Vol. VI r. No. 173. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



399 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



Drugs and Spices on the London Market. 

 Mr. J. K. Jarksoii. A L..S., !ias icuwanled the 

 ■following lepdit nil ihi' JjdikI.hi diiiir and .spice 

 •marUets during ihe month (if OcCoIrm : — 



The state of the .since and dniy iiiaikets during the month 

 •of October lias continued pretty iiiucli in tlie .same condition 

 as it has been for .several mouths jiast. Though the supply 

 •of goods ha.s been fair, and sometimes eyen fuH at all the 

 auctions, and a better tone wa.s apparent about the middle 

 ■ of the month, nothing more than a normal demand has 

 marked the character of business generally. From the follow- 

 ing notes, it "will be seen that West Indian products have 

 proved no exception to the rule. 



(;ixi:ei;. 

 ice auction held on the 7th, the 



At the tir.st 

 demand was very slow. No Jamaica was oti'ered, and 

 the bulk of the '200 packages of Cochin and Calicut was 

 bought in, good brown rough Calicut at 40.'-. per cwt. and 

 .sound at 3.5.s-. Some 70 cases of Calicut, including unsorted 

 native cut and small cut, were also bought in, the former at 

 -55.S. and the latter at 52s. per cwt. Some 14-^ bags of wormy 

 washed rough Cochin were offered, only 1.5 of which were 

 ■disposed of at 32.v. Grf. per cwt. On the 14th of the month. 

 Jamaica was represented by 170 packages, only 50 of which 

 were sold at prices including good common at 52.';. to 54.'i., 

 and good at 58.s'. to 02.';. Washed rough Cochin was bought 

 in at 35.«. A week later no Jamaica was offered, and the 

 •offerings of Calicut were bou<;ht in at 0O.«.. for bold cut, 70.s. 

 for medium cut, and 52s. to 57.5. 6rf. for unsorted native cut. 

 Of another lot, good bold Calicut was lield at 45.s. and 

 •.slightly v.-or:ny brown rough at 35.<. per cwt. At the last 

 auction on the 28th, ginger was still in vefy little demand : 

 only 5 barrels of Jamaica were ottered, and these were 

 bought in. Twenty-four [lackages of Cochin and Calicut 

 were brought forward, and only 2 cases' of Calicut were 

 ..sold at 68s. ])er cwt. for medium cut ; 41,';. and 40,>.-. were the 

 prices at wdiich bright brown Calicut ami bold limeil rough 

 "Calicut were respectively bought in. 



NUTMEOS, M.\CE, -VNI) I'lJI l';N"J'o. 



The otl'erings of nutmegs iu the earlier part of the 

 month were unimportant. .\c the auction on the 2Sth, 

 330 packages of West Indian were offered, and the bulk .solil 

 at steady prices for sound, the inferior and smaller sizes 

 fetching l<!. to hd. per Ifc. lower than previous rates. There 

 has been a steady demand for mace. Twenty jiackages of 

 West Indian were offered at auction on the 14th, and about 

 one-half was dispo.sed of at the following, rates : Is. b/. to 

 Is. 2il. per Iti., for fair ; l.s. 2d. for good broken, and 1 ]</. for 

 pickings. The latest prices obtained for West Indian at the 

 auction on the 28th were as follows: Fair pale, l.s-. 5i^. to 

 Is. 6f/. ; fair pale and reddish, Is. 'Ad. to Is. id.; good red, 

 Is. 2d. to Is. 3d.; and broken, l\il. to Is. 8ome cases of 

 Java also realized 2s. \d. to 2s. 3d. for good bold reddish, 

 and Is, 5'/. to Is. M. for fair curly. Pimento, at the first 

 •sale on the 7fh, Avas rjuoted at 2|'^. per ft. for fair. A week 

 later, 200 bags were offered at auction and some 150 sold 

 at 2^(1 [ler Itj. for fair and 2(^. for gray. On the 21st, the 

 offerings amounted to 55 bags of sittings, which sold without 

 reserve at IJ'/. per 11)., and at the last; sale on the 28th 

 the offerings amounted to 720 bags, a small part only of 

 "which found buyer.s, at 2 ^d. per It). 



.\UlloWRooT. 

