Vol. XIV. No. 341. 



THE AOltlCULTlTvAL NEWS. 



175 



colour, except at the growing i hi I reenish, and 



ire marked by an irregular and obscurely zoned surface. 



i the fruit-bodj i irittle when mature. The 



plate-like fructification is several inches across when fully 



developed, and the shape is irregular. It grows cl 



o the diseased collai I the tree oi i | d 



lateral i i 



young plants have been killed by inoculation of the 

 roots with the fungus from pure cultures. 



Kv iffected tissues may be successful in dea 



with earlj stages of the disease; for advanced cases there is 

 no hope ol cup The fungu chii h affects the older trees, 



ind some. ; speci ns fourteen to sixteen yeai 



killed by it. 



[n the middle of the month Pimento 1\d. per 



lit., being also a si At the close of the 



lanufacturing St. Vincenl arro from 



2s. \d to '_'- '. /.. and a I al Is. \d. per lb. 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



DRUGS AND SPICES IN THE LONDON 



MARKET. 



Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.I..S has forwarded the follow- 

 ing report od the L I Irug and spice markets for 



the month ut March: — 



In reviewing the trade of the month ol March we have 

 to take into consideration the transactions of five weeks, as 

 compared with those "i the usual four weeks, the first drug 

 auction having been held on the tth of the month and the 

 last on the 31 st. 



At the beginning of March there wa* a .slight decline in 

 the activity that prevailed in Feburary, but nevertheless a fair 

 amount of business was transacted as the month advanced, 

 but with .i decided upward tendency in values, as for instance 

 in ginger, West Indian lime oil, Pimento, and some others. 



The more noticeable advances have been, of course, in 

 the synthetic productions hitherto furnished by Germany, 



but which are now becoming scarce or are not yet fully 

 supplied from other sources. The following are some details 

 affecting West Indian products: — 



GINGER. 



At the first spice auction on the 3rd of the month, ginger 

 was in very lair demand; brown rough wormy Calicut was 

 bought in at -'is., rough washed Cochin at 27s.„and wormy at 

 25s. per cwt. The quotations for Jamaica privately were 



I8« to 46s. for common to medium, and 50s. to 55s. for good. 

 Toward- the end of the month the quotations advanced to 

 55s. to 60*. for good and I "is. i" 50s. for common to 

 medium; Cochin was quoted at from 26*. to 27s., new 

 crops fetching 28s. and Calient 27s. Quite at the end 



if the month the rates advanced to 53s. to 55s. for common 

 to small Jamaica, and 60s. to 65s. for good, while good 

 washed Cochin was quoted at 28s. to 28s. 6rf. 



M l\ll;..s \M, MACE. 



Of nutmegs and mace therein- been very little d< 

 during the month. At auction on the 3rd, 166 eases of 

 limed Java nutmegs were gold and 2t packages of West 

 Indian, all at stead] rates; at the same auction 6 packages of 



West I in lii I and sold at Is. 8tf. 



per fb. for reddish, being Id. per tt>. advanceon previous rates 





\i auction on the 18th - ilia was i pply 



ami fair demand; of hama 



which were disposed oi at Is. lid. to 2s. per lb. for slightly 



to good fibrou . md I s. lOd. foi i 

 of Lima-Jamaica brought forward 12 were sold at Is. Sd. 

 per ft., and for 9 bales-out of L 3 offered of native J 

 a few b lies realized Is. per lb. ist 1 \d. per lb. 



CITRIC Min, LIME JUICE, LIME OIL, C \--l \ 

 FISTULA, \M' KOL \. 



The month coi d with ; ' demand for citric 



acid at 2s. 6rf. per lb., a price that was full;, n 

 the end. Lime juice has been ractically, in the. 



early part of the month none was to be had. At auction 

 on the 17th, 4 puncheons were offered and •'! sold at 2s. Id. 

 pei- gallon fur fair pulpy. It was reported od Jamaica 



was worth 3s. per gallon and Dominica 2s. 95. Lime ..il 

 has been both scarce and dear, 3s. pet tt». being asked for 

 Wist Indian distilled, and 6s. 6d. for hand pi I 



At the drug auction on the 18th, 20 package oi 

 Cassia Fistula pods were offered and only 5 sold at 27s. 6d. 

 per cwt. for lean pods At the same , »es of kola 



nuts were brought forward and 5 sold at .'!]</. to 3Jd per tt>. 



Self-burning Limestone in Syria.— In the 



district of Hauran, a volcanic district of Syria, south of 

 Damascus, east of the Upper Jordan, a curious stone is found 

 which might be described as a 'self burning limestone'. At 

 this place the rock lies in a stratum between ordinary lime- 

 Stone; it. is of a greyish-black colour, and when freshly broken 

 it lias an odour of petroleum. The quarrying, according to 

 the American Deputy-Consul at Jerusalem, who has lately 

 ii -i t ed the district, is easily done with primitive picks and 

 other tools, as the rock is quite soft and full of seams. The 

 stone is broken into .small pieces with hammers and piled 

 tp against the bank of rock. A wall of the same material 

 about 2 feet high is roughly laid up round the pile on three 

 sides, making a pile of small stones s to 10 feet long, and 

 nearly as wide, and 2 feet at the front, rising to nearl] 

 three times that height at the back where it lies against the 

 bank. In building the wall around the pile small holes are 

 left in which to start the tile. 



When the kiln is ready to burn, a few small bunches of 

 straw are placed in the holes mentioned, lit with a flint and 

 steel, and in a short tune the whole pile has ignited. The men 

 then begin working on anew kiln while the other burns and 

 '■'•"Is. Alter about twelve hours of burning the stone h 



onverted into lime, except the stones in the wall and 



the very top layer, which are onlj about half burned. When 

 eool the lime is air-slaked and sifted to remove any pieces 

 not thoroughly burned, which are thrown into a new pile to 

 be fired again. The lime is white and said to make a very 

 strong plast i iiperior to the ordinary lime burned with 



brush, but sells at a much lower figure be< LVJ ol the low 



cost of production. (Journal oj the Royal Society ol Arts, 

 February 26, 1915.) 



