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Livestock and Sugar: Aspects of Jamaica's Agricultural Development from the Late Seventeenth to the Early Nineteenth Century*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Verene A. Shepherd
Verene A. Shepherd
Affiliation:
University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica
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Extract

The study of the agricultural history of Jamaica, particularly after the seventeenth century when England seized the island from Spain, has traditionally been dominated by investigations of the sugar industry. Recently a few scholars have deviated from this path to examine in varying degrees of detail, agrarian activities which did not represent the standard eighteenth-century West Indian route to wealth. Foremost among this growing body of literature are articles and papers on the livestock industry (and livestock farmers), arguably the most lucrative of the non-sugar economic activities in rural Jamaica, perhaps until the advent of coffee later in the eighteenth century. Intended as a contribution to the historiography of non-staple agricultural production in colonial Jamaica, this article traces the early establishment and expansion of the important livestock or ‘pen-keeping’ industry. But the history of pens must also be located within the context of the dominant sugar economy; for during the period of slavery, pens were largely dependent on the sugar estate to provide markets for their outputs. Indeed pens expanded as a result of the growth of the sugar industry and, therefore, the importance of the livestock industry in eighteenth-and nineteenth-century Jamaica is best appreciated by examining its economic links with the estates.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , September 1991 , pp. 627 - 643
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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References

1 Among the most notable of these articles and papers on livestock and livestock farm (farmers) in Jamaica are Hall, D. G., ‘Fort George Pen, Jamaica: slaves, tenants and labourers’, Association of Caribbean Historians Conference, Curaçao, 1979Google Scholar; Hall, , ‘Runaways in Jamaica in the mid-eighteenth century: one man's record’, department of history, U.W.I., Mona, Seminar Paper 1984Google Scholar; Hall, (ed.), ‘Thomas Thistlewood in the vineyard 1750–51’, Jamaica Journal, XXXI, 3 (1988), 16–29Google Scholar. (This article is part of Hall's more detailed In miserable slavery – Thomas Thistlewood in Jamaica, 1750–1786 (London, 1989)Google Scholar. Thistlewood became an overseer-pen-keeper in western Jamaica); Higman, B. W., ‘The internal economy of Jamaican pens 1760–1890’, Social and Economic Studies, XXXVIII, 1 (1989), 61–86Google Scholar; Shepherd, V. A., ‘Problems in the supply of live-stock to sugar estates’, Mona, 1986Google Scholar; Shepherd, , ‘Obstacles to the expansion of the pen-keeping industry in Jamaica’, Mona, 1989Google Scholar. (These ideas are more fully developed in Shepherd, , ‘Pens and pen-keepers in a plantation society: aspects of Jamaica's social and economic history 1740–1845’, (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, university of Cambridge, 1988)Google Scholar and Morgan, P. D., ‘Slavery and livestock in eighteenth-century Jamaica’, Conference on Cultivation and Culture, university of Maryland, 04 1989Google Scholar. Higman's, recent Jamaica surveyed (Institute of Jamaica, 1988)Google Scholar also devotes a chapter to pens from a cartographic perspective.

2 Livestock farms were styled ‘pens’ in Jamaica. The term ‘pen-keeping’ evolved as a description of the livestock industry and the proprietors of pens were styled ‘pen-keepers’. See Cassidy, F. G. and LePage, R. B. (eds.), Dictionary of Jamaican English (Cambridge, 1967), p. 345Google Scholar and Shepherd, , ‘Pens and pen-keepers’, pp. 4–10Google Scholar.

3 Long, E., History of Jamaica (3 vols., London, 1774)Google Scholar in British Library, Add. MS 12,404, fos. 176, 182. See also Cundall, F. and Pieterz, J. L., Jamaica under the Spaniards (Kingston, 1919), p. 26Google Scholar and Padron, F. Morales, Jamaica Española (Seville, 1952), pp. 268–93, 357–72Google Scholar.

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5 Long, History of Jamaica, I in B.L., Add. MS 12,404, fo. 176. Hatos also developed in Cuba for large-sized cattle or steers. See the Cuban, economic research project, A study on Cuba (Miami, 1965), p. 60Google Scholar.

6 Bishko, C., ‘The peninsular background of Latin American cattle-ranching’, Hispanic American Historical Review, XXXII (1952), 513Google Scholar and Watts, D., The West Indies: patterns of development, culture and environmental change since 1402 (Cambridge, 1987), p. 84Google Scholar.

7 For more on this topic see Bowser, F., The African slave in colonial Peru, (California, 1974)Google Scholar and Rout, L. B. Jr, The African experience in Spanish America: 1502 to the present day (Cambridge, 1976)Google Scholar.

