- OF mountain-lands oeconomy permits
- A third, in Canes of mighty growth to rise:
- But, in the low-land plain, the half will yield [480]
- Tho’ not so lofty, yet a richer Cane,
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For many a crop; if seasons glad the soil.
- WHILE rolls the Sun from Aries to the Bull,1
- And till the Virgin2 his hot beams inflame;
- The Cane, with richest, most redundant juice, [485]
- Thy spacious coppers fills. Then manage so,
- By planting in succession; that thy crops
- The wondering daughters of the main3 may waft
- To Britain’s shore, ere Libra4 weight the year:
- So shall thy merchant chearful credit grant, [490]
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And well-earn’d opulence thy cares repay.
- THY fields thus planted; to secure the Canes
- From the Goat’s baneful tooth; the churning boar;
- From thieves; from fire or casual or design’d;
- Unfailing herbage to thy toiling herds [495]
- Would’st thou afford;5 and the spectators charm
- With beauteous prospects: let the frequent hedge
- Thy green plantation, regular, divide.
VER. 482. if seasons glad the soil.] Long-continued and violent rains are called Seasons in the West-Indies.6
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Aries is the first sign of the zodiac; the sun enters it in mid-March and exits it in mid-April. The Bull refers to the zodiacal sign of Taurus, which is the second sign of the zodiac; the sun enters it in mid-April and exits it in mid-May. ↩︎
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The Virgin names Virgo, the sixth sign of the zodiac; the sun enters it in mid-August and exits it in mid-September. ↩︎
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Refers to nymphs of the ocean (“main”). ↩︎
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Libra is the seventh sign of the zodiac; the sun enters it in mid-September and exits it in mid-October. ↩︎
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Cane stalks often provided cattle with feed. ↩︎
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In the Caribbean, seasons are generally divided into wet and dry, versus the four seasons commonly known in temperate zones. ↩︎