 There was but little demand for this article at the 

 beginning of the month. At the spice auction on the I4tli, 

 50 barrels of fair manufacturing St. Vincent were offered, 

 and Ijought in at 2d. per lb.; and again on the 21st, though 

 some 330 barrels of St. Vincent were offered they were all 

 bought in at 2^^/. to 2^d. per lb. for, fair to good manufactur- 

 ing, and old. to 3ld. for fine. At this sale, 14 kegs of 

 Bermuda were disposed of at 2s. 9d to 2s. II*;. per It). 



SAKSAP.-VRILLA. 



.\t the drug auction on the 8th, 10 bales of Lima- 

 Jamaica were offered, and all sold at from Is. 4'/. to 

 Is. 5(7. per lb. for fair rolled quality. One bale only of native 

 Jamaica, pale red, was brought forward, and sold at Is. per lb. 

 Of 2 bales of Guayaquil offered, one of fair quality was sold at 

 Is. 7d. per lb. No gray Jamaica was offered, l)ut at the 

 auction on the 21st, 02 bales were offered, and -^9 sold ati 

 from Is. :',d. to Is. id. per lb., one lot realizing Is. ijd. Two 

 bales (all that was ottered) of fair native red, slightly sea- 

 damaged, fetched Is. Id. per lb., and 4 bales, out of 5 

 offered, of Hfinduras, .sold at Is. 2d. to Is. 7d. for mi.vecl 

 ipialities. Kurther arrivals of rrd and yellow native, and 

 Lima-Jamaica were announced a week later, and will upjiear 

 at the first auction in November. 



■!'\.M.\K[NllS, C.VSSI.V I''ISTUL.\, KOLA, ETC. 



At the first sale on the 7th, 2 barrels of rather stony 

 tamarinds from ilontserrat were disposed of at 7'.'. in 'bond, 

 and on the 14th some .sales of West Indian in bond were 

 made at lis. {i</. per cwt. On the 28th, it was announced 

 that several tons of Antigua had been dispo.sed of at Us. per 

 cwt., and that Barbados, wliii'h were scarce, could well 

 demand lis. 6'/. Ca.ssia Fistula was offered at the drug sale 

 on the 22nd, and sold at 19s. per cwt. for fair fresh West 

 Indian. In the same week, 5 bags of fair dried We.st 

 Indian kola, and 5 of mouldy seeds were dispo.sed of at 

 lid. and -Id. per lb. resjiectively, and a further .sale of 

 7 packages of fair small dried West Indian at lie?, per lb. "was 

 made a week later. Oil of lime was ottered on the 21st to 

 the extent of 11 cases, all of which were bought in at 

 2s. (yd. per lb. It was rejiorted that frequent arrivals of the 

 oil were taking place, including large quantities from 

 Dominica. Two cases of West Indian distilled oil of pimento 

 were also ottered at this sale and held at 5s. per lb. Good 

 pale raw \\'est Indian lime juice was quoted at Is. 3d., and 

 common brown and reddi.sh at lid. to Is. Some 400 pack- 

 ages Were announced as having arrived from Dominica. 

 Chillies continue in fVur demaml, the quotations being for fair 

 mixed yellowish ilombasa 30s., and for good red Japan SO.s. 



MANGANESE IN SUBSOIL WATER. 



The (■ontaminatioii of the diinking water i.if llreslaii 

 between two and three years ago, wlien, after an inundation of 

 the colle<'ting ground, from which tho town was supplied, the 

 whole of the wat<'r suddenly became, so much contaminated 

 with diss<.)lved manganese as to be no longer fit for u.se, 

 has rendered it necessary to seek the best and cheapest 

 methods of freeing water from this substance. Dr. Kohrig, 

 the 1 )irector of the Bre.slau Chemical Society, points out, as 

 the result of a long .series of experitnents, that this can be 

 most cheaply and successfully accomplished by treatment 

 Vt-ith caustic lime, after the water has, by preliminary treatment, 

 been freed from iron. It was found that 3 cwt. of lime are 

 sufficient to reiiKive the manganese sulphate (which in this 

 case was present at the rate of 10 milligrams j)er litre of 

 water) from 40,000 cubic metri-s of spring water at a cost 

 of about 3s. (id. (ill chemicals. 



