cut down. A wagon, with oxen or mules, can carry about a
ton per day, and one man can load the wagon and drive the cattle.

_Crushing_.--If the tree is carried from the plantation without
being subjected to fermentation, i