Vol. Vir. No. 160. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



191 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



Drugs and Spiees on the London Market. 



Mr. J. R Jackson, A.L.S., has forwar.led the follow- 

 ing report on the London drug and spice market during 

 the month of April : — 



The position of the Spice and J^rug markets during the 

 montli of Ain-il way be descril.ied as having been abnormally 

 dull, which ciindition lias been jiartly attributed in some 

 quarters to the unusually cold and wintry weather experi- 

 enced throughout the month, added to the interventiim of 

 the Easter hcdidays ; but the most serious cause seems to be 

 the general scarcity of money, and in this connexion the 

 F/uinnaceutical Journal makes the following comment : 

 'We appear now to be feeling the after effects of the 

 enormous amount of money which was unavoidably lost to 

 the world during the Boer and Russo-Japanese wars, to which 

 mirst be added the immense loss of capital through the 

 earthquakes in America and the West Indies.' 



In the matter of West Indian products the following 

 are the chief items : — 



(ilNUER. 



At the spice auction on April 1 , the offerings of Jamaica' 

 amounted to iSS packages, of which 20 were disposed of at 

 the following rates : Fair bright, 78.s'., ordinary small dark, 

 52s. per cwt. Privately, it was stated, that a good luisiness 

 had been effected in fine quality at 85.S. to S6.*., and for medium 

 at 60s. to 65s. A week later Jamaica was slow of sale, 70 bar- 

 rels and 46 bags being offered and bought in at fi-om 60«. to 

 80s. for good washed. Some 220 packages of Calicut were 

 offered, but there was very little demand, 10 bags only finding 

 purchasers. At the auction on the 15th, 28 barrels of dull 

 washed Jamaica were sold at 63s. 6'/. per cwt. At the last 

 sale on the 29th, Jamaica was in fair supply, some 2-10 pack- 

 ages being offered, of which, however, only 10 .sold at from 

 52s. to 60s. for good ordinary to dull washed. Some 

 360 packages of Cochin and (Jalicut were also offered and 

 3 sold. Bold selected cut Cochin was bought in at 90s., 

 bold native cut at from 55s. to 60s., and good brown washed 

 Calicut at -IS.s. per cwt. 



nutmp:os, mack, anh pimento. 



At the spice sale on April 8, over 300 packages of 

 West Indian nutmegs were offered ' and disposed of at 

 advanced prices on previous rates, but tio further quotations 

 have been made during the rest of the month. Mace 

 remained steady throughout the month. At the last spice 

 sale on the 29th, some 16 packages of West Indian were 

 offered and sold at the following rates : fair to good red, 

 l.s. 'M. to Is. id., and bi'oken at Is. Id. per lb. The offerings 

 of Penang, Java, and ilacassar were bought in at the follow- 

 ing rates : Is. 7d. to Is. 8d. per tb. for dull Penang, 2s. for 

 good Java, and Is. Id for wild Macassar. Pimento has 

 occupied a very quiet position during' the month. At the 

 first auction only a few bags were sold at 2f </. per lb. for 

 fair, but some 60 bags of sif tings were' disposed of without 

 1-e.serve at from 1]'^. to l^d. per ft. On the 8th, U3 bags 

 were offered and all were bought in, and at the last auction 

 on the 29th, out of 590 bags offered, fmly 40 were sold at 

 2^d. to 2|fi. per Iti. " ,il 



.\RR0WKO0T. 



At the spice auction on April 1, 247 liarrels of 

 St. Vincent were brought forward, 57 of which were sold with- 

 out reserve, realizing from 'Id. to 2J,(/. per lb. for fair manu- 

 facturing ; and at the last .sale on the 29th, out of the 



189 barrel-; of St. Vincent offered, 90 were disposed of at the 

 following reduced rates : I'^d. to 2d. for fair manufacturing. 

 Natal, of which 20 cases were offered, was all bought in 

 at 4i'/. per ft. 



SARSAPARILLA. 



.\t the first drug sale, sarsaparilla was in good demand, 

 all the offerings being disposed of. Grey Jamaica was 

 represented by 15 bales, which sold at the following rates : 

 Is. 2'/. to 2s. per ft. for part coarse and dark to fair fibrous. 

 Of 36 bales of Lima-Jamaica, the following prices were 

 obtained : 7 bales of coarse to fair, slightly roughish, fetched 

 Is. C)d. to Is. ~d. per lb.; 8 other bales Is. 5d., and 21 bales at 

 from l.s. 4(1 to Is. 6d. for .sound, and l.s. to Is. 3(/. for 

 damaged. Five bales of native Jamaica were disposed of at 

 Is. for dull red, and for fair bright red and yellow. Is. Id. to 

 l.«. 2d., and Is. 3d. for good red. Two bales of fair red, but 

 oil-damaged, realized lOrf. to Is. Id. per ft., and Is. to Is. 2d. 

 per ft. was paid for 10 bales of Guayaquil. Towards the end 

 of the month small sales of grey Jamaica were made at 

 2s. If?, to 2.S. 2d. per &., and it was announced that further 

 large con.signments of genuine grey Jamaica and Lima- 

 Jamaica would be ottered at the first auction in May. 



LIME .lUICE, KOLA, TAMARINDS, ETC. 



At the beginning of the month it was reported that 

 lime juice was arriving more freely from the West Indies 

 than hitherto. Fair raw realized Is. 3d. per gallon. A week 

 later Is. 4^. to Is. 5d. was asked for good flavoured raw 

 West Indian. At the auction on the 8th, 15 bags of dark 

 kola were offered and disposed of at 2d. per ft. At the 

 same sale, new Barbados tamarinds were sold at 19s. per 

 cwt., duty paid. A fortnight later new West Indian were 

 reported to be arriving freely, amounting, it was said, to 

 388 barrels from Antigua, and 75 barrels from Barbados. 

 During the month musk seed from Java was offered at 3d. to 

 3hd. per ft., but it was stated that the cultivation was not 

 remunerative at the [)resent prices, in consequence of which 

 the imports have [>ractically ceased. 



CACAO EXPORTS FROM TRINIDAD. 



Tlie foll'.iwing ]iarticulars in relation to the 

 exports of cacao from Trini(iad during the early months 

 of the present year were given in the Proccaclhvjs of 

 the Aiji-icaltiiriil Soclet}/ of Trinidad <(iid Tohago 

 (April 1908):— 



The exports of Trinidad cacao for the i|naitei- ending 

 :March 31, 1908, were 19,967,706 ft., as again.st 1 1,265,856 ft. 

 for the corresponding period of 1907. In the list of countries 

 inqiorting Trinidad cacao, France takes the leading position, 

 with 10^884,160 ft., the United States which purchased 

 5,779,872 ft., conung second. The United Kingdom, which 

 took 2,384,592 ft. comes third, while Holland imported 

 442,288 ft. of Trinidad cacao. Only 123,872 ft. are scheduled 

 as having been exjiorted to Canada, but this figure is no 

 indication of the trade, as the cacao business of the Domiiion 

 is almcst entirely done through New York. In connexion 

 with the important business in cacao with the l^dted States, 

 it .seems strange that the market price of the article there 

 should not appear in the West Indian public tehigrams. This 

 is more observable when it is noted that regular New ^'ork 

 sugar (piotations are furnished. 



Shipments of Trivudad cacao during April last were 

 .3,591,084 ft., of which 2,951,084 ft. went to the United 

 States, 915,320 ft. to France, and 496,533 ft. to the United. 

 Kingdom. 



