334 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



October 8, 1904. 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



Drugs and Spices in the London Market. 

 Mr. J. K. Jackson, A.L.S., lia.s foiwirdwl the 

 following report on the London drug and spice markets 

 for the month of August : — 



CoiLsidering that we are still in the miilst of the 

 Lolidaj' .season, it is .satisfactory to note that in the produce 

 markets generally a fair trade has been done during 

 the montli of August. Neither in drugs nor spices were 

 any markets held in the tivst week of the month, the 

 August bank holiday falling in that week. 



gin(;er. 



At the first dealing in this spice about .j-jO packages of 

 Jamaica sold at steady rates ; good washed realizing 43.<. 6f/. 

 to 47s. 6(/. : middling to fair waslied, 37s. to iO». ; ordinary 

 dullish, 34s. to 3.")s., ordinary small and ordinary, 29s. to 31s. 

 per ewt. Cochin was bought in, bold native cut at 40s. and 

 Bengal at 19s. A week later there was a moderate supply 

 of Jamaica offered, part of which sold at steady prices, good 

 fetching 43s. to 4.5s. C(/., fair washed, 39s.: middling, 35s.; 

 ordinary to ordinary dullish, 30s. to 33*. : and common, 27s. 

 Cochin was again mostly bought in at the following rates : — 

 Good bold selected, 6.5s.: medium and liokl, 49s.; and small 

 medium and bold, 38.«. In the following week, viz., on 

 August 24, the large quantity of over 1,000 packages of 

 Jamaica were offered and 200 disposed of at auction, 

 further sales being afterwards made jprivately : the prices 

 quoted were as follows; — (iood washed, 4Gs. to 47s. 6(/. ; 

 fair wa.shed, 37s. 6(/. ; ordinary to middling dullish, 33s. 

 to 36.5. Sixty-nine cases of Cochin were also i -tiered at this 

 s<ale, 57 being sold, including small medium cut, mouldy, at 

 28s. 6rf. From these figures it will lie seen that the Jamaica 

 product is still to the fore in quantity and price. 



NUTMEGS, M.^.CE .\XD PIMENTO. 



At the first sale West Indian nutmegs were in good 

 supply, 486 packages being offered and sfild at steady prices, 

 but at a .slight increase on those of the previous month. 

 But little or no change took place at the remaining sales. 



The .same may be .said of West Indian mace, which at 

 the last .sale, on the 24th., fetched Is. i<if. for fine pale. 

 Is. id. to Is. 5f/. for fair, and Is -Jd. to Is. 3(1. for ordinary ; 

 03 packages of West Indian being disposed of. 



Of iiimento, 558 packages were offered at the first 

 auction and bought in at rates from 2J(/. to 2;</. For the 

 remainder of the month little or no change occurred in prices 

 and there continued a fair demand. 



.vr,r,owi;ooT. 



Arrowroot, which is always ofl'ered at the spice sales, 

 began with the offering of 100 tins of St. Yuicent, which 

 ■were bought in at 3rf. per tt). On the 24th. some 500 

 barrels of St. Vincent were offered and again bought in. 

 In connexion with the imports and deliveries of arrowroot, 

 the following note has been published, giving the quantities 

 in the first seven months of 1004 and the stocks on 

 July 31 :— 



Imjiorted, 11,485 barrels 807 boxes and tins; delivered, 

 12,905 barrels and 714 tins; stocks, 11,216 barrels, 1,159 

 boxes and tins. 



Our well-informed contenqn'rary, the CIti-mist and 

 Dfiiff(/ist, gives the following note on Bermuda arrowroot: — 



'The export of arrowroot from Bermuda during 1903 

 amounted to 9 tons 9 cwt., valued at £1,300. against 11 tons 



12 cwt. exported in 1902, valued at £1,347. This returui 

 points to a rise in the jirice of the Bermuda variety. Tliere 

 is one arrowroot factory in the island, which is equipped with 

 modern plant and is capalile of producing a large ijuantity of 

 this valuable article. The arrowroot manufactured in the- 

 colony is being placed on the markets at the present tlate in 

 attractive packages and in small quantities, with distinctive 

 labels as to origin, and it is expected that the demand for 

 this [iroduct will materially increase.' 



SA1:SAI'AI:ILI,V. 



With regard to this drug, the same paper from wliich we 

 have qufite<l the above paragraph had the following note in 

 its issue for August 6: 'There is a good incpury for grey 

 Jamaica but very little is obtainable. The exports of 

 sarsajiariila from (luatemala during 1903 amounted in value 

 to X417 compared with £430 for 1902. The British Vice- 

 Consul at Livingston (Guatemala) states that the gathering 

 of .sarsaparilja and the bleeding of rubber trees decreased in 

 jiroiiortion with the increase of the banana industry. The 

 cause is not difficult to see ; the "Nulero" and the "Sarsero" 

 gave uj) their former toilsome occupation and turned their 

 attention to the more profitable banana planting. The total 

 amount of .sarsaparilla .shipped from Livingston during the 

 last four months of 1903 amounted to 61 bales -weighin"- 

 11,032 lb.' 



At the drug sale on the 18th. it was reported that there 

 was an absence of good quality sar.saparilla of any descrip- 

 tion ; rather course Lima Jamaica fetched lOd. Twelve 

 bales of fair grey Jamaica .sold at from Is. to Is. 1;/,, and 

 a bale of medium native red was di.sposed of at 9(/. 



TAMAinXDS, KOLA NUTS, CASSIA FI.STULA, ETC. 



Of other [iroducts it may be noted that at the first spice 

 sale, 60 barrels of Barbados tamarintis were offered and 

 bought in at 8s. 6d. per cwt. 



Two bags of fair bold West Indian kola nuts were 

 offered on the 18th. for which 51c/. was asked, while 

 at the same sale, 12 barrels of ordinary mouldy and 

 partly shrivelled African were disposed of, at from 2'hL 

 to 3(/. per lb. On the 24th., 11 packages of West Indian, 

 including green, were sold at from 6d. to lOf.'., dry at 

 from 3(/. to 3i(/. and common at 2'?. per Iti. 



On the 18th., 28 packages of Casxin Fistula were ottered 

 and 5 sold. Good bold, part rattly Dominica fetched 25,s.,. 

 and 4 bags of part mouldy were sold at lO.s-. jier cwt. 



Twelve bags of fair iladras but more or less sea-damaged 

 annato seed, were sold at 1|(/. to 3|(?. No West Indian 

 has been offered. 



The quotations for good raw West Indian lime juice 

 have been Is. 2(/. per gallon and refined Is. 'id. 



White Wax. Mr. S. T. Dunn, Superintendent of 

 the Botanical Department, Hongkong, in a rejiort on the 

 agricultural po.ssibilities of Weihaiwei, states that Fraxinus 

 chiiiensis, the tree upon which insect wax is jiroduced, is 

 common aronnd Weihaiwei, and the valuable white wax is- 

 sparingly cultivated upon it by the Chinese. Although the 

 insect deposits its wax upon the ash it breeds u|>on a species 

 of [privet {Li(iustrnin Iticidum), and either the in.scct nmst be 

 imported from a district where this tree grows or else the tree 

 must be introduced, for it has not been oliserved in. 

 Shantung. The price of white wax has fallen and the 

 sujiply has diniini.-~hed of late years, but if a regular 

 outturn were secured and exported, the industry might be 

 carried on ]irofitably by the farmers in their sjpare time. 

 {Consular n<j'Ort on Weihaiwei, 1903.) 