8 Bishko attributes the great demand for cowhides in Spain to the late medieval shift of the peninsular tanning and leather traders from goat and sheep skins to the tougher, if less workable, cow hide. This item also formed the basis of an important export trade to Italy, France and the Low Countries. As internal production was inadequate to meet the external demands, Spain relied on her colonies to supply hides for re-export. Thus, where mineral wealth was absent, Spanish colonies were developed into important producers of hides. This was equally true of Cuba, Santo Domingo and Puerto Rico. See Bishko, , ‘The peninsular background’, p. 513Google Scholar; Knight, F., Slave society in Cuba during the nineteenth century (Madison, 1970), p. 3Google Scholar; Clausner, M. D., Rural Santo Domingo: settled, unsettled and resettled (Philadelphia, 1973), p. 71Google Scholar; Scarano, F. A., Sugar and slavery in Puerto Rico: the plantation economy of Ponce, 1800–1850 (Wisconsin, 1984), pp. 4–40Google Scholar and Dietz, J. L., Economic history of Puerto Rico: institutional change and capitalist development (New Jersey, 1986), pp. 4–8Google Scholar.

9 Cundall, and Pieterz, , Jamaica under the Spaniards, p. 35Google Scholar .

10 Ibid. This figure excludes the black population.

11 Ibid.

12 Gardner, W. J., History of Jamaica, 1655–1872 (London, 1909 edn), p. 36Google Scholar.

13 Ibid.; Long, History of jamaica, I in B.L., Add. MS 12,404, fos. 190, 192.

14 Ibid. fo. 190.

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16 Instruction to Governor Modyford from Charles II, 18 Feb. 1664, P.R.O., CO. 138/1; 'Proclamation of Charles, II, Laws of Jamaica, 1681–1759, I, 9Google Scholar; Barham, H., Account of Jamaica, 1772, London, British LibraryGoogle Scholar, Sloane MS 3,918, fo. 56 and Long, History of Jamaica, I, in B.L., Add. MS 12,404, fos. 199–205. The law imposed heavy fines on those found unlawfully killing livestock. It also stipulated that grazing farms be fenced. See Leslie, C., A new history of Jamaica (London, 1740), pp. 167–8Google Scholar. See also, Laws of Jamaica, 1681, Anno 33, Caroli, II, Cap. X, p. 9.

17 Craton, M. and Walvin, J., A Jamaican plantation: the history of Worthy Park, 1670–1970 (London, 1970), pp. 30–42Google Scholar. No precise figures are available to indicate the number of planters who made a start in this manner or established estates on former pen lands.

18 Gardner, , History of Jamaica, p. 79Google Scholar.

19 Roby, J., A history of St James (Kingston, 1849), p. 100Google Scholar, and SirSloane, Hans, A voyage to the islands (2 vols., London, 1707), I, pp. xiv–lxxvGoogle Scholar.

20 See Dunn, R., Sugar and slaves (North Carolina, 1972), pp. 149–87Google Scholar; Sheridan, R. B., Sugar and slavery (Barbados, 1974), pp. 210–16Google Scholar; Zahadieh, N., ‘Trade, plunder and economic development in early English Jamaica, 1655–1689 (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of London, 1984)Google Scholar; Zahadieh, , ‘The merchants of Port Royal, Jamaica and the Spanish contraband trade, 1655–1692’, William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Series, XLIII (1986), 570CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Zahadieh, , ‘Trade, plunder and economic development in early English Jamaica, 1655–1689’, The Economic History Review, XXXIX (1986), 205–22CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

21 Dunn, , Sugar and slaves, p. 169Google Scholar. This calculation was based on Bochart and Knollis, A new and exact Mapp of the island of Jamaica c. 1684, C.O. 700/6. This figure probably also included a few hog crawles. Simpson and Craskill's map of 1763 grouped pens with ‘non-sugar units’, so that this makes it difficult to obtain an accurate idea of the number of livestock farms. See Simpson, and Craskill, , Map of Jamaica, 1763, C.O. 700/16Google Scholar.

22 Gardner, , History of Jamaica, p. 161Google Scholar.

23 Jamaica Archives, Accounts Produce (J.A., A.P.), 1840, 1B/11/4/84. These Accounts related to the properties of absentees, but provide a window through which the pens can be viewed generally.

24 Phillippo observed in 1843 that ‘the stock required for agriculture are…oxen, horses, mules’. He acknowledged, however, that horses were used mainly ‘for the saddle’. See Phillippo, J. M., Jamaica: its past and present state (London, 1843), p. 85Google Scholar.

25 Perkins, J. A., ‘The ox, the horse and English farming 1750–1850’, Working paper in economic history, 3/1975, university of New South Wales, dept. of economic history, school of economics, pp. 2–15Google Scholar,

26 Radnor Plantation Journal, 1822–6, National Library of Jamaica (N.L.J.), MS 180.

27 J.A., A.P., 1740, 1B/11/4/1; 1760, 1B/11/4/3–4; 1780, 1/B/11/4/9; 1820, 1B/11/4/54–6 and 1840, 1B/11/4/84–5.

28 Leslie, , A new history of Jamaica, p. 318Google Scholar.

29 Ibid.

30 Long, History of Jamaica, I, in B.L. Add. MS 12,404, fo. 220.

31 Grown on lands unsuitable for either pens or sugar-cane.

32 Add. MS 12,404, fo. 311.

33 Ibid. fo. 308.

34 Sheridan, , Sugar and slavery, p. 232Google Scholar.

35 Long, History of Jamaica, I, in B.L., Add. MS 12,404, fos. 39–192.

36 Pitman, F. W., The development of the British West Indies, 1700–1763 (New Haven, 1917), pp. 367–77Google Scholar.

37 Ibid.

38 These figures represented a combination of the production of pens and livestock imported.

39 Pitman, , The development of the British West Indies, pp. 367–77Google Scholar.

40 Letter from the Attorney to Messrs. W. R. and S. Mitchell, 17 Feb. 1822, Jamaica Archives, Attorneys' Letterbook, 1B/5/83/1.

