Vol. VI r. No. 171. 



■teE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



.367 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



Druses and Spices on the London Market. 

 Ml-. J. R. Jackson, A L.S., h.as forwariled tlie 

 follo\viii,L,' ivpoi t on the London dnicj a'n(,l spice market 

 tliifiiin; tlir month of Septemlier : — 



Very little can be said iibovit any improveiuent in trade 

 coniieeted with .spices and drugs during the uiouth of 

 .September. It wa.s anticipated that with the i)assing of the 

 .summer holidays, the shortening days of Septend)er wouhl 

 -see some .sort of revival in trade generally. Nothing of the 

 kind, however, has been experienced during the greater part 

 of the month, though in the last week a slightly better tone 

 ]»revailed, which was somewliat counteracted by theabnovmally 

 line and summer-like weather, accompanied by an exceedingly 

 high temperature, causing peojile to revert not only to 

 summer clothing, but to summer habits generally. 



(JIMIKK. 



The spice .sales commenced on >September 2 witli 

 an offering of only S-f barrels of .lamaica, a few of wliicji 

 realized 'us. 6il. per cwt. for good common. Small rough 

 washed Cochin sold at 34.s. and fair limed -Tapan at •2S.'.-. 

 A week later .Jamaica was in small demand with slow sales ; 

 the better kinds were disposed of at cheaper rates, but there 

 was no change with the common. The following wore the 

 quotations : Oood to line, 65.<. to 72.'-'. : middling to fair, 57.s-. 

 to 6.3.«., and ordinary to good ordinary, oSs. to .5.").'.-. Out of 

 570 i)ackages ottered, only GO were disposed of. Wormy 

 washed Cochin was .sold witliout reserve at oOs., anil 

 small limed slightly mouldy .Tapan fetched 28.s-. per I'wt. At 

 the third auction on tiie 16th. there were moderate supplies 

 offered, small sales only being ettected at easier rates, and at 

 the last .sale the whole tone of the market was very quiet, 

 there being no Jamaica ottered. Two huildred packages of 

 Calicut were bought i-.i at the following prices : flood cut. 

 90.S. ; small, S5.s.; and medium, ~)'ix. 'I'hirly-five bags of limrd 

 Japan were also bought in. 



NirrjIKOS, MACE, .\ND ri.MEXTi i. 



At the first sale there was a good demand, .'!! 1 |iackaL'es 

 of West Indian, all tliat was ottered, being solil with ipiiclv 

 demand at hi. [icr lb. advance on previous rates. (.)n the 

 23rd, West Indiiin nutmegs were again in good demand : 

 427 ijackages wei-e ottered, and practicilly all sold at higlicr 

 rates ; 109 bo.xes of Singajwre were also offered and aliout 

 half were dispo.sed of at i)revious ])rices. Steady rates have 

 also been obtained for mace. At the first auction on the ^nd. 

 in packages of West Indian realized bs. -ii/. ]»■[■ lb. lor 

 fair palish ; l.<. 1*/. to \x. 2d. for red(lish,'.aud lb/ u, 11.'.'/. 

 for broken. On the I'.jrd, 9tJ packiges of West LnUan 

 were ottered and nearly all sold at somewliat advanced 

 i-ates, namely — 1.x. 4d. to 1.x-. (ir/. for [)alish to pale : \s. •_''/. 

 to l.f. 3d. for pale to reddi.sh, and l.<. to \s.,'ld. for dark-red 

 and pickings. But a little interest was tJaken in |iimcnto 

 at the beginning of the month. On the Ifith, .some I'l 

 bags of fair were bought in at 2|r/. jjer lb., and on the 23rd, 

 only 2 bags were ottered and sohl at easier rates. 



.ARltOWKOOT. 



At the spice auction on the 9th, .55 barrels of St. Vincent 

 were sold, out of a total of 182 barrels ottered, at 1 ^r/. to 

 2J'/. per Ih, A week later 783 barrels of St. Vinc-jut Were 

 i»rought forward and bought in at 2^'. to 2|'/. per lb. 



S.VESAI'.\IMLL.\. 



