Vol. IX. No. 209. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



143 



colour of the spores formed in the cup, and the consequent 

 colour of the inside of the cup, is usually brown, or reddish- 

 brown. 



These fungi produce, in all, four different types of spore, 

 though some species may show only two types, or even only 

 one type. The description of these four types, together with 

 the dirterence in the host plants on which they occur, and one 

 or two similar points of interest will be described in the next 

 number of the Aijrifiiltar<it Xeirs. 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON 



MARKET. 



Mr. J. K. Jackson, A.L.S., has forwarded the 

 following report on the London drug and spice market 

 for the month of March : — 



The general condition of the markets in drugs and .spices 

 during the month of March has been quite of a normal 

 character, the only exceptions being in cocaine and rubber. 

 The first article has been disposed of at considerably leduced 

 rates, due, it is said, to two makers selling at undercutting 

 prices, which has led to others falling into line-a result of 

 the decreasing demand for this drug. Though India rubber 

 is an article outside the scope of our i-eview, we cannot refrain 

 from mentioning it, occupying, as it does, an immense amount 

 of attention, little, if anything, short of excitement; ll.s. O'/. 

 to lis. fild. per lb. being quote<l for hard fine Para, at the 

 time of writing. 



CINliER. 



The market in this article has been dull throughout the 

 month, there being but very little demand. Xo offerings of 

 Jamaica have been made, and for most other kinds the otierings 

 have been bought in. At the first spice auction on March 2, 

 393 packages of Cochin and Calicut were brought forward, 

 all of which were bought in at firm prices— unsorted Calicut 

 at 62.*., rough brown Calicut at 52.s-.. and good bright washed 

 Cochin at bis. A week later the otierings amounted to ISO 

 bags of bold, bright, washed Calicut, and l.'JS bags of good 

 plump, washed Cochin. The prices at which they were bought 

 in were 48s. and 50s., respectively. Again on the 16th, a large 

 quantity of (Cochin and Calicut vi'as offered, the principal 

 portion of which was disposed of privately; good bright 



washed Cochin was bought in at 



6rf. 



NUTMKCS, MACB .^ND PIMENTc). 



At the spice auction on the IGth, West Indian nutmegs 

 ■were steady, 148 jiackages were offered, and sold at slightly 

 increased rates. At the same sale 32 packages of West Indian 

 mace were disposed of at the following rates — fair pale 2.s-. \d. 

 to 2.s\ 2c?. per lb., palish l.s. 10c?., fair red l.v. 8-?., to l.s. 9c?., 

 dark red Is. (k?. to l.<. 7c?., and broken l.i. b<l. There was 

 very little demand for Pimento during the month, a few bags 

 only being sold at iyi. per lb. 



S.-VESAPAEILLA. 



The first .oale of this drug took place on the 10th, when 

 there were ofi'ercd of Lima-.laniaica 25 bales, 6 of which were 

 sold at \\d. to Is. per lb. for fair (piality; of native Jamaica 

 56 bales were offered and 16 sold at prices of 10|c?. for 

 fair red and Wd. and 9ci. for other qualities. Of 32 bales 

 of Guatemala character, none were sold, 9'/. being the 



reserved price. Honduras was repre.sented by 4 bales, all of 

 which was bought in at Is. 6c?. per lb , while 7 bales (all that 

 were ofTered) of coarse Mexican realized from 4c?. to 4ic^. 

 per R). 



At the auction on the 23rd, the following oft'erings were 

 made : Grey .Jamaica 2 Itals.*, both of which were disposed 

 of at \s. 3d. Of native .Jamaica, 12 bales were ottened and 

 4 sold, fair red and tawny fetching from IGc?. to lie?., and 

 dull mixed and yellow 8.1<?.; 15 bales of Lima-Jamaica were 

 offered and bought in, and of 10 bales of Mexican, 3 were 

 .sold at 4ic?. per lb. 



on. OK T.I.MK, I.IMK .lUlrK, AUIiOW l;r m it, rA.\rAKINDS, ETr. 



West Indian distilled oil of lime, at the beginning of 

 the month, re.dized l.<. 6'/. per lb. for good, and 5s. 9 ?. to 

 6.<. for hand pressed, prices which ruled throughout the month. 

 < )f lime juice, concentrated West India fetched £1S 5s. at 

 the beginning of the month, but later advanced to £1S 10s., and 

 at the close of the month to £18 15s. ; Is. per gallon was the 

 quotation for good |iale raw West Indian juice. Little or no 

 interest has lieen shown in arrowroot. .\l)out the middle of 

 the month some 50 liarrels of miinufacturing St. Vincent 

 were offered and all bought in at 2c?. jier lb. At the drug 

 auction on the 10th, a single barrel of West Indian tamarinds 

 sold at OS. per cwt., duty paid. Kast Indian were offered at 

 lis. 9(?. At the same sale, 14 baskets of good Java Cassia 

 Fistula were ottered and bought in at 20.s. per cwt. 



A MEANS FOR PREPARING PARA RUBBER. 



The Jtjainal d' A;/rirultuie 7'/ oy/fic/e contains, in a recent 

 number, an account of a method known as the Puriib process 

 for coagulating the latex of lleiva lirdxiliensis. Purub is 

 a contraction of the words 'pure rnbl)or', and is an invention 

 brought out by Dr. .San<lmann. 



The process consists in the addition of water to the fresh 

 latex, to which, after a fine cloth hiis liceii passed through it, 

 there is added a solution of Purub of 1 percent, strength, the 

 mixture being stirre<l. After this has been allowed to stand 

 for several hours, the rubber, which has collected on the surface, 

 is skimmed off, and as much of the water pressed out of it as 

 possible. Prepared in this way, it is soon ready for dispa'.ch 

 from the estate. 



The active agent in the coagulation is hydrofluoric acid. 

 This may be replaced by a 10-per cent, solution of hydro- 

 Huosilicic acid at the rate of 5 c.c. of the solution to each 

 litre of the raw latex. Tlie acid salts of the.se acids, such as 

 [lotassium and sodium Huoride, potassium, sodium or zinc 

 silicortuorides, either in the solid state or in solution, may be 

 employed for the purpose. 



The chief advantage of thisjirocess is to reduce consider- 

 ably the amount of impurities in the rubber; these are retained 

 to a great extent by the settlement of the heavier among them 

 during the process of coagulation. In addition to this, 

 hydrofluoric acid, being an antiseptic body, kills all putrefact- 

 ive germs; rubber prepared by its aid never becomes 

 viscous. Smoked rubber possesses this characteristic as well, 

 but the smoking process adds impurities to it, and makes it 

 black in colour. In the Purub process, this is all avoided, 

 and there are the additional advantages that it is more 

 speedy and requires less labour. There are other advantages, 

 too, in that all injurious organisms are destroyed, even in 

 the interior of the coagulated ma.ss, and there is no need to 

 dry the rubber — a fact that is in accordance with Bamber's 

 opinion, that rubber is better for a water content of 9 to 10 

 per cent. 



