LAYOUT OF A TYPICAL 18YH CENTURY PLANTATION
According to Claypole plantation lands were divided into several sections: cane fields, pastures lands, woodlands, provision grounds, work yards and living quarters for managers and labourers.
Most plantations had from three to five cane fields, each surrounded by closely trimmed trees and walls made of lumber or stone wall to protect the crop from cattle. Each field was divided by narrow roads into smaller square plots of 6-9 hectares. This made it easier to manage the gangs that were cutting the cane and the movement to the work yard.
According to Hamilton Wille the pastures lands were areas that was reserved for animals, mainly cattle, horses and mules ,and were extremely important. They provided manure for the cane fields and vegetable plots, and some could be even slaughtered to provide meat for supplement the diet of the estate population.
The woodland provided lumber for the estate. Lumber was used for a various purposes such as the construction of buildings as well as fuel for the boilers and for cooking.
Provisions grounds were unused lands and were generally cultivated on marginal lands, and were extremely important to both the planters and to the slaves. Caribbean history for cxc, Provisions grounds were poor lands on the plantation given to the slaves so that they may grow their own food, working the ground in whatever free time they were given and on Sundays. This was meant to decrease the cost of feeding the enslaved population- if slaves produced their own food it would cost the planters less than if they had to import food from aboard.
According to claypole and robottom the workyard stood in the middle of the cane fields. The work yard consisted of the mill, boiling house, curing house, distillery, trash house, and workshops for skilled craftsmen like
