Vol. XII. No. 303. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



399 



inches. The seed is said to take from four to live weeks to 

 germinate but I find in this country they may take as long 

 as three months. The beds require to be artificially shaded 

 and in dry weather regularly watered. When the seedlings 

 are 1 foot high they may be transplanted into their permanent 

 quarters which should be about 2-5 feet apart. Holing similar 

 to that of planting rubber is greatly beneficial. 



The tree would appear from its distribution in Malaya to 

 thrive on most soils, but a rich humus fairly damp but well 

 drained would in all probability give the best results. Judg- 

 ing from reports, .the rainfall is an important factor, but 

 Malaya is well adapted in that respect. 



In West Africa it would appear that the palm is culti- 

 vated only to a small extent, and then, in a rather primitive 

 manner, the natives depend entirely on wild forests for their 

 supply of palm fruits. It is a question whether a well 

 managed plantation in this country where good rail and 

 transport facilities exist will be financially as successful as 

 collecting fruits from the African forests 



Palm oil cultiyation would lend itself well to catch crop 

 such as coffee, as the palms give little shade until they are 

 from six to eight years old, and then probably not loo dense 

 to interfere with the growth of catch crops. 



On the Gold Coast a young palm six years old is 

 said to bear one to six small bunches of fruit, whilst 

 one of ten to twenty years has only one to si.x large 

 bunches with well developed fruit. In the Western 

 Province of Southern Nigeria we are told that full- 

 grown trees yield from about two to twelve bunches of 

 nuts annually, each bunch weighing from 20 to -50 lb. 

 according to size. An average size bunch contains at 

 least 200 nuts, and the weight of the latter varies from 

 7 to 21 lb. 



The annual yield in oil of a tree is stated to be at 

 least 71 lb. in weight. 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



DRUGS AND SPICES IN THE LONDON 

 MARKET. 



lilXOER. 



At auction on the 1st of the month ginger met with 

 no demand, and the offerings were all bought in. On the 

 8th there was a very large quantity offered, namely, 929 

 bags of Cochin and Calicut, 285 bags of Bengal and 79 bags 

 of Japanese. The bulk of these were bought in at the 

 following rates — washed rough Cochin at 26s. to 28^,, and 

 rough Calicut at 30.«. Of the Bengal, 3.") bags met with pur- 

 chasers at 19«. per cwt., while the whole of the Japanese was 

 bought in at 21.«. per cwt. A fortnight later, namely on the 

 22nd, all the offerings were bought in, comprising 98 barrels 

 of Jamaica at 42s. to .50.s. per cwt., for small to middling, 

 349 bags of Cochin and Calicut at 26,s. per cwt, for fair 

 brown rough, 26.s. to 27.s for washed Cochin. 



NUT.MEGS, M.VCE, PIMENTO .\ND ARROWROOT. 



At the first two auctions in the month the offerings of 

 nutmegs and mace were all bought in, liut on the 1.5th there 

 was a very large consignment of 978 packages of West 

 Indian offered and nearlly all were sold at the following 

 rates: 62's to 72's, 6d. to 9(/.; 73's to 83's, ifd. to "d.; do's 

 to lO.J's, id. toi'd., 117's to 128's, i^d. to i'ld. and 1.30's to 

 140's, i Id. to Tjd. A week later 22 packages only of West 

 India was offered and partly sold, most of them being 

 defective, the prices realized were 4}^. for 107's to loO's. At 

 the last auction on the 29th the otterings were again small, 



West Indian being represented by 39 packages, which sold 

 at the following rates: 4W. for 104's to 114's, and 117's to, 

 124's at the same price Some eastern were also disposed 

 of: .59's at 10(/., 86's o'ld , and lUO's od. per a In the 

 early part of the month there was no demand for mace, the 

 offerings at the first auction being all bought in, and again 

 at the second auction on the 8th there was no demand, 

 some 37 cases of pale Penang being offered and bought in at 

 from 2s. 4d. to 2s. Qd. per ft). On the 1.5th West Indian 

 mace was well represented by 203 packages, which were all 

 sold, Is. Id. to 2.S-. 3d. being paid for red to good palish, and 

 Is. 3d. to Is 7d for broken, at the last auction on the 29th 

 some sales were affected at Is. Id. to Is. IQd., and broken at 

 Is. od. to Is. <3d. Some packages of eastern were disposed 

 of at Is \0d. to 2s. od , and broken at Is. od. to Is ijd. 

