Vol. VII. No' 15t. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



Drugs and Spices on the London Market. 



Mr. J. R. Jacksiii), A.LS , has forwarded the 

 following report on the London drug and spice market 

 during the month of Janiiar)' : — 



The extension of the Christma.s holidays far into the first 

 •n-eek of the year, combined with the effect.? of .stock taking, 

 has been the means of reducing the actual amount of busi- 

 ness done in Jamiary to that of a short month. The first drug 

 auction, indeed, was not hold till Januai^- 16, when, as might 

 be expected, the offerings of goods were of a considerable 

 extent, and the tone of the markets generally showed some 

 improvement over that which prevailed at the close of the 

 year. In the matter of AVest Indian products the following 

 are the ))rinci]i;d items : — 



(ilN'OEE. 



At the first spice sale on the Stli, no .Tamaica was 

 offered, and but a few packages of Cochin and Calicut, good, 

 small and medium cut fetching 56.s. 6c7., and ordinary, part 

 mouldy washed, 31.s. None was brought forward in the 

 following week, but at the auction on the iind, 250 barrels 

 of Jamaica were offered and bought in , at 75«'. to 80.s. for 

 dull to fair washed, and DO.s-. for bold, gashed rough Cochin 

 was also bought in at 38.;. to 40-<. It w;is stated that a large 

 business had been done privately in Cochin during the week. 

 At the last spice sale on the 29th, Jamaica was in slow 

 demand, while Cochin and Calicut sold at steady rates, about 



100 bags Ijeing disposed of. 



t 



M'TJIEOS, M.M'E, .\N0 PIMENTO 



On the Stli, some 240 packages of nutmegs were ottered 

 and mostly sold at varied prices, the snialler sizes realizing 

 firmer rates. Nothing of note occurred !n this article for the 

 remainder of the month. At the saine^ sale aljout 80 pack- 

 ages of West Indian mace were disposed of at the following!: 

 prices : — 1.<. 4'/. to ].<. od. for fair pale, l.<. 'id. for pale and 

 reddish, !>-. ^d. to l,s. 2c/. for fair red, a.ud 9i-(/. to Is. per lb. 

 for broken. Of Pimento, 3^7. per ft. wasrhe price quoted at 

 the beginnlui;- of the niontli, with a decline towards the end 

 to2K 



AlilioWKOfrr 



This article was in very slow demand, the quotation at 

 the beginning of the month tor good manufacturing St. 

 Vincent being 2^'/. At the auction on -the 8th, some 800 

 barrels were ottered, but none .sold. For good Natal \d. per ft. 

 -was asked : nothing of note in this article' occurred later. 



SARSAPAKILL.\. 



In the early port of the month grey .la.maica was 

 reported to be very scarce, but at the tirst auction of the 

 year 6 bales of fair sound grey realized Is. 9'/. per lb , and 

 sea-damaged ].<. t^d. It was announced that a further 

 consignment of 18 barrels had arrived; but not landed in 

 time for this auction. Small .sales of native Januiica 

 •were made at the following rates : for wninion niixed 

 yellowish and greyish \Qd. per ft, and tVu- .sea-damaged 

 9>d. For another batch of 11 bales l~s. \d. was obtain- 

 ed for good tawny, wdiile fair red ■sohl at !■<., and 

 yellowi.sh at 113,'/. Fair rolled Lisna-Jamaica fetched 

 l.s Id. per 11', at which price 3 bales of coairse rough Lima were 

 disposed of ; while 1 1'/. to l.v. Q},d. per ft. was realized for 7 

 bales of Ecuador. At the last auction on the 29th, 8ar?a|)arilla 

 was represented by otterings amounting to (33 bales, GO of 

 which were disposed of mostly at lower rates, 39 bales of grey 



Jamaica being secured at a reduction of from id. to 3(7. per ft,, 

 on the price paid at the i>revious auction. 



Kola, ANNATTO, I.r.MK .JUICE, TA.MACIXlJS, KTr. 



At the sale on the 15th, some 48 packages of kola were 

 olieied and 2 of dark Jamaica sold at 3(/. per ft., and ordinary 

 at \\iL whicli was the pric'e obtained on the 29th, for 3 bags 

 of mouldy aufl wormy AVest Indian. Nine bags of annatto seed 

 were ottered about the middle of the month, 7 of wliicli ^vere 

 disposed of at ihl. per ft. Tow^ards the end of the month 

 annatto was reported as beiiig scarce, a very medium quality 

 realizing 'i^d. per ft. With regard to lime juice, it was 

 stated towards the end of the month that some heavy orders 

 had been placed on the London market and that l.<. 'i<J. per 

 gallon had been paid for really good raw juice. < )n the 15th, 

 1 case, out of 10 offered of West Indian oil of limes, hand 

 pressed, fetched 4s. 6(7. jicr lb. At the same sale 4 barrels 

 of sweet West Indiau distilled oil of orange realized 7s., and 

 1 barrel of liitter orange oil, 5s. 6(7. per ft. Two ca.ses of 

 AV'est India distilled oil of pimento were also offered at this 

 sale and bought in, 6s. being the price suggested as the 

 probable value. 



Cassia Fistula was reported as scarce in the 

 middle of the mouth, no West Indian being on tlie market, 

 and 17.<. to 20s. being the quotations for East Indian. 

 A week later, some 28 baskets of fair thin West Indian were 

 ottered, and all sold without reserve at from 12s. to 13s. 

 Towards the end of the month the quotations for tamarinds 

 sold, duty paid, were as follows:— First quality Barbado.s, 21s.; 

 Jamaica, 20.s.; Antigua, 18.s\i to 19s.; and East Indian from 

 12s. 6(7. to 13s. At the 'auction on the 16, a sample 

 bag of 11 A It), of ' Cedron nuts ' were offered as a trial 

 sample, and being something out of the ordinary way 

 attracted some attention, though they are by no means 

 unknown in England. The tree jiroducing them is the 

 Simaba Cedron belonging to the Natural Order Sitiinridic«< , 

 and a native of new Granada; Their supposed cure for the 

 bites of snakes brought them into notice in early times, and 

 at one time they were favourably spoken of as a \aluable 

 remedy in fevers, and as a cure for toothache. 



GINGER CULTIVATION AT JAMAICA. 



The United States Consul at Kingston, in a late 

 report, supplies the following particulars in reference 

 to the cultivation ofginge}-at Jamaica: — 



The requirements for the growth of the plant are a cool, 

 (■(juable tenqieraturc, a regular rainfall, an elevation of over 

 2,000 feet, and a rich clay loam soil. It is claimed that 

 these conditions are found in the central districts of the 

 island, the northern central, a.nd, to some extent, the northern 

 pari.shes. I believe no e.xtensiye acreage of ginger, grown by 

 any single individual, at p^'esent exists on the island, its 

 cultivation lieing almost exclusively confined to .settlers who 

 jio.ssess or rent land in smallj areas. 



Since American capitalis^ts have given such a boom to 

 banana growing in Jamaica. luany of these small settlers, it 

 is said, have turried their energies in this direction also, 

 hence the falling (jft in the ginger exports. Ginger is usually 

 planted between April and June, and the cro]) is ready for 

 picking between the follo^wing December and ifarch. 

 A Jamaican authority on the subject states that ' with 

 seasonable weather and lair attention bestowed on tlic 

 cultivation, the groAver may jCalculate upon an average of 

 2,000 ft. of cured ginger [ler acre." 



