Vol. XVIII. No. 449. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



233 



'Finally it will be a matter for real regret if anything 

 I have said is taken as a retiectioti on Trinidad managers. 

 I have tried to point out that the prevailing practices are the 

 outcome of natural causes, may in fact be regarded as arising 

 from the suitability of the Trinidad climate for cane culti- 

 vation. I am far from losing sight of the dithculties entailed 

 in working by hand a large estate on a smalllabour supply, 

 and, considering the circumstances, the results attained by 

 the mire experienced managers were, to me, something of a 

 jevelation.' 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



DRUGS 



AND SPICES ON THE 

 MARKETS. 



LONDON 



Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S., h;is forwarded the fol- 

 lowing report on the London drug and Kpice markets 

 for the month ending June -i, Ifllfl : — 



The London Produce Markets have, week by week 

 throughout the month of M >y, shown a distinct improvement 

 upon the conditions that have prevailed for many months 

 ,pas', both in the quantities of produce disposed of, the 

 number of buyers, and the prices realized. A marked 

 improvement began in the early [jart of the month in the 

 increased sales, and this has been well maintained, as will be 

 seen from the following details. 



OINOEK. 



At auction on the third of the month ginger was in good 

 Supply, Jamaica being steady at ll-os. to 120j'. per cwt. 

 Cochin was advanced on previous ra^es, being quoted at 

 71s. QJ., though some sales of good rough washed Cochin were 

 made at 7os. to 75s. {^d- Calicut was disposed of at 70^-., 

 Japanese at iOs- to ios., nnd African at ids. A week later 

 some small salfs were made m Liverpool of Sierra Leone 

 at iOs. per cwt., while Calicut fetched los. and Cochin S9,v. 

 per cwt. 



SARSAt'AltlLLA 



At auction on the 8th of the month this drag was repre- 

 sented by 161 bales of Jamaica, 7(5 of which were dis- 

 posed of at prices varying from 2s. 'Jd. to 3s. for ordinary 

 rough to fair, and 2s. 8(1. to 2.?, 9d. for part mouldy. Of 

 native Jamaica 36 bales were oti'ered, and 8 sold at from 

 Is. \d. to Is. 3d. per B) ; 39 bales of Lima and 10 of 

 Mexican were also offered, but none was sold. 



CITRIC ACID, PIMENTO, MACE, NUT.MEGS, KOLA, LIME OIL, 



LIME JUICE, ANNATTO SEEDS, CASHEW NUTS, 



TAMAEINDS, SOAP XUTS. 



Citric acid has been in full demand throughout the 

 month. Referring to this article, the Ckem/st and Druggist 

 says : ' Quite an important business continues to be done 

 on American account, and this has now considerably 

 depleted stocks on the spot, from \s. \d. to \s. i\d. being 

 asked. English makers have been working on stocks of 

 citrate of lime bought at much cheaper rates than those 

 now prevailing in Italy, so that when these stocks are 

 exhausted it is anticipated that prices of citric acid will 

 have to be higher.' At the begi -ning of the month 

 pimento was r.'ported steady at 5^^. per IN at which price 

 it • remained at the close. At auction on the Sth of the 

 month mace was represented by the large number of 1,1 2J 

 pa kages at VVe.st Indian, 3-50 of which found buyers,*' fine 

 bold pale fetching \s. 9''. per lb., good pale !.s. '.'hI to 

 \s. 5d., ordinary to fair pale Is. to Is. 2d., and common 



from 9^/. to \fd. At the same auction as many as 1,412 

 packages of West Indian nutmegs were offered, and 4-50 sold 

 at steady rates, the inferior qualities fetching 1 i. per Tb. 

 less. Kola was fully represented at the same auction by 144 

 packages only 1 2 of which were .sold ; 6 of these were We.sb 

 Indian and realized from Cyid. to 7^d. per ut. [ui fair halv»s. 

 Five packages of West Indian distilled oil of lime wer» 

 offered at auction on May 8, realizing 4s. 6d. per D)., 

 while at the same auction hand pressed oil fetched I3s. per &. 

 Of lime juice it is stated that large stocks have accumulated 

 in London with the consequent lowering of prices, good raw 

 West Indian being obtainable at 2s. Gd. per gallon. At 

 auction on May S, some 27 packages of ann.itto seed 

 from th e East Indies were offered but none sold, being held at 

 4</. per B). Cashew nuts were represented by -57 packages, 

 but no sales were effected. Barbados tamarinds to the 

 extent of 100 packages were also offered but found no 

 buyers. 



AGRIOUiLtURAL INSTRUCTION IW" 

 GRENADA. ..t 



The report of the Agricultural Instructors in Grenadii 

 for the month of April has recently been submitted for the 

 information of this Otiice. The cbuntr'y districts visited -by 

 Mr. W. Donovan, Agricultural Instructor, included St. Cyr 

 Mountain and Paradise, .Mount Pleasant Station and all the 

 districts in the island of CarriaCott, also Westerhall Experi- 

 ment Station. The work consisted largely of peasmt 

 instructioo : land settlement ^ work at St. Cyr Mountain, 

 experiment plot at Westerhall, lining out drains for cotton 

 growers in Carriacou, addressing meetings of cotton groivers 

 in connexion with the scheme of Prize Holdings. 



Concerning progress of chief industries, good pickings 

 of cacao were made on the larger estates. Carriacou's chief 

 industry, cotton, has been a good crop ; large shipments from 

 Marie Galante cotton from the St. Vincent Grenadines were 

 brought into Carriacou .ind disposed of to cotton Healers. 

 Progress of the minor industries concerned the question of 

 arrangements being made to produce more planting material 

 for the peasants of Carriacou on the spot instead of in 

 Grenada. The standard of cultivation of the soil in 

 Carriacou appears to be improving. Live-stock continues 

 scarce. 



Parasol ants were reported by the acting Commissioner 

 of Carriacou as doing damage to crops there. 



The report of Mr. Cherubim, Agricultural Instructor, 

 deals with similar matters in different .localities. Forty- 

 niae holdings were visited in St. Georges parish. Entries 

 for the competition in provision gardens have been collected 

 in several districts. The Agricultural Instructor accom- 

 panied the Superintendent of Agriculture in connexioa 

 with field work on coco nut trees dying of red-ring disease, 

 A keen lo ikout for diseased coco-nut treen resulted ia 

 examinations of suspected trees on various holdings. 'Most 

 cases were negative to 'red-ring'. 



Great activity is reported to have been shovyn by the 

 peasantry in the preparation of the Ifind for the coming 

 rainy season A general improvemeBt in the standard of 

 cultivation is reported. 



On the larger estate * the pickina; of cacao vris con- 

 tinued during the month, and fair pickiuas of nutmegs were 

 also made. The pres-nt local price for nutmegs is 8c. per ft>. 

 The Standard Import Company, a Canadian firiu,. haa 

 established a local agency yuitk a view to purchasing ..^nd 

 shipping local products, particularly nutmegs. 



