"Vol. XII. No. 294. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWSr 



255 



To show first that the castor fungus is a new species, it 



-may be stated that it failed to infect tanias {Colocasia 



■ ant i'/uoruiii) a.nd the Phytophthora of this latter plant was 



unable to infect castor seedlings. Evidence of a similar 



nature showed that there is no relation, as regards parasitism, 



between the castor species and that which attacks tobacco. 



Neither can P/i. parasitirii (the Castor parasite) attack 



■cacao. It can, however, infect tomato seedlings, potato 



seedlings, wounded areca nuts and other plants commonly 



attacked by other species of the genus. But, as already 



^jointed out, the observed cultural characters alone were 



•■luite sutHcient to enable distinction to be made between the 



■castor Phytophthora and those species normally parasitic on 



the cultivated plants just referred to. 



AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING. 



A Selt-contained Motor-Plough.— In connexion 



■with the leading article in this issue, the following account 



■of Stock's motor-plough ha.s been abstracted from Dr. Fischer's 



article in the ifonthly Bulletin of Jgricultuial Intelligence 



and of Plant Bi feasts (.June 191.3). 



In this article it is stated first that Stock's plough 

 weighs l)etween 4 and 4i tons. Xearly all the weight 

 is carried by the two driving wheels, thus enabling a grip 

 to be had over the ground. 



The wheels are 7 feet 4 inches in diameter, and 

 only (j)( inches wide. Lugs are provided on the 

 wheel tyres to get rid of sticky soil and to prevent 

 skidding, whilst the four-cylinder benzine motor in front, 

 counter-balances the ploughshares with their frame at the 

 back. The steering wheel at the tail of the machine thus 

 bears a very small portion of the weight. Stock's plough is 

 said to havf met with great success because it is simple and 

 /compact and easily driven. There is a crank for regulating 

 the depth of the shares, levers, close to hand, for driving the 

 motors, and a foot-lever al-io for throwing the engine into gear. 

 There is no device for reversing or changing the gear, however, 

 ■which, though increasing the simplicity of the machine, is 

 nevertheless in one way a disadvantage Ijecause any alteration 

 in the speed, can only be obtained by changing the gearing, 

 an operation that can be done only when the machine is at 

 rest, llecently, however, the firm of manufacturers has been 

 providing the ploughs with reversing gears, if demanded. 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON 

 MARKET. 

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



GINGER. 



No ginger was otl'ered at the first spice auction on the 

 •-4th of the month, but on the 11th -50 bags of rough Cochin 

 were brought forward and bought in at 30s. per cwt. On 

 the 18th the large supply of 480 packages of West Indian 

 were offered, and bought in at Gos for extra bold dullish, 

 and 42s. to 47s. 6^^ per. cwt. for ordinary to good common. 

 Brown rough Calicut was also bought in at 31s. and washed 

 rough Cochin at 29s. per cwt. On the 25th the offerings 

 consisted of only 176 bags of fair wa.slied Cochin which were 

 ^ all bought in at 29s. per cwt. 



NUTMEGS, MACE AND AKKOWROOT. 



Nutmegs were in large supply at the first auction on the 

 4th, as many as 406 packages West Indian, were brought 



forward and sold 67's to 75's fetching '>ld to Q\d : 82'8 to 

 92's, M. to <Jd; I05's to 115'?, 5d. to b'{d ; and il6's to 

 125's, od. to 5hd. A week later, namely on the lllh, the 

 offerings amounted to 90 packages West Indian, and 4t> 

 packages of Eastern, all of which sold at slightly varying 

 rates from the former. On the 18th, 97 packages of We.st 

 Indian were also disposed of at equal rates. Of mace, at the 

 first auction on the 4tli, 1 1 1 packages of West Indian sold 

 at 2s. to 2,s-, i'ld. for ordinary to fair, and l.s. dd. to 2s. Id. 

 for broken. On the l^lh, .30 packages of West Indian were 

 offered and partly .sold at 2x, ^d. to 2.?. 3d., broken fetching 

 from Is. 9d. to Is lid., per lb. At the last spice aui-tion 

 on the 25th, no mace was offered. At the first spice auction, 

 on the 4th St. Vincent arrowroot was represented by 1 fi.l 

 barrels, 20 of which sold at 3id per lb. 



SARSAPARILLA. 



At auction on the 12th of the month the offerings of 

 this drug were as follows: — grey .Jamaica 41 bales, Lima 

 Jamaica 29 bales and native Jamaica 5 bales Of the 

 former 35 bales found buyers at l.<. ')d. to 1<. 7d. per It), 

 for inferior part coarse, and l.<. Sd. to l<. 2d. for fair grey. 

 The 5 bales of native Jamaica realized 10c?. per lb. lor 

 fair palish red, and 8c?. for ordinary dull. The whole of the 

 Lima .Jamaica was bought in. A fortnight later, namely, 

 on the 26th, 36 bales of grey Jamaica, 16 of Lima Jamaica, 

 and 20 of native Jamaica were offered, 18 bales only of the 

 grey Jamaica found buyers at from Id. to 2d. per Ifc. decline 

 on previous prices; l.<. 8d. to l.< 9d. being paid for slightly . 

 coarse to fair, and Is. 5d. to l.< Id. for dark, part mouldy 

 and damaged. None of the Lima Jamaica was sold, 

 and only bales out of the 20 offered of native- 

 .Jamaica, and this was disposed of at a reduction of from ]d. 

 to 2d. per lb. on previous prices. 



LIME .lUICE, LIME OIL, T.\.M ARINDS, KOLA, CANELLA ALKA A.NB 

 CA.SSIA FISTULA. 



At the beginning of the month West India raw lime 

 juice was quoted at Is. 6d. for ordinary, to Is. 9d per gallon 

 for good. In the week ending June 21, there was a brisker 

 demand, and 1.^ id. to l.v lOd. was asked for ordinary to 

 pale. Hand pressed lime oil was quoted in the early part of 

 the month at 14« and for distilled Is. Sd. A week later 

 Is lOd to 2s. was demanded for distilled and 1 4s. (vl. for 

 hand pressed. In the week ending .June 21 a further 

 advance was made, 2s. Qd. being paid for West Indian 

 distilled, and at the close of the month 2s. 9d. per lb. 

 was obtained, and a case of hand pressed realized 

 15s. per lb. Tamarinds have been in steady demand. In 

 the middle of the month 1 2 packages of new crop pale, from 

 iMontserrat sold at 14s. per cwt. New crop Antigua, of fair 

 average quality, were quoted at 15.s. to 15s. 6c/., and Bar- 

 bados in bond at 17n. 6(1; at the end of the month a con- 

 signment of 9 barrels from Antigua, fair dry, fetched 1 4s. 

 per cwt., at the same auction some fair juicy Barbados were 

 offered at 17s It was reported in the middle of the month 

 that a consignment of African kola had arrived at Liverpool 

 and that sales had been made at from 2hd. to 3d. per lb. .\t 

 the last auction in London on the 26th, 35 bags from 

 Ceylon were offered, and 22 sold at 4-Ja. to od. per lb. for 

 small to medium dried. At the drug auction on the 1 2th 

 a consignment of 8 bales of (^'anella alba bark was brought 

 forward and sold at from 47s. to SO-t. per cwt., for small to 

 bold palish quill At the same auction 59 packages of W'-si-, 

 Indian Cassia Fistula were offen^d only 6 of which founfC 

 buyers at 15s. per cwt. 



