Vol. XIV. No. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



.307 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



DRUGS AND SPICES IN THE LONDON 



MARKET. 



Mr. J. 1!. Jackson, A.L.S., has forwarded the follow- 

 reporl on the London drug and spice markets 



for the mom h -I September: 



As the aucti i for the month of September c 



: , period oi five weeks commenci ber 2 and ending 



on the 30th, a wider range uess than is usual comes 



under review in these note Hie month started with very 

 little change, either in demand or prices, from our report for 

 i, chough the tendency with buyers to withhold large 

 orders, was apparent, it being fell bat the maximum was 

 already reached, fn some instances the plentiful supplies 

 brought forward b id a tendency to I wer prices, while, on the 

 other band, the large supply of West [ndian nutmegs, as will 



a from the details following, realized advanced p 

 In C onsi 'i ■ be increase in th • sugar duties it is antici- 



will I"- a general rise in prices of all articles 

 in which sugar enters into composition. 



GEStG] B. 



At auction on the 8th of the month, no West Indian was 



brought forward, but there was a large supply of Calicut. Seven 



hundn es were bought in, but M) of unassorted, slightly 



wormy, native cul Calicut were sold at 52s. 6c?. A fortnight 



later, namely on the 22nd, the offerings, which consisted of 



325 packages of Calient and Cochin, were again bought in at 



Mowing rates: plump Calient 60s., native cut unassorted 



28*., and washed rough Co. At the last auction, on 



the 29th, the figures stood as follows: medium Jamaica 60s. to 



65s., and good common 55*. to 59sr; fair Cochin 26s. to 



dinary Calicut 26s. to 28s., and washed 30s. 



NUTMEGS, MACE, Wl> PIMENTO. 



At the spice auction on the 8th there was a very largi 

 supply of nutmegs amounting to 1,189 packages of West 

 Indian, which met with a good demand at a farthing per tt>. 

 advance over previous rates. On the 22nd of the month. 805 

 packages West Indian were again ottered ami sold, 90's 

 fetching A 1 ,/., and slightly wormy -'_>. to A/. 



Mace was in abundant supply during the month. At 

 the auction on the 8th as many as I7n packages of West 

 Indian were brought forward, all of which were disposed of, 

 lair to good bold pale fetching 2s. to 2s. Id. per lb., red 

 fetching 1(7. to 2d. per lb. cheaper than previous rates, and 

 pickings 2d. t" ■"></. per fh. less. At the last aucti. 111, on the 

 22nd, 26] packages of West Indian were sol. 1 at from Is. 17. 

 to Is 9tf. per Hi., the former for ordinary to good broken, and 

 the latter for fair palish. At the beginning of the month 



pimento sold at 1 ■§</. per lb., but at the last auction, on the 

 22nd, sales were effected at 2(7. per lb. ; 1 1 3 hags, however. 

 bought in at '-'!'. per lb. 



- \i:s IP UULLA. 



flu re has been but srery little demand for this drug 

 during the month. On the 9th the offerings were as 

 follows: Grey Jamaica 50 packages, native Jamaica 33, 

 Lima-Jamaica I. and Honduras 15. No buyers were found 

 for any of these except the native Jamaica, and of this only 

 "i bales were disposed of, two oi which fetched Is. 1./. 

 per Iti. for fair red, and for the remaining bale of dull pale 



and red mixed. LOrf. per He was paid. Quite at the end of 



the month it was stated thai grej Jamaica was obtainable 



-mall lots .' I*. I 11 '', per H). 



w:i:..\\ ROOI CITRIC UTI>, KOLA, u\n [EW mi A 



LIME OIL,, wo rail UICI 



The quotation f n wroot during the 



month has been 2 2ftf. per lie for manufacturing 



quality, and Id. to ine ' litric acid at the 



ining of the month n 3s. 2d. 



but towards the end U could 1 1./. At, 



the beginning of the mouth kola was scarce, "'../. per He. 

 asked for good ! 1 - 1 1 d the 9th, 



i r, some g I African from Zanzibar sold 



at 6 Id., and 1 1 hags from t leylon 1 



dull hold to good bright. At the I . . .m the 30th of 



tie ith, as 111 o iv as 51 dried African were sold at 



7d. per ft>., and for a quantity ol Wi 1 [ndian 6d to 6Jc7. was 

 quoted. Annatto seed was represented in large quant 

 auction on the 11th, ome 318 packages from -lava being 

 oil',. red, for which 5(7. to 6<£ per lb was asked. At the sale 

 on the 23rd these seeds w< re t" 1 btained at li'/., and tor 



a quantity from Madras I',. 1 //, to 7'/ was asked. Some 1 10 



packages of cashew at iffered at aucti 



the month, only 15 of which found i buyer al 15s. 6(2. pei 

 ewt. for a lot that was badly weevilled. At auction in the 

 early part of the month, 'i packages of good distilled oil of 

 limes from Dominica were disposed "f at 7s. 6(7. per Hi.; a week 

 later 24 cases, also from Dominica, were offered at from 9s. 

 to 10s. per lb. In consequence of this large quantity being 

 put upon the market, the price dropped to 8s. to 9s., and 

 quite at the end of the month it was obtainable at 7s. 

 7s. 6'i. per lb. At auction on the 22nd of the month, some 

 1 8 e.csks of lime juice from St. Lucia were offered, and bought 

 in at -'is. per gallon. It was stated that for good Jamaica 

 3s. '.''7. per gallon was demanded. 



CULTIVATION EXPERIMENTS WITH 



GROUND NUTS. 



The results of the experimental work at the 

 Botanical Station at Salisbury in Rhodesia include 

 the following connected with the cultivation of ground 

 nuts. The results ate published in the Rhodesia 

 Agricultural Journal for August 1915: 



Variety Trials. -Average yield of all varieties, 790 B». 

 per acre. Highest yield: Tennessee lied, 940 lb. per acre. 

 Earliest maturing varieties: Spanish, C, mouths, Tennessee 

 lle.l. 5 months. Latest variety: Virginia Runner, <>.', months. 



I Ustance of planting Plants .SO inches by 12 inches 

 gave a yield of 732 lh. per acre. 



Distance of planting. Plants 30 inches by 8 inches 

 gave a yield of 8(31 lb. per acre. 



Method of planting. — Whole nuts .racked were planted 

 in hills 30 inches by 1 '2 inches, and shelled nuts two in .... a 

 bill were planted at the same distance apart. 



Whole nuts .racked gave a yield of 7 ~>« "> lh. per acre. 



Shelled nuts two kernels in each hill gave a yield of 

 656 th. per acre. 



Early vt rms late planting. North Carolina planted 

 3, 12/ 1 1 yielded 798 R) per acre. 



Early versus late planting. -North Carolina plan 

 5/1 15 give a very low yield. 



Repeated experiments have shown that early planting 



is essentia] for this crop. 



Seed required pei acre. With the Spanish variety one 

 of unshelled nuts, weighing -" : ed to sow 



3 acres at the rate of one nut per bill, rows 30 inches apart, 



with '.i inches bet ween bi p] mts. 



