nce necessary to its
improvement.

Farther in the interior the land is principally of a sandy formation,
most of it underlaid with clay. Very little effort is, however, made by
planters to cultivate it, although it is very easily worked, and with a
little manuring yields fair crops of corn and sweet potatoes. The cereal
grains are seldom cultivated, but no doubt they would yield well. A
large portion of the main-land is composed of swamps, of which only
enough have been reclaimed to make it certain that here is a mine of
wealth to those gifted with the energy to improve it. The soil is as
fertile as the banks of the Nile, and nowhere could agricultural
enterprise meet with such certainly profitable returns. Recurring again
to the agricultural capacity of the islands, it is certain that good
crops of sugar-cane can be grown on them. During the war of 1812, the
planters turned their attention to it, and succeeded well, since which
time many of them have continued to plant enough for their own use; but
this plant soon exhausts such a soil, unless some fertilizer is used,
and they therefore prefer cotton, which draws a large part of its
sustenance from the atmosphere alone. The sweet and wild orange grows
here, and some extensive groves are to be seen. Figs are produced in
abundance from September till Christmas. Gardens furnish abundant
vegetables, yielding green peas in March and Irish potatoes in May,
while numerous tribes of beautiful flowers hold high carnival for more
than half the year.

This seems to be the true home of the rose, which is found blooming from
March until Christmas. Many of the rare climbing varieties of this
flower, which we see at the North only as small specimens in
green-houses, grow here in wild profusion. The grape is represented by
many species indigenous to this State alone, and could, no doubt, be
cultivated and produced in greater variety and perfection than elsewhere
on this continent, as the climate is more equable. A species of Indian
corn, called 'white flint corn,' and which when cooked is very
nutritious and white as snow, seems indigenous to these islands. It is
much superior to the common varieties.

Of the sylva we will only say, it is equal in value and variety to that
of any section of our country. Here is the home of the palmetto[D] or
cabbage tree, the only palm in our wide country. The live oak, once so
abundant, has, however, been largely cut off, mostly to supply our
navy