84 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Makch 19. 1910. 



WEST INDIAN FRUIT. 



THE STATE OF THE NUTMEG 



INDUSTRY. 



The Imperial Department of Agriculture has 

 recently received enquiries as to the prospects of dis- 

 posing of the essential and expressed oils of nutmeg at 

 remunerative rates. In response to these, informa- 

 tion has been obtained which is of more general 

 value, and the bulk of it is therefore published here. 



Firstly, as regards the demand for West Indian nutmegs 

 in the T'nited States of America, the position is summarized 

 in the following article which appeared in the Spive MM for 

 November 1908, p. 677 : — 



Although the ordinary consumer in this country [U.S.A.] 

 never heard of, or purchased, British West Indies nutmegs 

 under their name, still those articles are being sold to them, 

 mixed up with Singapore nutmegs. Owing to the small 

 demand in the United States for the British West Indies 

 nutmegs, because of their inferior qualitj", the importations 

 are exceedingly light, amounting to about 2,000 barrels per 

 annum. The nutmegs are shipped principally from Grenada 

 (which island is tlie heaviest producer of the entire group of 

 the British AVest Indies) to London, England. There they 

 are graded as to size, and mixed with Singapore nutmegs, 

 and then shipped to this market and sold under the 

 trade name of .Singapore nutmegs. The import mai'ket value 

 cf Ijriti.sh West Indies nutmegs is froni 10 to 20 per cent. 

 below the impcjrt price of Singapore nutmegs, according to 

 size and quality. 



The total production of nutmegs in the British AVest 

 Indies is so small that it is not taken into consideration in the 

 preparation of statistics here or abroad. Not until the qual- 

 ity of British West Indies nutmegs is improved by cultivation 

 can they be sold under their real name. 



Attention is also drawn to a tran.slation of an' article 

 bearing on the sulject generally, from De Indisr/u- Mircitur, 

 which appears in the next number of the S/iice Mill (Decem- 

 ber 1908, pp. 7I:950). The chief conclusions, due to 

 Dr. Treub, Director of the Botanic Gardens, Buitenzorg, 

 Java, reached in this, are : — 



(1) That the price obtained for nutmegs has been declin- 

 ing, with large fluctuations, for many years. This is shown 

 in the following table, which gives the prices, per ikilo, 

 obtained in Amsterdam for 110s to 11.5's, in cents, for Banda 

 nutmegs, since 1898 : — 



(2) It is difficult to trace the real cause of the lower 

 prices. It is not entirely due to overproduction, as is shown 

 by the following table, giving the total export (from otii<:ial 

 statistics) during the same years, from the Dutch East Indie.s, 

 which are the principal producers of the article :' — 



Kilos. 



1S98-9 1,889,772 



1899-1900 2,670,431 



1900-1 2,861,518 



1901-2 2,391,072 



1902-3 2,840,304 



1903-4 2,686,399 



1904-5 3,389,804 



1905-6 2,793,090 



(3) It is suggested that the fall in value of the product 

 is due to a smaller demand, consequent on a decreased eon- 

 sumption 2'X!^' rapita. 



(4) In considering any possible effects of increased 

 production, the exports from Java cannot have had much 

 influence on the result. This is shown by the table below, 

 compiled from the statistics of the Handelsvereeniging 

 (Commercial Society) of Batavia, Java, which shows the 

 share of that island in the total export from tlie Dutch East 

 Indies. It should be compared witli the table that has just 

 been given : — 



Kilos. 



1902 99,000 



1903 82,375 



1904 199,200 



1905 174,200 



1906 182,200 



1907 147,-500 



(5) As far as nutmeg tallow (or nutmeg soap) is con- 

 cerned, it appears that this is only used in the drug trade and, 

 to a certain extent, in the manufacture of perfumery. It is 

 not likely that the fall in price of this, in harmony with that 

 of nutmegs, would leid to such an increased demand as to 



