Vol. XIV. No. 343. 



THE ACKkTI/lTRAL NEWS. 



207 



He advised planters tod Jly with their lands 



especially in the application of pen i re, - la- regretted to 



i ol falling off in some places. In returns "I' cane 



per acre the Factory weighbridge was a factor they had 



i kon with, and by keeping accurate r irds they could see 



their deficii I hem. 



In regard to f I or provision crops, maize was a useful 



and valuable one, but with the g I prices of sugar and rut ton 



in St. Kit ts, Dr. Watts thought that il would only be advisable 

 to plant sufficient for local use. Corn waa the largest crop 

 grown in the United S nd none was expi rted. At the 



present time th rn imported into the West Indies was 



Argentine corn, and he saw no reason why these islands 

 should not grow all 1 1 1 * - corn that thej needed. 



Dr. Watts then dealt with such crops as Lima Leans, 

 and showed what a profitable cropthej were. California was 

 instanced as having an ana of 85,000 acres in Lima Leans, 

 and the wholesale price was tc. per ft>. [n Canada where 

 there was a small duty the price was 8c. 



Onions were also referred to s i paying crop, and it was 



stive that inquiries had lately 1 n made from New- 

 York as to why St. Kitts did not export onions as well as 

 intigua. 



lie was glad i" see 3ome extension in the planting of 



its. There were tracts of land in St. Kitts most suit 



[ them, ani ject-lesson of the coco-nut cultivation 



at Pinneys '-state. Nevis, was a valuable one. 



Another industry to be i sidered aa a paying one was 



pigraising. There was a great demand for pork and I a, 



and pigs could easily be raised in these islands. It was 

 a matter for future consideration. The subject had been 

 fully dealt with in the West Indian Bulletin, Vol. XIV, 

 No. 4. 



Dr. Watts was next askedfor some expression of opinion 

 on a Scheme for the erection of a Factory for sugar in the 

 northern districts of St Kitts. He thought that the erecti in 

 of a factory in the district would lie the best scheme, 

 but that would cost about £90,000. An alternative 

 scheme was to raise a loan through the Government 

 .•nd lay down a railway line connecting the two ends of the 

 iresent factory line. That would cost about £30,000. 

 They could then make terms with the factory for the 

 payment for their canes. He advised the formation of 

 a small committee to prepare proposals tor raising the money, 



etc. He was of Opinion that after the war was over the 

 attitude of the Government towards sugar would change. 



The Administrator also was sure that the Government 

 would do all in its power to assist in the erection of such 

 a factory or railway line. 



Some discussion then took place on factories generally, 

 nd the results of the Basseterre Factory were discussed. 



A vote of thanks was then proposed to Dr. Watts for 

 his interesting and va Idress, and after an expression 



of appreciation was made to His Honour the Administrator 

 who is retiring from office, the proceedings closed. 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



DRUGS AND SPICES IN THE LONDON 

 MARKET. 

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

 ing report on the London drug and spice markets for 

 month of April: 



The occurrence of the Easter holidays in the early part of 

 the month of April has or a ietm in the 



: kets durit n '• h, how 



ivered lati -. both 



in the number of b it hat 



haw changed hands O en not Ii ed 



entry a of 1 ce and Russia, t themi 



cals and ill ug . I':,, P. jlofl ing detai in tl affect ing 

 West In, linn products. 



OIM.I i.-. 



A generally linn is prevailed for all 



ginger throughout the i i h. At auction on the 22nd it 



was stated that new crop J arnica woul I be small and tha 

 higher freights and fewer sailings were to be exp ted, and 

 would tend to keep up prices. In the earlj pot of the 



month Sierra Leone was quoted at 25*. p iud towards 



the close at 25s. 6d to 26*. 



\ I TNI I a.s, vi ICE IlND CI mento. 

 At auction on the 1 Ith nutmegs were in good suj 

 504 packages of West Indian, and 77 packages of .lava 

 being brought forward and sold, the former at the following 

 rates: 58's Is., 64's to 7 I's .">./. to s .',,/., 76's to 86's 5d. to 5§d., 

 87's to 97's !.',</. to o[,/., 98's to 108's Id. to tfd, LlO's 

 I20's tjrf. to 1;,/., I30's 3fd, to I \d., loo's !{,/. to I 'a' 



The prices realized for the .lava , signinent were as follows: 



66's8d., 96's4£d., 108's Ii., and L20's I fcrf. A fortnight 

 namely on the 28th, nutmegs were again in good supply 

 at similar rates. Mace, at auction on the 1+th, was 

 represented by 130 packages of West Indian, all of which 

 sold at an advance of from 2d. to Id. per Si. on previous 

 rate-, realizing Is. 2d. to 2s. 8d. per ft), forgood West Indian, 

 and 10'/. to is. 7d. for broken I ' ■ atj nine packages of 

 Eastern partly sold at 1>. LOcf. to 2s. 1-/. per ft). A fori 

 later, namely on the 28th, I'.' packages of West Indian were 

 brought forward and sold at the following rates; Fine pale 

 2s 8d., ordinary 2s. to •_'*. 2d., common Is. lid., and broken 

 Is. to Is. Id. At the first spice auction on the 1 4th of the 

 month, 200 bags of fair Pimento were offered and all bought, 

 in at '2\d. per ftp. A week later the quotation was from 2d. 



s IKS VI'VKII.t, \. 



At auction on the 15th, sarsaparilla was represented by 

 1 l 1 bales of grey Jamaica, 22 of Lima Jamaica, and 3 of native 

 Jamaica, all of which were disposed of, the grey Jamaica 

 fetching 2s. to 2s. Id. per ft), for fair fibrous, the Lima Jamaica 

 from Is. 6d. to Is. 8d., and for the native Jamaica Is. Id. 



per ft), was paid for mixed reddish and yellow, and L0d. for 

 ordinary pale yellow. 



VRROWROOT, CITRIC ICID, LIME OIL, LIME JUICE, KOLA, 



■ \ss| \ i isi a LA, \M> T IM GRINDS. 

 Towards the end of the month it was stated that some 

 1,500 barrels of arrowroot had recently been disposed of, fine 

 manufacturing fetching as much as \,l per He, good -','/., and 

 common to fair 2d. to 2Jd. per ft). Throughout the month 

 citric acid has been steadj at 2s. 6d. per It). The market 

 in West Indian distilled lime oil was reported at the 

 beginning of the month to be practicallj cleared, 

 quantities only being obtainable up to 3s. 6d. or even 3s. 7d. 

 per lb. At auction on the 28th of the month I casks ol 

 West Indian lime juice were offered and sold at 2*. 7,/. per 

 gallon. » »n the loth, kola was in good supply, being 

 sented bj I bags of fair dried West Indian halves, which 

 fetched ."Jd. tap 3Jd.; I bug of good bright realized 

 as much as 5d., while 21 bugs of .lava consisting of small, 

 part dark to fair bright quarters and halves, sold at It. to 

 .",',,/. In the early pari ol the mont h Ci 



'.- |uoted at 27s. 6d. with tl 



At the same period E Endiar 

 19j 6d. 