 per lb. Pimento has been in slow demand, on the 8th 143 

 bags were offered and bought in at 2]<^. On the 1.5th, .57 bags 

 were sold at i^d. per lb for fair. St. Vincent arrrowroot 

 was reported at the end of the month, to be selling privately 

 at 3(/. to 3^0?. per R. while good Natal is held at 7\d. 



S.\ES.\I'.\RILL.\. 



Grey Jamaica, at the beginning of the month, was 

 scarce, and at the auction held on the 2nd of the month 

 was represented by 4 bales only, which was of fair 

 quality, but slightly mouldy, all was disposed of at 

 Is. 11(1 per ft). There was a steady demand for native 

 •Jamaica, of which 15 bales were offered and 11 sold, 9Ai. 

 being paid for good red press-packed, and 7hd. for inferior 

 yellow to pale red. Thirteen bales of Lima Jamaica were 

 also brought forward, but found no buyers At the second 

 drug auction on the Loth of the month sarsaparilla was 

 represented by full supplies of all kinds, as follows: grey 

 Jamaica 30 bales, native Jamaica 20, and Lima Jamaici 27 

 bales; of the first 28 bales were disposed of at easier rates, 

 namely Is. 9d. to Is. lOd. for fair, and Is. 7d. to Is. Sd. 

 for part coarse. The whole 20 bales of native Jamaica 

 found buyers at dd. to lOd. per ftj. for good red press packed, 

 6d. to S}jd. for inferior pale red and yellow, and the same 

 price for dull tawny. The whole of the Lima Jamaica 

 was held at Is. Sd. per lb. At the last auction on the 30th 

 the only offerings were 3 bales of native Jamaica, and 

 13 of Lima Jamaica. For the first it was reported that 

 the 3 bales had found buyers outside the auction, at an 

 advance of Id. to 2d. per ft), on previous rates. The 13 

 bales of Lima Jamaica were held at Is. 9d. per ft). 



KOLA, CASSIA FISTULA, LIME OIL AND TAMARINDS. 



Kola was in good supply at the beginning of the month. 

 At the first auction 82 bags of Jamaica were offered, 49 of 

 which sold at id. per lb. for fair darkish halves. A fort- 

 night later the supply was still plentiful, 77 bags being 

 offered, but only 1 sold, and that consisting of small to 

 bold somewhat shrivelled nuts from Honolulu which realised 

 3J(/. per lb. The remainder West Indian halve.s and whole, 

 were held at id. At the last auction on the 30th, 31 

 packages were offered, and 2 sold consisting only of 

 mouldy nuts and pickings which went at 1 Id. per ft). The 

 rest, being fair Jamaica halves were held at 3^d. At 

 auction on the 16th 2 cases of sound fresh plump pods of 

 Cassia Fistula sold at 1.5s. per cwt. while 5 baskets of 

 fair Java were bought in at 1 7s. 6(/. per cwt. Lime oil has 

 been reported plentiful during the month so that there is 

 but little demand at present for it. The current quotations 

 are 2s. to 2s. 3d. per ft), and for hand pressed 15s. Of tam- 

 arinds, on the 1st of the month 9 barrels of fair juicy Nevis 

 were offered and sold at 1 Is. 6rf. per cwt. in bond, in the last 

 week the quotations were, ordinary dark to fair Antigua 14s. 

 to 1.5s. and Barbados from 17.?. to 18s. per cwt. in bond. 