41 Ibid. Letterbook, 30 Dec. 1822.

42 Robertson, J., ‘Maps of the counties of Cornwall, Middlesex and Surrey’, 1804Google Scholar, N.L.J.

43 Ibid. ‘Map of the county of Middlesex’.

44 Craton, M., Searching for the invisible man: slaves and plantation life in Jamaica (Cambridge, 1974), p. 2Google Scholar.

45 Higman, B. W., ‘The spatial economy of Jamaican sugar plantations; cartographic evidence from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries’, Journal of Historical Geography, 13, 1 (1987), 17–39CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Watts, , The West Indies, p. 193Google Scholar.

46 The estates in Antigua had the advantage of nearby Barbuda – a source of draught animals, slaves, harnesses and leather goods. See Hall, D. G., Five of the Leewards (Caribbean Universities Press: Ginn & Co. 1971), p. 59Google Scholar.

47 Edwards, B., The history of the West Indies (2 vols., London, 1793), I, pp. 253–4Google Scholar.

48 Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 29 Oct. 1782, Cambridge University Library; Vanneck Manuscripts, Jamaican Estate Papers, (J.E.P.), Box 2, Bundle 10.

49 This calculation is based on contemporary accounts indicating that each estate needed 100 oxen annually in addition to mules and heifers. There were 562 sugar estates in 1820.

50 These prices relate to locally bred livestock. Imported animals usually cost less.

51 Edwards, , History of the West Indies, I, 259Google Scholar.

52 J.A., A.P., 1B/11/4/1.

53 J.A., A.P., 1B/11/4/3–4.

54 Shepherd, ‘Pens and pen-keepers’ chap. 3.

55 B.L., Add. MS 12,404, fo. 330.

56 J.A., A.P., 1B/11/4/54–6.

57 B.L., Add. MS 12,404, fo. 330.

58 Naval Officer's Returns, 1815–25, Jamaica House of Assembly Votes (J.H.A.V.) 1815–25 and Blue Books of Jamaica (B.B.J.) 1822–5, C.O. 142/34–8.

59 B.B.J. 1832.

60 Shepherd, ‘Obstacles to the expansion…’.

61 Taylor to Arcedeckne, 29 Oct. 1782.

62 Edwards, , History of the West Indies, I, p. 259Google Scholar.

63 J.A., A.P. 1B/11/4/54–6.

64 James Stevenson to Mrs Scarlett, 8 April 1800, Hull University, Brynmor Jones Library, Scarlett family papers, DDCA/41/17.

65 See Ward, J. R., British West Indian slavery, 1750–1834: the process of amelioration (Oxford, 1988)Google Scholar.

66 Taylor to Arcedeckne, 27 Sept. 1781, J.E.P., Box 2, Bundle 9.

67 Ibid.

68 Taylor to Arcedeckne, 11 Nov. 1765, J.E.P., Box 2, Bundle 1.

69 Taylor to Arcedeckne, 3 Sept. 1787, J.E.P., Box 2, Bundle 13. A similar relationship between the Blagroves' properties was outlined by Henry Blagrove. He noted in his journal that ‘Orange Valley Pen and Orange Valley Estate have a special relationship. At the pen, we breed planters' stock and buy them for Orange Valley Estate, work them for a certain period of time carrying canes to the mill, sugar to the wharf – and other estates' works – and when at Orange Valley they become useless they are draughted or sold to Bell Air Pen and there put in guinea grass pastures, fattened and then sold to the butcher’. See Journal of Henry John Blagrove, Jamaica Archives, Private Deposit 4/4/1–2, 21 March 1842.

70 Taylor to Arcedeckne, 4 Sept. 1794, J.E.P., Box 2 Bundle 19.

71 Crop Accounts, 1833, J.E.P., Box 2, Bundle 60.

72 Taylor to Arcedeckne, 10 April 1768, J.E.P., Box 2, Bundle 3.

73 Taylor to Arcedeckne, 5 July 1789, J.E.P., Box 2, Bundle II.

74 Ibid. 10 Oct. 1783. See also Wood, B. C. and Clayton, T. R., ‘Slave birth, death and disease on Golden Grove Estate, Jamaica, 1765–1810’, Slavery and Abolition, 6 (1985), 99–121CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Wood, , Slavery in colonial Georgia, 1730–75 (Athens, 1984), pp. 101–2Google Scholar for a similar pre-occupation of southern planters with mortality rates among ‘new negroes’.

75 Crop Accounts, 1833, J.E.P., Box 2, Bundle 60.