148 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



May 7, 1904. 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



Cocoa-nuts in Canada. 



The following note on the trade between the 

 West Indies and Canada in cocoa-nuts has been 

 received from Mr. J. Russell Murray, of Montreal : — 



The great shortage of .Jamaica nuts lias brought about 

 a demand for nnts from the various other islands, and I am 

 writing to-day to the secretaries of the Agricultural Societies 

 in the various islands asking them to put me in communica- 

 tion with cocoa-nut growers. The Trinidad and Tobago 

 section I have already covered, but if you know of any 

 source besides Dominica, I should be glad if you would give 

 me the necessary information. 



Do you know any growers of S.ui Bias nuts ; and, if 

 so, can you give me their addresses? These are re(|uired 

 here for a special class of trade the British West Indian 

 nuts do not cover and I should like to get into connexion 

 with them. 



Cassava for Glucose Manufacture. 



Mention has been made in the Ai/ricultund 

 Ne^vs (Vol. Ill, p. 12) of a .sample of dried, sliced 

 cassava tubers forwarded from St. Lucia, which, it was 

 stated, were used in the manufacture of glucose. 

 Samples of these tubers and others prepared in 

 Barbados were forwarded by the Imjierial Commissioner 

 of Agriculture to Messrs. Garton, Hill & Co., Battersea, 

 London, S.W., large manufacturers of glucose, with 

 a request that they would furnish a report as to their 

 value and suitability for the market. 



In their reply, Messrs. Garton, Hill & Co. state 

 that the tubers are not in a convenient form for the 

 manufacture of glucose and would ha\ e to be crushed 

 or ground before going into the convertor. This e.xtra 

 treatment would be troublesome and expensive. For 

 this reason it is not thought that the sliced tubers 

 would have a sale in England. 



It appears, however, that there are prospects for 

 a trade in cas.sava with glucose manufacturers, if it be 

 prepared in another form, viz., as a meal. A sample of 

 cassava meal was forwarded to the same firm from 

 Jamaica by Mr. H. H. Cousins, Agricultural and 

 Analytical Chemist. Messrs. Garton, Hill & Co. think 

 that there should be a market for a limited amount of 

 this flour, which they considered a very nice article, 

 and report as follows : — 



This substance would lie a suitable material for glucose 

 and should connuand about 10s. per ton more than Borneo 

 sago flour for this purpose. This would make its market 

 value about £.j 10s. ]ier ton as comiieting with rough .sago 

 and tapioca flours, but as I mentioned in my last letter 

 the fact that .several of the largest glucose makers have put 

 nil plant to treat the whole maize - separating oil, husk, 

 gluten, etc. and converting the starch at once into glucose — 

 will make the demand for flour for glucose manufacture less 

 certain. Still I am inclined to think that there .should be 

 a market for a limited amount of this flour, and it is quite 

 possible a demand for it for other pur[)Oscs might arise, if the 

 (juality were similar to this samjile. 



West Indian Sugar in Canada. 



The following is a circular letter, dated April 7, 

 which has been sent by Mr. J. Russell Murray, of 

 Montreal, Canada, to correspondents in the sugar 

 trade with reference to the trade in West Indian 

 sugar in Canada and ]iarticularly to the jjreferential 

 tariff' accorded by the Dominion Government : — ■ 



As you will see by the copy of the Montreal Gazette I 

 send you by this mail, we have managed to give the fullest 

 publicity to the action of the St. Kitt's, Antigua and 

 Trinidad sugar planters in respect to the iircferential tariff on 

 sugar accorded bj' the Canadian Government to the British 

 possessions in the West Indies, and their claim that the 

 Canadian refiners here are reaping the entire benefit of .same. 



I called to-day on both the sugar refineries here, and 

 both of them professed to be quite open to do business, but 

 explained that they never did make firm offers and would 

 not do so. One of them told me that they considered it a 

 great mistake for the West India planters and merchants to 

 offer their sugars to New York, or to them, through New 

 York 1 irokers and merchants, as they would very much prefer 

 considering oH"ers made to them through Canadian brokers. 



Whether it is the prospective stoppage of consignments 

 or the fear that the Government here may retaliate on them 

 in some way for diverting into their own pockets what 

 was intended to benefit the West Indian planter.s, I do not 

 know ; but it .seems to me that it would now be possible for 

 sales of sugar to be made to the refiners here at a fair price, 

 provided they cannot buy tlie same sugar from a New York 

 house at prices on the basis of Cuban sugars duty paid New 

 York. 



It now remains for you to send me firm offers at 

 a jirice, c. k f., Montreal on the customary terms for 

 Centrifugals 96 ba.sis and Muscovado 89 basis in bags only, 

 not hogsheads, in cargo lots — to Montreal direct by steamer 

 or sailer — which I shall place before the refiners, and do 

 my best to bring about business. 



