Vol. XI. No. 270. 



THE AQKIUULTURAL NEWS. 



287 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON 



MARKET. 



Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S., has forwarded the fol- 

 lowing report on the London drug and spice market, 

 for the month of July 1912: — 



Though peace has been .somewhat restored amongst the 

 dock labourers, and Lirge numbers of men have returned to 

 work, it is estimated that .some five or six weeks will elapse 

 before trade assumes even its normal character, first on 

 account of the large accumulation of goods on the quays, 

 which have to be removed and properly stored, and next in 

 consequence of the summer holidays which are supposed to 

 empty London of its inhaliitants at the end of July and 

 throughout the month of August. It is anticipated, however, 

 that after the holiday season there will be a complete revival 

 of business in drugs and chemicals. In the matter of 



GINGER 



The market has been very quiet: at the first spice 

 auction on the .July 3, .526 bags and 37 cases of Cochin 

 and Calicut were offered, and all bought in at prices varying 

 from 42s, to 90s. per cwt.; 100 bags of Liberian were held 

 at 30s , and 1-tO bags of limed Japan also at 30s. A week 

 later 489 bags of Cochin and Calicut were again offered, 

 20 of which sold at 6.5s. ; 70 bags of brown rough Liberian 

 sold without reserve at 27s. Qd.; 11.5 bags of Japan were also 

 offered but found no buyers. On the 17th, 520 bags of 

 Cochin and Calicut were brought forward, of which only 190 

 were sold, 45s. being paid for cut tips, 55s. for fair cuttings, 

 and 40s. for small and medium washed. Bold cut Calicut 

 was all bought in at 90s. to 92s. 6d. At the la.st auction on 

 the 24th, none of the offerings found buyers. 



NUT.MEGS, MACE .VND I'l.MENTO. 



Nutmegs have maintained a quiet tone throughout the 

 month. At the first auction the offerings consisted of 34 

 boxes of Singapore, all of which were liought in at Is. for 65's 

 and l^d. for 80's. At the second sale on the 10th, 54 

 packages of West Indian were offered, part of which found 

 buyers at 8d. for 68's, 6ic£. to Id. for 74's to 82's, 5Jrf. for 

 95>, i)hd. to 6rf. for 102's to 112's and 5^r/. for 118's. 

 A week later, namely on the 17th, the very large supply of 

 360 packages of West Indian were offered, and all were dis- 

 posed of at the following rates; Is. for 54's, 5|d. to lOd. for 

 63's to 73's, bhd. to 6Jd. for 78's to 87's, Qd. to did for lOO's 

 to llO's and 6d for 140's. At the last .sale on the 24th. 27 

 packages of West Indian were disposed of, 82's to 95's fetching 

 6f/. to 6ir/., and 73 packages of Eastern partly sold at the 

 following rates: 7d. to lid. for 63's to 70's and b^d. to 6hd. 

 for lOO's to 105's. 



Mace, at the first auction on the 3rd of the month, was 

 represented by 31 packages of Eastern, none of which was 

 sold. A week later 3 barrels of West Indian realized 

 2s 3d. per R). for bright red broken and Is. lOd. for dark 

 inferior. Two cases of Penang somewhat mouldy, and 

 part wormy, sold at 2s. 3d per lb. At the auction on 

 the 17th 133 packages of West Indian were offered, and 

 sold at 2s. 3d. to 2s. id. per lb., good fetching 2s. ad. to 

 2s. 6d On the 24th 38 packages of Eastern were offered 

 and partly scld at 2s. 6rf. to 2s. 7d. per lb. Little has been 

 done in pimento or arrowroot, of the first-named at auction 



on the 3rd of the month, some 71 bags were brought forward, 

 and 40 sold at 2hd. per lb. At the first auction 10 half 

 barrels of Bermuda arrowroot were offered and bought in, 

 and on the 10th 18 cases of Xatal were offered and all 

 bought in. 



S.\RSAP.4KILLA. 



At the drug auction on the 11th no grey Jamaica was 

 offered, the only kind being native Jamaica, of which 12 

 bales were ott'ered, and 1 1 sold, yellow fetching 9d. yellow 

 and reddish mixed Is. and good red, part chumoy Is. '2d. to 

 Is. id per lb. On the 25th the offerings were as follows:— 

 grey Jamaica 20 bales and Lima-Jamaica 10 bales all of 

 which were disposed of, 26 bales of native Jamaica were also 

 brought forward and 21 sold. The grey Jamaica realized 

 2s. 3'/. per lb. and the native Jamaica Is. 3d. for good red, 

 Is. 1'/. for fair red, lOhd. for dull red mixed, and M. to 9\d. 

 for common yellow and grey mixed. The 10 bales of Lima- 

 Jamaica, realized Is. 9'^ to Is. lOd. per lb. for fair, part 

 slightly chumpy. 



CASSIA FISTDLA, LIME .lUIOE, TAMARINDS AND KOLA, 



At the beginning of the month Cassia Fistula was in 

 fair demand, the quotations for West Indian being 30s. and 

 for East Indian 28s. 



At the beginning of the month it was stated that fair 

 quantities of lime juice had been placed on the market 

 from stocks in London and Southampton and that the 

 absence of real summer weather had much decreased its 

 demand with a consequent drop in prices. Later on, owing 

 to the strike, large quantities accumulated at the docks but 

 were unobtainable. The prices quoted were from 2s. 3d. to 

 2s. ihd. according to quality. Quite at the end of the 

 month good pale raw Dominican was sold at 2s. per gallon. 



In the middle of the month 29 packages of fair, but 

 rather dry tamarinds from the West Indies were brought 

 forward and held at 13s , and on the 25th, 13 packages from 

 Montserrat were sold at from 13s. 3d. per cwt. in bond. 

 There is a demand for Kola nuts, and good prices have been 

 realized, some 20 packages were brought forward at auction 

 on the 25th, amongst them some whole dried St. Lucia, 

 which fetched 5d. per ft. 



The Sapucaia Nut.— The tree {Lecythis Za'mcajo) 

 producing the sapucaia nut is a native of Guiana, Brazil and 

 Venezuela, where it grows to a great size, and bears its seeds 

 in a large, very hard fruit provided with a lid at the top, 

 which, falling away when it is mature, lets the seeds escape. 

 These are what are commonly known as the nuts; they may 

 be obtained often in the fruit shops in England, where they 

 are sometimes sold in preference to the Brazil nuts, which are 

 borne by a plant {Bertholletia excelsa) belonging to the 

 same Natural (Jrder: as a matter of fact they possess a better 

 flavour — sweet and somewhat resembling that of the almond 

 — and are more easily digested than the Brazil nut. They 

 yield an oil which, like that of the last-mentioned nut, is 

 employed in South America as a food oil and for soap- 

 making; it shares with this oil the disadvantage that it 

 becomes rancid in a very short time. 



By the courtesy of the Trinidad Department of Agri- 

 culture, plants of L'jci/thfs Zabucajo have been supplied to 

 the Dominica Botanic Garden, and that Department is 

 co-operating further with the Commissioner of Agriculture 

 by sending plants of the same kind to other Botanic Stations 

 in the Lesser Antilles. 



