Vol. VIII. No. 176. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



31 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



Drugs and Spices on the London Market. 



Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S., ha.s forwarded th« 

 following rcj)ort on the London drn^^ and S[iiee market 

 during the month of November:— 



The depression in trade that has been so general 

 ■throughout the year shows little or no sign of improve- 

 metit, but, on the contrary, with the seriously falling 

 revenue, the close of the year seems to have become 

 chronically gloomy. Lithe early weeks of December, 

 the provision markets are mostly somewhat niore l)usy 

 thar. usual and the spice markets are naturally affected. 

 In the following notes it will be seen that the dealings 

 in West Lidian produce were nothing more than 

 normal, though the supplies were, in most eases, good. 



GINGER. 



At tlie first spice auction on the 4tli of the montli, the 

 offerings of .Jamaica amounted to 21 4 bags, but 7 only 

 were sold at 53.<. 6'/. for good connnon. Over 400 packages 

 of Cochin and Calicut were brought forward, anil bought in 

 at the following rates : .52s. to .53s. lor small and medium 

 native cut ; iOs. for good brown Calicut ; and 35s. tor;3;6;.v f°'' 

 fair washed Cochin. On the 11th, the demand continued very 

 slow. There was no .Jamaica offered, and the bulk of the Cochin 

 and Calicut offered, amounting to about 580 packages, was 

 bought in at similar rates to those of the previous week. 

 On the LSth of the montli, there was still no demand, though 

 .Jamaica was offered to the extent of some 80 packages. 

 The whole was bought in at 52s. to 54s. for good common, 

 and 46s. for ordinary common. There was no Cochin or 

 Calicut offered. At 'the last auction on the 25th, though 

 some 400 packages of Cochin and Calicut were offered, only 

 very small sales were effected, the bulk being bought in at 

 the following prices : Bold selected cut, 80s. to 85s., and 

 washed rough Cochin, 36s. 



NUTMEGS, MACE .\ND ' FlilENTO. 



The market in nutmegs has been a steady one through- 

 . out the month, without change in price, ilace has also 

 been in slow demand. At the spice auction on the 1 1th of 

 the month, a few cases of Java wer.e sold, realizing Is. 9r/. 

 for thin pale curly. About 30 cases of Penang were 

 bought in at from Is. Gd. to Is. Sd. per B). On the 18th, 

 •63 packages of West Indian were offered, and for the 

 most part disposed <if at Is. 8rf. for fair pale ; Is. 5rf. to 

 !.<.. 6rf. .for palish ; Is. id. for fair red, and Is. \d. for 

 broken. Of Pimento, at the first sale on the 4th, fair <|ual- 

 ity was disposed of at 2yi;(?., a few bags only being sold out 

 of 90 offered. A week later, 186 bags were brouglit 

 forward, and bought in at 2-|(7. (Jn the 18th, 510 bags 

 were offered, and bought in at 2|rf. to 2J'/. ; and at the last 

 auction on the 25th, 260 bags were offered and again bought 

 in at •2^d. 



.\RR0WE00T. 



There have been good supplies during the month of this 

 article, but c<jmparatively little demand. At the first auction 

 on the 4th, 140 barrels of St. Vincent were offered, the 

 whole of which was bought in at from 2ld. to -2l<l. per It), 

 for fair manufacturing. On the ]8tli, at auction, 20 

 bags of Natal were ofiered and sold at 3^'/. per Bi. No sales 

 of St. Vincent were etteeted at auction, but it was re]jorted 

 that several hundred barrels had changed hands privately at 

 2d. per D). At the last sale on the 25th, all the ofl'ering.s, 



consisting of 196 barrels of St. Vincent, were bought in at 

 the followng prices : for good to fine manufacturing, 2|(/. to 

 3|c7.; and for fair, '2^d. per lb. 



SARSAPA1:ILH. 



At the first drug auction on November 5, the offerings 

 consisted of 19 bales of Li ma- Jamaica, and 16 bales 

 of native Jamaica, all if which were disposed of — the 

 first at from Is. Id. to Is. 3'/. per Bb. for mixed, partly 

 chulnpy, and coarse to fair rolls ; the latter at from Ik. to 

 l.«. 1'/. for dull to fair red. At the second auction on the 

 ,19th, a dearer tone prevailed ; only 12 bales of Lima were 

 bi'ought forward, and all sold at Is. 3^/. per B). Three bales 

 of Honduras character realized Is. 3(/. per lb., and Is. per lb. 

 was paid for 1 bale of i)ale red native .Jamaica. 



KOLA, LIME .JUICE, AND OIL OF LI.Mi;. 



At the first sale of the month, 26 packages of West 

 Indian kola were ottered and disjjosed of at from l-i;/. 

 to 1|(/. per B). for medium to bold dried, part bright. On 

 the 19th, some packages of fair dried West Indian were sold 

 without reserve at Id. per tti., and 3 other jiackages of 

 dried West Indian realized from Id. to \hd. per K). A week 

 later, at the spice sales, 7 bags of dried West Indian 

 fetched from lirf. to l|rf. per lb. At the first spice sale on 

 the ith, 2 pipes and 4 casks of raw St. Lucia lime 

 juice were sold, fair palish brown realizing Is. per gallon. 

 The arrivals were said to include 269 packages from Dominica. 



A consignment of some 52 packages of oil of limes was 

 announced from Donuni<'a in the middle of the month, Is. M. 

 to 2s. per lb. according to (luality being the prices quoted. 



PRICKLY PEAR AS A FORAGE CROP. 



A number of species of prickly pear (Opuntia) are 

 undoubtedly worthy of consideration as possible forage 

 crops in districts of deficient rainfall. Bulletin I'-i. 

 of the Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, gives an account of experiments in the 

 cultivation of this crop in dry districts of Texas, where 

 the average annual rainfall for the past eighteen years 

 has been but 28'4 inches. 



As the result of these experiments it is estimated that 

 the prickly pear under cultivation will produce 23 tons of 

 rough fodder per acre. The increased yield given in response 

 to cultivation was very good, eight times as much prickly 

 pear having been produced on cultivated, as compared with 

 uncultivated land. L'^nder the conditions, cultivated prickly 

 pear yielded, six times as much rough fodder as sorghum. 



At least twenty spineless varieties are under cultivation, 

 of which Opuntia LiniUui^iwn is mentioned as one of the 

 best. 



It is believed that the cijst of establishing a jjlantation of 

 spineless prickly pear would not be more than !?6-00 or 67 '00 

 per acre, and an area once planted furnishes a supply of 

 fodder for an indefinite period. In the experiments the plants 

 grew well from single-joint cuttings placed 2 feet from each 

 other, in rows 6 feet apart, and slightly covered with earth. 

 ' Frequent ' shallov/ cultivation is needed to prevent weed 

 growth, and excessive baking of the soil. A fir.st harve.st of 

 forage can be taken about twenty months after setting out 

 the plants. 



The albuminoid ratio, i.e., the ratio of nitrogenous 

 constituents to carbohydrates is very low, and the addition 

 ■ of .sihall quantities of such a food as bean, or cotton-seed 

 meal, is therefijre necessary when the fodder is given to 

 stock. Such ;i mixture increases the digestibility as well as the 

 feeding value of the prickly pear. 



