Vol. III. No. 52. 



THE AGRICULTURAL XEWS. 



125 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



Drugs and Spices in the London Market. 



The iollowing is Mr. J. R. Jackson's rejjort on the 

 London Drug and Spice Market for tlie month of 

 February : — ■ 



The chief talk of the month, whether in social or 

 commercial circles, ha« been of the Kusso-.Japanese war. 

 From a business point of view its effects are already being 

 felt on the markets, and advances in the price of .Jaiianese 

 products continue to be the natural result. The tone of the 

 markets, generally, has, however, shown 



an improvement 

 a special nature 



since our last report, thougii nothing of 



demands notice. The following are the chief items dealt 



with :— 



oin(;er. 

 At the auction nn February 10, 20 barrels ijf .Jamaica 

 were offered and sold at the following prices : Small and 

 medium, 39s. to iOs. ; bright, 3Gs. 6(/. ; small dark, 3os., and 

 rough dark, 33s. Gd. Fair, washed, rough Cochin sold at 

 2's., while 27s. 6'7. to 28«". was paid for slightly wormy, and 

 23s. to 23s. 6(7. for wormy brow.n. It was reported at this 

 sale that a fairly large crop (jf the Jamaica product was 

 expected this year, but that it was anticipated to be of 

 unusually jioor quality. At the sale on the 17th., prices 

 stood thus : .Jamaica common snuill being bought in at 

 36s., while cut Cochin unsorted was disposed of, without 

 reserve, at 38s. to 38s. 6'?. ; fair, good Japan realizing from 

 23s. to 26s. At the last sale on the 24th., 870 packages of 

 Cochin were bought in at 57s. 6(7. for good medium cut and 

 75s. for good bold. Two hundred barrels of new crop 

 Jamaica were offered and 30 were sold at 43s. for bold 

 dullish and 35s. for small dark. Japan limed offered at the 

 same sale was bought in at 25s. 



AEEOWEOOT. 



At the first sale on the 3rd., 250 barrels of 8t. '\''incent 

 were offered ; of these 92 were sold at from 1-^(7. to 2c7. 

 per B). for fair manufacturing. At the succeeding auctions, 

 arrowroot was slow of sale and the prices remained as above. 



S.^ESAPARILL.i. 



At the drug sale on February i, 22 bales of grey 

 .Jamaica were offered and a few were .sold at Is. 1(7. for fair, 

 and for part coarse Is. was wanted. Fur sea-daniagecl 

 sarsaparilla a bid of 101(7. was accepted : 6 bags of fair 

 Lima realized 10(^ : 9 bales of native Jamaica dull to fair 

 red were disposed of at Id., and two bales fine bright red, 

 rolled, at 11(?. At the second sale in the middle of the 

 month the jirices remained about the same, at the following 

 quotations ; i bales fibrous, grey Jamaica all sold at Is. 

 per lb. ; 11 packages of Lima Jamaica, fair (juality, all sold 

 at lOd., and 15 other bales at 9hd. to 11(7. ; Honduras was 

 bought in at Is. 2(7. 



BAY OIL. 



TlKjugh liay oil does not seem to have been offered 

 at any of the sales during the month, it may be interesting 

 to say that in answer to inquiries made as to the uses of this 

 oil, t.'hich is distilled from the leaves of Pltuenta acris, I am 

 indebted to the courtesy of Mr. J. C. ITmney, of the firm 

 of Wright, Layman and Umney, Ltd., Southark Street, 

 London, for the following information : — 



'There is a considerable demand for this oil for per- 

 f umei'y purjtoses and esjiecially for hair washes. It is also 

 used in some considerable quantities in the manufacture 



of toilet soaps, and if there should at any time be a large 

 falling off in the clove crops, it is not impossible that bay 

 oil might come into use for many of the purposes for which 

 oil of cloves, oil of cinnamon leaf, oil of pimento and other 

 eugenol-containing oils are required. 



Synthetically produced vanillin is used to a very con- 

 siderable extent, and in its manufacture eugenol is used 

 as a starting point. The adoption of bay oil instead of that 

 of the clove and other oils mentioned would depend upon 

 the price at which it could be produced in competition. 

 The sweet and characteristic fragrance of bay oil is not due 

 to eugenol, but to certain lighter fractions. It would thus 

 seem that the extended uses of bay oil are possible in the 

 future and that it is a likely substitute for many other well- 

 known essential oils.' 



KOLA XUT.S, LIME JUICE, MUSK SEED, ETC. 



Of Other products 17 baskets of fail-, fresh. West Indian 

 kiJa nuts were offered at the auction on the 18th., 8(7. being 

 demanded for them, but none sold. At the same sale 19 

 hogsheads of Dominica unworked lime juice were all sold 

 at 10i(7. per gallon, and one case of ordinary Dominica 

 distilled lime oil was disposed of at Is. .3(7. per B). In the 

 early part of the month one case of slightly mouldy musk 

 seed was disposed of at Sd. per lb. At the same sale a large 

 quantity of good annatto seed from Ceylon was offered, 3i(7. 

 per lb. being wanted, but some of it was afterwards disposed 

 of at 3|(7. 



Mace, nutmegs and pimento were all in small demand 

 at usual rates. 



West Indian Products in Canada. 



'J'he following report on West Indian produce in 

 Canada has been recei\'ed from Mr. Alexander Wills, 

 Import Agent, Montreal: — ■ 



SU(!AE. 



Prices have turned in favour of sellers and we sincerely 

 trust this will continue for the benefit of our >\"est Indian 

 friends. 



Grocery sugars are in good demand, a)id those in colour 

 under 16 D.S. sell well. 



MOLASSES. 

 The new ruling of the Government regarding imported 

 molasses has brought forth many opinions on the advisa- 

 liility of the move. The new rule is that all molasses 

 shall be tested by suVijecting the article to indirect instead 

 of direct j)olarization test. The duty on molasses testing 

 -to degrees, or over, cane sugar or sucrose, is l|c. per 

 gallon. !Molasses under 10 degrees and not less than 35 

 degrees is charged Ifc. per gallon and in addition Ic. 

 for every degree or part of a degree under 40 degrees. 

 All under 35 degrees must pay a duty of ^c. per lb. The 

 effect is the complete extinction of the low-grade molasse.s 

 trade. Ontario is the principal centre of this trade, and it 

 opens up ani:)ther ojiportunity for good molasses. Trade in 

 this product is fair, but buyers look for lower prices in the 

 Barbados product, owing to report of a large crop. General 

 prices have fallen froni 2 to 5c. per gallon, Ontario showing- 

 the heaviest drop. 



LIMES AND PINE-APPLES. 



The season for these will begin in April, and I shall 

 be glad to have timely advices of shiimients so as to make 

 arrangements ahead. An earnest endeavour should be made 

 in Dominica and Jamaica to use cases instead of barrels, and 

 pack pines eighteen to the case. 



