Vol VIII No. 196. 



TilE AGrJCULTUUAL NEWS. 



district.s which at pre.^ent raise little that is of any export 

 value. Cassava i.s attaining an increased commercial impor- 

 tance, and there lias been a good demand for cuttings of the 

 best kinds. Experiments with tobacco have shown ihat thi.s 

 is not a crop for the large planter in Jamaica, as the local 

 market is readily glutted. 



The work of the Agricultural Instructors has been 

 continued. At the Oovernment Laboratory four students 

 have attained the higher course of training in agricultural 

 -science. In the future, agricultural education will cease to 

 be carried on at the Laboratory, but wdl be continued at the 

 Farm School which it is proposed to establish. The usual 

 work has been done at the training colleges, and for the 

 primary school teachers. 



The total number of analyses that were conducted at the 

 Government Laboratory during the year was 306, of which 

 121 were official, 75 agricultural, and 110 general. The 

 number carried out at the Sugar Experiment Station was 

 656, and there were 120 bacteriological examinations. The 

 last have shown that the water-supply of Kingston has rarely 

 been contaminated by [)olluting bacteria. On the other hand, 

 all the samples of fresh milk examined showed the presence 

 of objectionable bacteria and dust. 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



Drugs and Spices on the London Market. 



j\Ir. J. L. Jacks<iii, A.L.S , has forwaided the 

 following report on the Lomloii drug and spice market 

 for the mouth of September : — 



As was anticipated, the first month of Autumn, namely 

 September, started with a marked improvement in the drug 

 trade — an improvement that was not only maintained, but 

 gradually increased throughout the month. Beginning as it 

 did on a Wednesday and ending on a Thursday, September 

 practically covered a period of five weeks to report upon, the 

 spice auctions being held weekly on Wednesdays, and the 

 drug auctions on alternate Thursdays. 



In most of the articles which come under our review 

 there were good supplies, and a fairly brisk demand. 



IIINCER. 



There were no quotations for ginger at the .spice sale on 

 the 1st; but on the 8th, some 100 packages of Jamaica were 

 oftered, and sales were efl'ected for about 150, at prices of Is. 

 to 2s. decline on previous rates, bold lean fetching 60s., good 

 common 52s., good ordinary smale 50.s., and ordinary mixed 

 ratoon 46.s. to 46s. 6(7. per cwt. On the 15th, no Jamaica 

 was brought forward, but good supplies of Calicut and 

 Cochin were offered, and bought in at the following rates: — 

 85s. for good bold cut, 55s. for unsorted native cut, 43s. for 

 washed rough Cochin, 42s. for bright brown rough C!alicut, 

 and 40s. for slightly wormy. At the last auction on the 

 29th, the offerings amounted to 165 barrels of Jamaica, of 

 which 1 00 were sold, dull to fair bright washed fetching 

 52s. Gd. to 56s., and common ratoon 42s. to 43.5. Five cases 

 of Calicut were sold, out of a total of 55 ottered, at 78s., and 

 50 bags out of G68 offered, realized 41s. Gd. per cwt. for 

 rough mixed small. 



NUTMEOS, M.\CE AND riMEN'TO. 



At the auction on the first of the month, West Indian 

 nutmegs were in steady demand ; 317 jiackages were offered, 

 and 1 30 sold at about previous rates. No further quotations 

 ■occurred during the month. At the .same auction, mace met 

 with but little attention; 9 packages of West Indian were 



disposed of at the following rates : fair palish Is. Gd. to Is. Id., 

 fair red Is. 4(/. to Is. 5d., and pickings Is. to Is. 2d. Java 

 and Macassar were bought in at Is. Id. per lb. On the 15th, 

 West Indian was represented by 72 packages, which were 

 sold at slightly varying prices, namely Is. 9i. for good, 

 Is. 7d. to Is. 8(1 for fair. Is. id. to Is. 6(1 for ordinary, and 

 11(1 to Is. 3d. for broken. There was again a steady sale on 

 the 29th at similar rates to the above. At this auction, some 

 fine bold flat Java was offered, and bout;ht in at 2s. per H). 

 Pimento did not appear at the first sale, but ou the 8th, '2^d. 

 per lb. was realized for fair. On the 22nd, some 226 bags 

 were brought forward, and 50 bags disposed of, at 2^d. 

 per lb. At the last sale, ou the 29th, the oiferings were 

 bought in at 2f^d.. to 2g(/. 



ARROWROOT. 



The unsatisfactory position of the arrowroot production 

 in St. Vincent has recently attracted some attention in 

 commercial circles, owing to a statement in the West India 

 Committee Circular that over production has resulted in the 

 low prices now prevailing in the market, and that at '2d. 

 per lb. the arrowroot plant scarcely pays for growing. It 

 will be seen from the following prices, ruling during the 

 month, that this figure has but rarely been attained at any of 

 the auctions. On September 1, 67 barrels of St. Vincent 

 were brought forward, and the whole bought in at 3./. per lb. 

 A week later, the (juantitj' ofi'ered had increased to 277 

 barrels, but no sales were effected, even at the lower figure 

 of 2d., at which price the entire quantity was bought in. 

 At the third sale, namely on the 15th, the ott'erings amounted 

 to 307 barrels and were sold without reserve, 102 barrels 

 fetching \^d. per ft., and the remaining 205 from IfiZ. to 1 Jd 

 per ft. On the 22nd, 336 barrels were brought forward, 

 only 47 of which found buyers at \^d. to 2d., for good 

 manufacturing. For fine, 3|(7. was the price wanted, but no 

 sales were ett'ected. At the last auction, on the 29th, 134 

 barrels, all that was ofi'ered, were bought in at 1|(/. to 2d. 

 for fair manufacturing. 



SAESAPAEILLA. 



At the auction on September 9, large consignn:ent3 of 

 this drug were brought forward. Of grey Jamaica, there were 

 32 bales, which were disposed of at the following rates: 

 Is. \d. to Is. 2d. for fair, and \s. \d. for ordinary rough and 

 part dark: of 23 bales of native .lamaica, 1 bale, only, was 

 disposed of, at Is. for fair red, while 13 bales out of 19 brought 

 forward, of Lima-Jamaica, sold at Is. per ft. Two bales of 

 Honduras were bought in at 1.5. 8(i. per ft. On the 23rd, 

 native Jamaica was represented by 26 bales, and 14 were 

 sold at 10c?. to 11-Jc?. for dull red, and yellowish to fair red. 

 There was no grey Jamaica ofi'ered. At this auction, for a large 

 consignment, consisting of 123 bales of fair rolled Guatemala 

 character, which had arrived via Havre, Ghd. per ft. was 

 oflFered, and as the limit was 9(1, no sales were made. 



KOLA, LIME JCTIl'E, AND TAMARINDS. 



On the 8th, 13 bags of good dried Jamaica kola, 

 realized 'i\d. per ft. The same price was paid for 37 bags 

 of Ceylon. On the 22nd, 46 paclcages of good bold, bright, 

 dried Jamaica were offered and all sold, at from 32(/. to Ad. 

 Three packages of small African quarters fetched Sid per lb. 

 Raw West Indian lime juice was brought forward on the 15tb, 

 realizing I.s. od. for fine pale, and Is. 2d. per gallon for fair 

 pale. On the 29th, the quotation for West Indian concen- 

 trated lime juice was £17 5s., and a fair business is said to 

 have been done, though the price was considerably high. 

 Of tamarinds, on the 8th, 17 packages of fair, rather 

 dark, Barbados were otferedj 14s. in bond was the price 

 asked. 



