Vol. XI. No. 272. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



319 



A peculiar point about these secondary swellings is that, 

 no matter in what part of the plant they form, they 

 have the same structure as the part in which the primary 

 tumour arose. Thus a secondary tumour in a leaf that has 

 originated from a primary stem tumour shows a stem 

 structure, not a leaf structure; while a primary tumour 

 in a leaf does not possess a stem structure. These galls 

 resemble animal cancers in their unlimited growth, in the 

 fact that they contain the tissues proper to the organ in 

 which they arise, and in the formation of secondary galls 

 with the structure of the part in which the primary growth 

 was formed. In animals the secondary tumours are not 

 connected to the primary by definite strands, but are formed 

 by the migration of a cell or cells of the primary tumour 

 to another part of the body. This difference is probably 

 due to the nature of the host and is not dependent upon 

 any essential differences in the nature of the swellings 

 themselves. 



The causative bacteria inhabit the interiors of certain of 

 the cells of the tumour often in small numbers only. They 

 are not to be found in the intercellular spaces or in the 

 interior of the vessels of the wood. Their presence stimulates 

 the cells to rapid division, and by the growth of the tumour 

 strands they are transferred to ditf'ereut parts of the host. 

 They have been isolated in pure culture from the secondary 

 as well as the primary tumours, and in one instance from 

 a tumour strand. Inside the cells they are in an unhealthy 

 condition, probably partly because of the accumulation 

 around them of their own poisonous secretions which are 

 very possibly also responsible for the stimulus causing the 

 division of the cells of the host. When this division occurs, 

 nuclear sub.stances from the host cell nucleus are liberated 

 into the protoplasm and these revive the activities of 

 the bacteria. Their unhealthy condition in the host 

 explains their originally slow growth on culture media, 

 and may account for the difficulty of staining them 

 there by the usual stains, though they stain readily when 

 obtained from an artificial culture. Their few numbers and 

 the difficulty of staining them, combined with their slow 

 original growth on culture media inoculated with tumour 

 tissue, accounts for the long time that their discovery has taken. 

 Dr. Smith urges that possibly the same causes operate in the 

 case of animal cancers and explain the general acceptance of 

 the view that these diseases are not due to the presence of 

 foreign organisms in the cell. He urges that the crown 

 gall presents so close an analogy to animal cancer that it is 

 only reasonable to believe that the latter may well be due 

 to the presence in the proliferating animal cells, or in some 

 of them, of a definite foreign organism probably a bacterium, 

 but not necessarily the same as that found in crown gall. 



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 August 1912: — 



The month of August, notwithstanding that it is in the 

 height of the holiday season, and usually a dull one for 

 business in London, was an exception this year, a slight 

 reaction having set in after the severe depression of the ten 

 weeks strike of dock labourers, week by week things have 



been slowly shaping themselves into normal conditions and 

 as the holidays end it is expected that there will be a satis- 

 factory revival of trade in drugs and chemicals, many of 

 which have, during the month under review advanced in 

 prices. 



The following details refer to the ordinary West India 

 imports. 



GlNCiER. 



In consequence of the holidays there were no spice 

 auctions held till the 14th of the month, when the offerings 

 were small, with a very slow demand, 48.?. to 49s. per cwt. 

 was paid for eight barrels of good ordinary, but mouldy 

 .Tamaica, 44-5 bags of Cochin were offered and only 30 sold 

 at 35.<. per cwt. for washed slightly wormy. On the 28th 

 some 906 bags of Cochin were brought forward, part of 

 which .sold at 30s. per cwt. for common wormy rough, 

 a further 200 bags of washed rough wormy were disposed of 

 at 33s. to 33.S. Qd. per cwt. 



NUTMEGS, MACE, PIMENTO AND AEROWROOT. 



At the auction on the 14th, nutmegs were in good 

 supply, as many as 6-50 packages of West Indian being 

 offered and all sold at an advance of Is. 4(1 per lb. on previous 

 rates, Gl's to Tl's fetching 'id. to lOcL, 72's to 82's Id. to 

 7hd., 84's to 94's 6hd. to lid., 96's to 106's 6A(/. to 7hd., 

 12rs to 131's Qd. to Id.; 38 cases of Java limed were also 

 offered and sold, 60's to 70's fetching 7hd. to Sd., 80's to 

 90's 6^,</. to 7d., and lOO's 5'ld. A week later 52 bags of 

 West Indian were offered and sold at the following rates: — 

 66's to 76's, 7(/. to 7 id., 77's 7d, lOl's to I14's 6hd and 

 136's Gd. At the last auction on the 28th, 15 packages of 

 West Indian were offered and all disposed of at similar rates. 

 Mace was represented at auction on the 14th of the month 

 by 253 i>ackages of West Indian, the bulk of which sold at 

 steady rates, 2s. Sd. to 2»-. 9d. being paid for fine bold pale, 

 2s. &d. for good pale reddish, 2s. 3d. to 2s. 5d. for fair to 

 good palish, 2s. Id. to 2.s. M. for fair to good red, and 

 Is. lOd. to 2s. Id. for broken. Pimento has been quiet 

 throughout the month. On the 14th some 30 barrels of 

 St. Vincent arrowroot were offered and sold at 3|(i. per lb. 



SARSAPAEILLA. 



In consequence of the drug auctions not being resumed, 

 on account of the holidays, till the 22nd of the month the 

 offerings of sarsaparilla on that date were very large, grey 

 Jamaica being represented by 60 bales of which 43 were 

 sold, native Jamaica 29 bales and 26 sold, and Honduras 1 1 

 bales, none of which found buyers. Fair grey Jamaica 

 fetched 2.s. 3d. per lb., part rough 2s. 2</., and Is. 9d to 

 Is. lid was paid for country damaged and mouldy, of the 

 native Jamaica good red realized is. 3d , dull to fair red Is. 

 to Is. '2d. middling 1 Id and inferior mixed 8^d. to 9id. per B). 



LIME .JUICE, TAMARINDS AND KOLA. 



At the first sale on the 14th, lime juice appeared after 

 being held up by the strike to the extent of 300 packages 

 from Dominica, 2s. to 2s. \d. per gallon were the quoted 

 prices for raw West Indian. A week later five puncheons of 

 fair palish raw West Indian were disposed of at Is. 6d. per 

 gallon. At the end of the month good pale raw West Indian 

 was quoted at Is. 9d. per gallon, the demand for it had con- 

 siderably lessened on account of the prevalence of cold and 

 wet weather. At auction on the 22nd, three barrels of dry 

 West Indian tamarinds were brought forward and reserved 

 at 7s. per cwt. Fair quality, in bond was quoted at r2s. to 

 14s. At this auction 25 bags of fair dried kola from the 

 ^Vest Indies were offered and bought in at 7rf. 