At the first drug auction on the 3rd of the montli, it 

 was announced that impr)rtant arrivals of thisdrLig hail taken 



place, including grey .Jamaica, red native, and Lima-Jamaica. 

 Grey .Jamaica and Lima were both ottered at the auction in 

 the following week, namely on the 9th, but no native. Of 

 the first, namely, grey Jamaica, 43 bales were put uj) and all 

 sold at Id. per It), cheaper rates Fair grey fetched l.-.-. C)d., 

 fair but part coarse l.s. od., and ordinary coar.se Ls-. Ail. per 11). 

 Seven bales of Lima-Jamaica were ' disposed of at l.s-. 3(/. to 

 I.-.-, id. per lb. for grease damaged to: fair rolls. On the 24th, 

 1 1 bales of genuine grey Jamaica were sold at Is. 5(1 per R-. 

 for very coarse and damaged, and: Ls. Qd. for barely fair. 

 I'Jeven bales of native Jamaica were also di.sposed of, common 

 mixed fetching 9c/., dull led 10'./., fair red l.s-., and good 

 red l.s. 2(7. per lb. 



KOLA, LI.MIC .lUK'K, OIL op LIMK. 



Twenty-eight packages of (.'eyloii kola were ottered in 

 the middle of tlie month ; 1 barrel part mouldy fetched \d. 

 per tti., and 27 bags fair, rather dark and occasionally defec- 

 tive, realized l^d. per lb. At the auction on the 9th, 2 casks 

 ot brown West Indian lime Juice reported to contain ' much 

 suspended vegetable matter' were .sold without reserve at 2'/. 

 I>er gallon. It was stated at this sale that 1 10 packages of 

 concentrated, and nearly 300 packages of raw lime juice 

 from Dominica had arrived. On the 23rd. 5 cases of West 

 Indian distilled oil of lime were ottered and held at 2.s-. 6(/- 

 per lb. It was stated that the arrivals included 39 packages 

 1 1-1 1111 Dominica. 



POSSIBILITIES OF RICE CULTURE IN 

 BRITISH HONDURAS. 



Tile coiuliDion.s wliicli exist; in many parts of 

 JJritish Honduras are undoubtedly eminently favourable- 

 for rice ,t,'i-owin<j:, and it i.s jiopod chat in thj future, this 

 industry will be successfully dieveloped. At present, 

 iiowever, tlie amount of rice produced in the colonv ;.■* 

 insiitficiont to meet the locd demand. The Ijelize- 

 Cliiriiiii. referring to this subject in a recent issue, 

 .says ; — 



The advisability of giving more attention to lice cultiva- 

 tion i:i British Honduras has been repeatedly pointed out. and 

 it has been deniiinstrated that the ciop will be a success in 

 the colony. 



The output nf rice, hov.ever. is le.ss to-ihiv than it wa.-s 

 ten years ago, which is due to the abandonment of the small 

 cultivations along the Sibun and ?\ianatee Hivers, the principal 

 sources of supply in the past. The sons of the old settler.-s 

 who worked these plots [irefer town life, or wood-cuttino-. 



.'\s in the ca,se of British Guiana, which has turned its- 

 attention to rice growing with such marked succe.ss, there 

 exist ill Briti.^h Honduras thousands of acres of ruer bank 

 lands, unfitted fi-r anything else but the cultivation of rice, 

 which might pnne a source of ivealth In the owners, if this 

 cereal were planted on them, instead of allowing them to lie 

 idle and usele.s.s, as at [ire.sent. 



Under favourable conditions the cnltiv.ition of rice on 

 a large scale offers a better return' to tlie ca])italist than the 

 planting of rubber or carao. because the returns are more 

 certain and expeditions, and the :iiarket almost unlimited. 

 A company formed to stait rice growing in British Honduras 

 would, we are confident, meet with every success. It would 

 be found that in a very short time, plots of lice, worked by 

 small cultivators, would .-^tart up adjacent to the fields of the 

 cnnipan}', and the latter would find an additional source of 

 revenue fnim milling the grain produced by tlie small holders. 



