A^OL. III. No. 67. 



THE AGEICULTURAL NEWS. 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



365 



Drugs and Spices in the London Market. 



The following report on West Indian products, 

 more especially drugs and spices, in the Loudon 

 market, has been furnished by Mr. J. R. Jackson 

 A.L.S.:— 



BANANA TRADE. 



Tliough drugs and spices, generally, continue to have 

 but a noi-mal existence in the London sale rooms, other 

 West Indian products have been well to the fore during the 

 month of September, particularly the banana, which has of 

 late taken a firm and increasing liold on the popular taste. 

 The daily press has drawn particular attention to the value 

 of the banana, not only as a delicious fruit, but also to its 

 importance as a food, and has further pointed out that at the 

 rate of three and, sometimes, even four a penny, at which 

 prices tliey have been sold in London and some of the large 

 provincial towns, no cheaper or more wholesome fruit can 

 be obtained, and this in a season when English home-grown 

 fruits of nearly all kinds are most plentiful. It is satisfac- 

 tory to note that .lamaica stands prominently forward as the 

 principal colonial source of supply and that the new steamer 

 ' Port Kingston '—the latest addition to the Direct Line 

 between Bristol and Jamaica— arrived on Septemlser 28, 

 making the voyage in ten days, and bringing 2-1,000 bunches 

 of bananas, besides oranges and other fruits, and further, 

 that .samples of Jamaica cotton had been brought by the 

 same vessel, for the puqiose of submitting them to experts 

 of the British Cotton-growing Association. Though fruit 

 and cotton have only an indirect bearing on the subject of 

 drugs, allusion is here made to them as showing that the 

 interest in all West Indian products is being keenly main- 

 tained in the mother country. 



GINGER. 



Eeverting to the spice and drug markets, and taking 

 ginger for our first consideration, the month did not open 

 very bright ; only small sales were effected in all the kinds, 

 Jamaica fetching iOs. for bold and 35s. for middling, while 

 for bold cut Cochin, 60s. was asked, and small medium, iOs. 

 A week later 191 barrels of Jamaica were oflered for which 

 there ^yas no demand, and inferior qualities of Cochin sold at 

 low prices. A better tone prevailed at the spice sales on the 

 2Lst., when about 200 bags of Jamaica were offered and 

 sold chiefly at 37s. Gd. for middling washed, 30s. 6d. to 

 32s_. Qd. for ordinary to good ordinary, and 26.s. to 29s. for 

 ordinary small to dark lean. A moderate supply of Cochin 

 and Calicut was also offered at this auction, fair washed 

 rough Cochin being sold at 18s., wormy ditto at 16s. ; brown 

 Calicut, w.Drmy, realized Us. 6(7. and small, rough wormy lis. 

 to 14s. 6d. Bold, bright Calicut, slightly wormy, fetched 

 26s., as did also bold bright rough. At the last sale of the 

 month, on the 28th., the market was dull and prices 

 remained about the same. 



As bearing on the supply of ginger generally, it may be 

 interestuig to quote from a paragraph that has appeared on 

 the exports of ginger from Sierra Leone during the year 1903, 

 which amounted to 17,567 cwt., realizing £15,898 as 

 against 15,512 cwt, of the value of £17,358 in the previous 

 year. It is thus evident that, although there was a larger 

 export than in 1902, there was a decrease in value, due 

 mainly to the fall in the market price which was as low as 

 Ihd. per ft). 



SARSAPAEILLA. 



At the drug sale on September 1, s<u-sapariila stood 

 tuus :— .1 bale of fair red native Jamaica realized 9bl., and 

 another bale, less bright, XU Xo grey Jamaica wa^ottered, 

 but Is. -Id. was mentioned as about its value. On the 15th. 

 tliere was again an absence of grey Jamaica and there was no 

 demand for native, of which 11 bales were offered and 

 bouglit in. Seven bales of rather coarse, sound, Lima-Jamaica 

 were disposed of at from lO-i. to 11 id, and 6 bales of 

 lampico, without chumps, were held a't Is. per ft. At the 

 last sale, on the 29th., genuine grey Jamaica was reported as 

 still scarce, only 10 bales being offered; Is. id. was refused 

 tor tair, the buymg-in price being Is. &d. Two bales of sea- 

 damaged realized Is. \d., while of native Jamaica, 5 bales 

 were sold at lU. to M. for medium dull yellowish. 



KOLA NUTS. 



On September 1, 57 packages were offered and 21 sold 

 mos ly at steady prices. Of these, 13 jmckages of fair to 

 good bold bright ^^ est Indian halves were disposed of at from 

 , V; }? ''/'■ I'^^'J'-' ^i'^- '^eing also paid for i cases of good 

 bold Ceylon._ Twenty-eight packages of African were oti^red 

 and bought m at id. per ft. On the 15th., the markets had 

 biit very s ightly changed, good bold bright Jamaica fetching. 

 id. to lid, ordinary mouldy West Indian 3|rf., and mouldy 

 fresh lr7. i,er ft. These prices varied but little at the end of 

 tlie month. From Hamburgh a report comes that there has 

 been a brisk demand during the month, and no important 

 supplies have entered the market, in consequence of which 

 prices are tending higher. A Sierra Leone report on the 

 trade in kola nuts during the year 1903 states, that the 

 exports m that year were 15,176 cwt., of the value of £76 35-3 

 TJT^Z"'^ '"'^' ^^'^^' ^^^^ °f tJie ^'^l"e of £60,517 in 

 ly ,/. ^''P°''* '•'' <='"*=% to the Gambia and the French 

 \\ est African Colonies of Senegal, namely, Faiflsipie, Dakar, 

 and Goree, whence it is carried to the interior where there is 

 an insatiable demand for it. The supply is obtained larcely 

 h-om the Protectorate whither a large number of traders 

 from the colony resort during the last quarter of the year 

 which is regarded as the kola season, and make purchases 

 partly by cash payments and partly by a system of barter. 



ARROWROOT. 



The market in this article has been quiet throuo-hout 

 the month. At the .spice sale on the 7th., 135 packages of 

 St. ^ incent were bought in at 2<?. to 3c?. per ft. ; and o°n the 

 21st., 2o0 bags were offered, of which 100 of good manufac- 

 turing were sold at Ifrf. per ft., which had slightly declined 

 at the sale on the 29th. 



LIME JUICE, NUTMEGS, MACE, AND PIMENTO. 



Lime juice at the beginning of the month was reported 

 as both plentiful and cheap, good raw West Indian l^ein^^ 

 offered at Is. to Is. Id. per gallon, while fair West Indian 

 distilled od of lime sold at Is. M. per ft. at the close of the 

 mouth. 



^ Of nutmegs, in the early part of the month. West 

 Indian were realizing rather higher rates than had ruled in 

 August. 



Mace was also steady. West Indian selling at Is- to 

 Is. 3d. for red ; Is. id. to Is. od. for ordinary to fair - 

 Is. 7rf. to Is. 8d. for pale; and Is. Id. to Is. ■2d for 

 pickings. 



On the 7th., 238 bags of pimento were offered, 3-1 beiiiff 

 sold without reserve at 2-'c?. for greyish, this price bein? 

 maintained at the closing sale of the month, when 247 bao^s 

 were offered and 120 fotmd purchasers. ° 



