ToL. VIII. No. 199. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



399 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON 

 MARKET. 



Jlr. J. L. Jackson, A.L S., has forwarded the 

 foUowins^ report on the London drug and spice market 

 for the month of October : — 



A perfectly normal condition may be reported as that 

 ■which has ruled in ^Mincing Lane, with regard to drugs and 

 spices, during the month of October. In no one article has 

 there been any special interest evinced. A fair supply of all 

 articles coming within our special notice has been brought 

 forward, and the demand has also been on a similar scale: 

 the prices realized being also, for the most part, satisfactory; 

 as will be seen from the following details. 



GINGER. 



In the early part of the month, gingpr was but very 

 little in evidence, and even at the two concluding auctions on 

 the 20th and 27th, the demand was very slow and the sales 

 uninteresting; no Jamaica was offered, and there was a very 

 limited demand for other kinds. Of Cochin and Calicut, on 

 the 20th, some 280 packages were offered, and 110 disposed 

 of, at the following rates: brown rough Calicut 41»-. 6d., new 

 crop washed Cochin 42s. 6d., and old crop medium and 

 small 41s. &d. At 55s. to 56s. native cut, unsorted, was 

 bought in. At auction on the 27th, some 196 bags of fair 

 bright, rather wormy and rough Calicut, were sold, without 

 reserve, at 39s. 6(7. to 40s. per cwt. 



NUTME(iS, MACE ANI> PIMENTO. 



At auction on tlie 13th, there were large .supplies of 

 West Indian nutmegs, and sales were effected of 459 

 packages, Is. '2d. to Is. 5t/. being paidj for 63's and 58's, 

 and 3frf. to -ild. for 145's and 120's. But little attention has 

 been given to mace during the month: on the 27th sixteen 

 packages of West Indian were sold, fair to good palish, 

 realizing Is. 8d. to l.s. 9c?.; good reddish Is. 7d.; fair red 

 Is. 4(/. to Is. 5(7.; and broken Is. Id. At the first auction 

 on the 6th, some 197 bags of pimento were offered and 

 bought in at 2 W. per ft). A firmer tone prevailed at the 

 auction on the 13th, but all the offerings were bought in. At 

 the last spice auction on the 27th, no pimento was offered 

 but it was stated that fair quality was to be obtained at 2},d. 

 per lb. 



ARROWROOT. 



At the first spice auction on the 6th, .587 barrels of 

 good manufacturing St. Vincent were offered, and all bought 

 in at 2d. to 2|cZ. per ft). No further tjuotations have 

 occurred, but the position of the St. Vincent growers has 

 been discussed with reference to the unsatisfactory condition 

 of the arrowroot market. 



SARSAPARILLA. 



At the first drug sale on the 7th, the following offerings 

 were brought forward : grey Jamaica 2.5 packages Lima- 

 .Jamaioa 4, native Jamaica 32, Honduras 10, Guayaquil 5. 

 Of these, the whole 25 bales of grey Jamaica were disposed 

 of at Is. 2(7. per ft), for fair grey, and lOd. to Is. Id. for 

 rough to slightly dark and roughish; the 4 bales of Lima- 

 Jamaica were also sold at from 11(/. to l.«. for rough to fair, 

 while the 32 bales of native Jamaica were all bought, in at 

 from 10(/. to Is., according to quality. The whole of the 

 5 bales of the Guayaquil sold at 11c?., but not one of the 

 10 bales cif Honduras was disposed of, l.t. 5d. being the 

 price at which they were held. A fortnight later, namely on 



the 21st, 14 bales of grey Jamaica were oflered and sold, 

 fair fetching Is. 2d., and slightly coarse Is. Id. per ftx; 9 

 bales of Lima-Jamaica were also offered, and the whole sold 

 at Is. for fair, and lid. for roughish. Fourteen packages 

 of native Jamaica were offered, and 5 sold at from 10(/. to 

 11(7. for fair red. There were also brought forward at this 

 auction 37 bales of Guatemala, 16 of Mexican, and 10 of 

 Honduras, for which there was no demand ascl the whole 

 was bought in. 



KOLA, OIL OF LIME, LIME JUICE, ETC. 



At the first auction kola was reprasented by 31 pack- 

 age.s, 5 only of which sold, 2^d. per ft), being paid for 2 

 packages of Ceylon halves and quarters, of inferior mouldy 

 character; Id. per lb. was paid for 3 packages of smail 

 mouldy Grenada; 4c?. was the price asked for good 

 halves. (Jn the 20th, the offerings amounted to 38 packages, 

 of which 25 were sold, 3A(?. being paid for good bright 

 halves and S^d. for fair. A' single bag of fair small Trinidad 

 was disposed of at 2ld. per ft). Nineteen packages of oil of 

 lime were brought forward on the 6th, and 5 cases sold 

 at Is. 6d. Good West Indian distilled was held at Is. 8c?., 

 an offer of l.s. 7c?. being refused. A week later some 26 

 packages were brought forward, but all was bought in at 

 l.-:. Sd. per ft)., at which figure the article remained at the 

 end of the month. Some small sales were said to have been 

 effected at 5s. 9c?. per It), for West Indian hand-pressed oil. 

 At the auction of the 20th, it was stated that .some 400 

 packages of raw West Indian lime juice had arrived, but 

 there was no demand. Fair palish was bought in at auction 

 at l.s. 2(?. per lb. 



Rice in British Guiana. 



The last fortnightly report of Messrs. Sandbach, 

 Parker & Co., of Georgetown, on the rice industry of 

 British Guiana, dated November 2(i, 1909, gives 

 information as follows : — 



The weather during the fortnight has been fairly dry, 

 and suitable for reaping and milling. 



Milling is general throughout the colony, and shipments 

 to AVest Indian islands amounted to 3,800 bags during the 

 fortnight. 



Yield of paddy in some districts is reported to be very 

 poor, and shortage on last year's crop is anticipated. 



We quote to-day, f.o.b. Demerara, for good export 

 quality : — 



Nominally 17.s. 6(?. to 18s. 6d. per bag of 180 fti. gross. 

 16s. 3(?. to 17s. .3c?. „ „ „ 164 ft). „ 



The Inventor of the Reaper. 



A communication from the Editor of the Frairie Former 

 states that celebrations of the hundredth anniversary of the 

 birth of Cyrus Hall ilcCormick, the inventor of grain- 

 harvesting machinery, will be held on December 15, 1909, 

 at the College of Agriculture, in the L'niversity of Illinois. 



!McCormick was born in Virginia in 1809. His father 

 was a farmer, who had made attempts , to invent a grain- 

 cutting machine, but had failed. In 1834, the son obtained 

 a patent for a successful machine of the kind, and, four years 

 later, established a large manufactory in Chicago. His 

 invention was brought to English notice at the ' World'.s 

 Fair' of 1851, and later, it gained the Exhibition Medal of 

 the Iioyal Society. Little more need be said for this inventor 

 than that his efforts have rendered possible the cheap pro- 

 duction of the staple food of millions. 



