Vol. XV. No. 377. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



335 





at auction on the ilth of the month by 170 pa«kagf;i), 22 

 only being vjld, 1 7«. bf-ing paid for wormy and husky nut*). 

 At thin auction aI«o 47 packagCH of annat^^ w;ed were offered 

 but failed to find any buyers. Fourtcin piokageii of 'Ja««ia 

 J-"iHtula ij<'xJk were aJso offered with a like rexult, Arrowro<^<t 

 wan (Stated at the beginning of the month U) b<; in increasing 

 demand, manufacturing St. Vincent fetching from 2j</. to 

 .3d. r>er lb. 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON 



MARKETS. 



Mr. .J. R. .Jackson, A.L..S., ha.s forwarded the follow- 

 ing report on the Ix^ndon drug and .spice rnarketa 

 for the month of August: — 



The month of August, even in peace time.s, is alway.s 

 a slack bu8ine.s.s month, a.s it i.s indeed the holiday month of 

 the year. And though, on account of the war, no general 

 holiday ha.s been observed, business has more or le.ss been 

 affected in the drug and spice trades, as well as in other 

 branches of commerce. But though the quantities of 

 individual products dealt with have been restricted, prices 

 generally have shown but little change since our last report. 



XUTMEOS, .MACE ASU PIME.NTO. 



At the spice auction on August 16, 267 packages of 

 West Indian nutmegs were offered and gold at an advance on 

 previous rates of Id. to l^d. per h. .-^t the same auction I.jO 

 packages of ^Vest Indian mace were also offered and gold at 

 advanced prices. Pimento also realized higher prices at the 

 beginning of the month, but at auction on the 16th it was 

 slightly easier; 56 bags of fair quality being disposed of at 

 from 2|c?. to 2lcl. At the close of the month, however, it 

 was stated that some sales had been effected at 3^d. per tt». 



.SAE-SAPAKILLA. 



At the auction on the 24th of the month sarsaparilla 

 •was fairly well represented by 6 bales of grey .Jamaica, .37 of 

 ■native .Jamaica, !•!> of Lima, and 20 of Mexican. All the 

 grey .Jamaica was disposed of at 1 ». 1 Od, per flj. (){ the 37 

 bales of native Jamaica 9 bales only met with purchases at 

 10c?. per B). for palLsh red, and partly sea damaged, and 'Jd. 

 for inferior yellowi<!h, and grey: "i the 1-5 bales of Lima, 2 

 only were sold, fetching Is. Id. per ft)., none of the Mexican 

 was disposed of. 



CITRIC ACID, :.l.Nit. OIL, LIME .lUICE, KOLA, CA.-HEW NUTS, 

 AXX.VTTO, CAS.SIA FLSTULA ASD ABEOWEOOT. 



At the beginning of the month citric acid was firm at 

 3«. 2d. per ffi>., bat towards the middle of the month it had 

 dropped to 3«. to 3^. Id., at which rate it rtands at the time 

 of writing. At the beginning of the month also West Indian 

 distilled oil of lime was offered at 8«., and hand pre.srsed at 0«. 

 per lb. at which figures it stands at the time of v^'riting. In 

 the middle -jf the rr.onth raw -Jamaica lime juice was in fair 

 demand at 3». Oc? and Dominica at 3«. per gallon. Kola was 

 in good supply at auction on the 24th of the month when 

 116 f/ackages 7,'ere offere'l, and only 26 sold, fair Ceylon 

 halves fetching -3W. i^er Ih. and 9 bags of West Indian 

 6i. to 6|<f. per 'b. Cashew nuts were also well represented 



The following extract from an article on the I'ort^ 

 of London, in the J'inui Tr<jjh Supf/kiioenl, will \i<t 

 of interest in xinnexion with our usual monthly artid* 

 on dnigs and spices. 'Hie article says: 'The drug de[jart- 

 ment at the Authority- warehouse in fJutler street is din- 

 playing exceptional activity as the result of the war. An 

 increasing quantity of high class drugs is arriving from 

 abroad, and in dealing with these the experts are very much. 

 in evidence. That their duties are efficiently performed if*, 

 testified by the fact that it is most unusual for consignees t'> 

 carry out for themselves these sorting and grading o[x;ration». 

 In no other [jf>rt of the country is such care and skilled 

 knowle/Jge applied Uj such an extra'jrdinary variety of 

 commo<lities as in the I'ort of London. Indeed, the excel- 

 lence of this side of the Port's work is tra/litional, and 

 vast quantities of go'>'JH are c<^msigned to London simply 

 to secure the benefit of the liall mark" which the examina- 

 tion and classification by the Authority confers.' 



THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURE IN 

 JAMAICA. 



The adverse circuinstanf«s that liave affwted the banana- 

 industry, the staple industry of .Jamaica, during the past threa 

 or four years has led the Dirti:U)t of tlie Department of 

 Agriculture, in his annual report for the year ended March 31, 

 1016, to discuss possible changes in the industries of th* 

 island which may occur in the future. The occurren';e only 

 recently of another hurricane that has resulted in the com- 

 plete destruction of the banana crop, makes the remarks of 

 the Director even more pertinent, and points to the grava 

 economic c^>ndition in which the Lslaod has been placed. 



In the course of his observations the JJirector points 

 out that during 191.''-16, shortage of tonnage was severely 

 felt particularly, as bananas require a large amount of shipping 

 in proportion to the sale value of this prrxJuct. Jianana. 

 planters have sutfer'^'l such severe losses that the mortgaging 

 of estates is bec^^ming general and many are considering 

 the revision of th"; major industry, bananas, in favour of 

 sugar. The prospects tefore the expansion of the cane-sugar 

 industry in .Jamaica have U-en shown through an enquiry of 

 the West India Committee to be very great; and the fact 

 that this crop Ls largely resistant Uj the effects of hurricane of 

 moderate intensity should lend encouragement tr> the idea of 

 extending the area under this crop. The scheme is supported 

 by the fact that the demand for .Jamaica rum in likely to 

 extend as a result of its ase in the British forces. 



As regarrJs cacao acd coco-nuts, during 191-J-16, it ijj 

 stated that the former fetched high prices, while coco-nut."* 

 have been in good demand. Logwood has been in great 

 demand at very lucrative prices. An enfxmraging tra/Je in 

 high class .Jamaica cattle with Cuba develope^l during th«> 

 year, and some of the leading breeders of draught and beef 

 cattle exported to Cuba valuable consignments of siud 

 animals. 



