Vor. XII. No. 29-2. 



THE AGRICULTURAL XEWSr 



223 



AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING. 



Machine for Makings Agricultural Lime. ~ 



Information is given in the Amei-i'-'tn Sn^ar Industr// for 

 May 1913 concerning a machine for making ground lime- 

 stone for agricultural purpcses. The machine is constructed 

 in various sizes, having capacities from 1 to 2.5 tons per 

 hour, and reciuiring from 12 to 100 h.p to operate. A 

 portable form mounted on a truck can also be obtained. In 

 the operation of this machine, the stone (broken to a size 

 of 3 to 4 inche.s) is shovelled in at the top of the pulverizer 

 and comes out below, reduced to a product specially .suited 

 for agricultural purposes. The naine of the firm of manufar- 

 turers is the Jetlrey Manufacturing Company, of Columbus, 

 Ohio, U.S.A. 



Machine for Extracting Rubber from 



Bark. — A new machine has been invented for the e.Ktraction 

 of rubber from bark. The entire apparatus consists of an 

 iron cylinder driven by motor. The necessary force is 

 about 3 h.p. The cylinder, which is placed horizontally 

 18 pierced with numerous holes. Within is an arrangement 

 of rollers and drums that act after the manner of a pestle 

 and mortar. If a certain quantity of liark be introduced 

 into the cylinder it gets finally crushed, and the debris 

 is washed away by a stream of water, whilst the pure rubber 

 remains in the drum. The cylinder is capable of containing 

 70 R> of bark. It is considered that the machine produces 

 m the minimum of time, as line and pure a rubber as can be 

 obtained by ordinary trituration. The name of the machine 

 is La Valour. (From the Monthhj Bulletin of Agricultural 

 I>itellif/ence and Plant Diseases, March 1913.) 



The breaking weight in wood beams 1 foot long, 1 inch 

 broad, 1 inch deep, loaded at the centre and supported at 

 ends is: English oak, H cwt.; Canadian oak, o cvet.; pitch 

 pine, 5 cwt. Wrought iron has a value of 18 cwt. The 

 ultimate resistence of beams used for flooring, under 

 distributed load, can be calculated from the formula: 

 ^^ 2kxbx>r -. ^^^^^ J _ jg^gj]^ jj^ ,gg^^ jj ^ breadth 



in inches, d = depth in inches, W = breaking weight in 

 cwt., k = breaking value noted above. 



It is usual to allow a factor of safety of one- fifth the 

 breaking weight. {Uitchell's Bnildinij Construction, 1902.) 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON 

 MARKET. 



The Report of Mr. J. R. Jackson is as follows: — 



At the first drug auction which fell on the May 1, the 

 supplies were very much larger than they have been for 

 some months past, but the demand was not at all what 

 might have been expected, when it was known that there 

 would be no other drug auction for a month, owing to the 

 intervention of the Whitsuntide holidays. ^i;;^,"! 



Both band presf.'d and distilled West Indian lime oil 

 continue very scarce. Towards the close of the month cochin 

 ginger dropped slightly, while mace and nutmegs showed 

 a slight advance. The following prices ruled: — 



GINGER. 



At the first spice auction on the 7ih of the month the 

 otierings consisted of only 122 bags of Calicut, the whole of 

 which was bought in at 355. for good brown rough. A week 

 later it was reported that some small sales of Jamaica had 

 been made in London at steady prices. On the 21st the 

 offering at auction amounted to 908 packages of Cochin and 

 Calicut, but only 30 were disposed of, small Calicut fetching 

 36s , and brown rough Calicut 35s. Unsorted native cut. 

 was bought in at 6.5s., washed rough Cochin, at 31.s. to 32s.; 

 brown rough Calicut, at 32.5.; and bold at 40.s. Some 115 

 bags of limed -Japanese were also bought in at 23s. per cwt., 

 while 100 bags of small brown African were withdrawn at 

 26s. per cwt. At the last sale on the 28th, 36 cases of small 

 cut Calicut were sold without reserve at 36s, to 36s. 6d. per 

 cwt. 



NUTMEGS, MACE -\ND PIMENTO. 



At the first and second spice auctions on the 7th and 

 14th respectively, there was no demand for nutmegs and no 

 sales were made, but on the 21st, some 469 packages of West 

 Indian were sold at the following rates. 64's to 68's, Id. to 

 Sd, 7rs to 82'a 5W. to 6M ; 83's to 93's, o^d. to 5|rf.; 94's 

 to 104's, od to 5|rf.; 117s to 125's, 5|d. to 5|d.; some 

 Eastern were also disposed of, at r>M. for 78's, and 6hd. for 

 90's. At the same auction 09 packages of West Indian mace 

 were sold at prices varying from 2s. 5d. for good, and 

 2s. 3d. to 2s. 4d. for ordinary to fair, and Is. lOd. to 2s. Id. 

 for broken. Pimento was represented during the month by 

 68 bags, brought forward at the spice auction on the 21st 

 and bought in at 2|(f. 



S.^ESAP.IRILLA. 



At the drug auction on the 1st of the month, sarsapariUa 

 was well represented by 36 bales of grey .Jamaica and 13 of 

 Lima Jamaica and 15 of native Jamaica, 26 bales of the first 

 named were sold at from 2s. 3d. to 2s. 6d per tt). The 

 whole of the Lima Jamaica was bought in at 2s. Sd. per Dt). 

 and 2 bales only of the native .Jamaica were sold 

 at dd. per fb for common dull mixed. In consequence 

 of the holidays, as before stated, the next drug auction 

 did not take place till the 28th, when the offerings of sarsapa- 

 rilla were as follows: grey Jamaica, 8 bales, all of which were 

 disposed of; 15 bales of native Jar.iaica, which also found 

 buyers; and 19 bales of Lima Jamaica, none of which sold. 

 For the former, which was of fair quality, 2s id per lb. was 

 paid, which was 2d. per lb., cheaper than the previous rates. 

 Fair to good red native Jamaica, fetched llhd. to Is. and 

 tawny, lOd. to lid. The 19 bales of Jjima Jamaica were all 

 bought in at 2s. 8d. per fi). 



CASSIA FLSTULA, LIMK OIL, TA.MARINDS AND KOLA. 



At auction on May 1, sixty baskets of cassia fistula 

 from Java, were brought forward, and sold without reserve 

 at 12s. 6d. to 13s. Qd per cwt., for lean to partly wormy: 

 it was stated at this sale that 12 packages had arrived 

 from Dominica. 



In the early part of the month. Is. 6d, per ft), was the 

 price quoted for West Indian distilled oil of lime; at the 

 end of the month, Is. 8d. was being asked, while for hand 

 pressed, 1 3s &d. was paid. Both kinds are very scarce In 

 the early part of the month it was announced that the 

 arrivals of the new crop of tamarinds amounted to 145 

 barrels from Barbados, and 168 barrels from Antigua, 14 s. 

 per cwt. being quoted as the current price in bond. Kola 

 remains very scarce, and in the early part of the month as 

 much as 5\d. to <id. per lb. was asked for the .Javan produce. 

 At the end of the month 4 bags of fair dried Grenada 

 were offered, and two sold at iid. per 8). 



