ToL. VII. No. 165. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



201 



JAMAICA RUM. 



The Jain;iic-i luin industry, and run! production in 

 other West Indian colonies and in Dcnierara received 

 attention at a late sitting of the Whisky Commission, 

 held at Westminster Palace Hotiel, LoikIou. 



Sir Daniel Morris, Imperial Conniiissiouer of AgricuUiiie, 

 gave evidence, and handed in a nuniliei- of official iind senii- 

 oiiicial papers on the subject. Among these were included 

 reports on .Famaica rum by Mr H. H. Cousins, M.A., Director 

 of Agriculture at .lamaica. 



In reference to the subject of 'spurious' or 'artificial' rums 

 imiiorted from Hamburg to England, and which arc of a higlily 

 flavoured nature, the Impei-ial C'onnnissioner exi)ressed his 

 belief that this tiavouiing was due to the use of essences, in 

 which there was undoulite<lly a large trade for the purpose, 

 and not to admixture with a [iropoition of Inghly flavoured 

 Jamaica rums. 



Sir lianiel's attention was drawn t'l a French book lately 

 published, entitled Lc Rliuiu ft sn. Fn/irirafiun, in which 

 various statements were made wdiich were calculated to damage 

 the reputation of Jamaica rum, Imt he pointed out that the 

 information puLlished by Mr. Cousins, ;lnd now before the 

 ■Commission, was sutticieiit to refute the-c statements. The 

 Imperial Commissioner was quite satisfied that in .Jamaica 

 no doctoring of rum took place, except the process of colour- 

 ing the product. The maturing of rum was a natural i)rocess, 

 and at the ]iresent time they were producing rum witli the 

 object of obtaining early maturity. In two or three years it 

 was hoped that .^fr. Cousins would be able to puf the iiKhistry 

 on such a footing that its value to the i-^land would be enor- 

 moi',.sly increased. Tlie conditions in .Jamaica were such that 

 no otlier country would be able to produce rum of exactly 

 the same (piality. 



FAVOURABLE REPORT ON ST. KITT'S 

 TOBACCO. 



Samples of sun-grown Havana tobncco, .-is well 

 as Virijinian leaf, grown an(i cured at La CJuerite, 

 St. Kitt's, under the supervision of Jlr. F. R. Shepherd, 

 Agricultural Superintendent, were recently submitted 

 by the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture to 

 Mr. F. V. Chalmers, the tobacco expert in London, and 

 while the report received points out one or two 

 defects in the tobacco, it is, on the whole, distinctly 

 encouraging to those interested in the possible estal)- 

 lishment of a tobacco industry at St. Kitt's. 



Mr. Chalmers writes: — 



The leaves of the Havana tobacco are tiMi thick fo] 

 ■ cigar manufai-tiu'e, but with an improvement in the burning 

 ijuality, the product shoidd prove marketable as a pipe 

 tobicco. I am disposed to think that the poorness of the 

 soil (with lack of potash) and imperfect fermentation are the 

 [jrincipal causes for bad burning (pialities and lack of aroma. 

 I hojjc these two points will receive careful attention, and 

 that the experiments will be continued. There is plenty of 

 room in the workl for more, ami especially good, tobacco. 



With regard to the samples of Virginia forwarded,. I like 

 the appearance of the tobacco. In order to compete with 

 Virginia tobacco, from a colour point of view, the product 

 shovdd be yellow or nearly so. With other competent persons 

 I have smoked soiue of the sample of Virginia both in pipes 

 and in cigarette form, and find a trace of sweetness ami 

 aroma which I expected, and which is no doubt due to soil 



and climatic influences. It is a most pleasant and cool 

 smoking tobacco. 



Mr. Chalmers fuitlier mentions that he snlmnlted 

 a portion of the Virginia tobacco grown at St. Kitt's to 

 the Adndralty, ami he is willing to i-econniiend that, so lai'gc 

 a quantity as '2.5,000 lb. .should, if available, be annually 

 purchase:! at a co.st (including freight) tif Gif/. per lb., for the 

 purpo.ses of a tobacco mixture for the Briti.sh Navy. This, 

 it is stated, is the mininuun amount that would be required, 

 and with an im[a-ovemcnt in the (piality oi the product, the 

 demand would consi<lerably increa.se. iShould this recom- 

 men(hitiou of Mr. (."halmers come into eft'ect, flic result wi)uld 

 be a great stimulus to tobacco growing at St. Kitt's, and 

 possibly in other parts of the We-it Indies. 



It will be remembered (see Agricultural N/'ii% 

 Vol. V, p. 36-i) that Some two years ago, on the recom- 

 mendation of the same expert, the use of Jamaie;i 

 tobacco, as an ingredient in a mixture with Virgini.-m 

 tobacco, was given .-i tiial in the British Navy, and w.-is 

 favourably reported upon. 



WAX-EXORETING PALMS. 



Among the most interesting mendjers of the p.dm 

 family are one or two species which excrete wax and 

 deposit it on their leaves or on the stems. Probably 

 the best known of these is the Carnauba palm of Drazd 

 {Coper iiicin reriferii), while a second has latterly 

 become known as the wax palm of Colombia (Cero.vi/loi) 

 tindii-dla). An ai-ticle dealing with these p;dms and the 

 commercial uses to wdiich the w;ix excreted by them 

 may be put, ap[)>"aied in a recent number of the 

 Garileiuifa' CInvnIclc. It was mentioned in the ^l(/rt- 

 raltitrai iVe(tw(Vol. VI, p. :^75) that specimens of the 

 Carnauba palm exist in tho Botanic Gardens in British 

 Guiana, anil seeds from these have been d;stribated to 

 the Botanic Stations throughout the West Indies. 



IvL the forests of Pernambuco and Bahia the Carnauba 



palm is found in great number. The tree grows to a height 



of 40 feet and measures about 1 foot in diameter at its base. 



The wax is excreted and deposited on the under side of the 



leaves, and the collection of this product has of late years 



become an important industry. 



The wax is either scraped from the leaves on the tree, or 



the leaves them.selves are gathered from the tree and the wax 



is afterwards removed. Since the product so obtained is in an 



imi)ure state, and contains a large admixture of resin and 



other materials, it is melted, the imi>urities are removed by 



skimmintr, and the wax is run into moulds to harden. 



.... 

 Carnauba wax was, until recently, u.sed in the manufac- 



lui^e of candles and also as a basis for such articles as boot 

 polishes. The discovery of the fact that this wax was of 

 special value for the purpose of making phonograph and grama- 

 phone records, led immediately to a greater demand for the 

 product and also to a large increase in its value. About 

 L',000 tons of the wax are annually exiiorted from Brazil, and 

 its value is placed at anything from £100 to £200 per ton. 

 The wax i>alm of Colombia excretes wax which is depos- 

 ited not on the leaves, but on the trunk of the tree, and is 

 Irequently found between the scars left on the trunk by the 

 petioles of the leaves, in deposits so thick that it can be 

 removed in flakes. The average annual yield of one tree 

 is said to be about 25 B). At present there is but a local 

 demand for the wax, and it is used by the people of Colombia 

 for making candles. 



