August i, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



123 



disease, but he must agree with Mr. Oyer in his 

 fear that a cure would remain as undiscovered as in 

 tlie case of the potato disease. There was one poiut 

 of hope, lionever, imdthat was that, although the de- 

 velopment of the coffee leaf -disease was rapid, it was as 

 nothing as compari-'d to that of the potato-disease. The 

 development m the latter case look ouly as many 

 hours as days were occupied in the former. He 

 should like to know if the much-talked of Liberian 

 coffee resisted the disease, as it was evident the 

 Jamaica coffee experimented upon had failed to do so. 

 Mr. Ward, in reply to Mr. Oarruthers, said that he 

 could claim no immunity for Liberian coffee, but it 

 seemed to him that, owing to the large amount of 

 leaf carried by this variety, and the great size and 

 thickness of its leaves, it was able to support the 

 attack of the disease, and yet yield heavy crops of 

 berries at the same time. The President, Mr. Thomas 

 Criup, then thanked Mr. Ward for his paper, and the 

 meeting proceeded to the discussion of other topics. 

 I was glad to welcome Mr. Ward back to England, and 

 to observe that he showed but few signs of having 

 suffered from his temporary expatriation. — London Cor. 



THE SPICE TRADE IN THE UNITED STATES. 



Here, iu America, as in other advanced countries, 

 modern habits of living are developing a taste for 

 more Liighly-tlavoured foods, and from this comes an 

 increased use of spices. This is easily shown by the 

 statistics of imports of these pungent products of 

 tropical climes. The result has been that of late years 

 a large trade has been built up in importing, grind- 

 ing and packing spices for table use. New York city 

 leads in this dirtctiou. In addition to numbers of 

 firms located at this port, who bring these products 

 into the country, there are in New York alone twenty 

 spice mills. I'he important products forming the bulk 

 of the trade are pepper, gmger, nutmeg, cinnamon, 

 allspice, cloves, mustard, mace, cassi'i buds and < urry 

 powder. The first four named constitute the largest 

 quantity sold, and in the order named. London is 

 the spice market of the world, quarterly sales being 

 held there which determine prices for all localities. 

 The bulk of the spices used are raised in English 

 and East Indian colonies deriving their supplies largely 

 from Great. Britain. These are paid for by return 

 shipments of pepper, nutmegs, cmnamon, etc. For 

 this reason, London has heretofore monopolized 

 the trade in the best grades. Of late, however, 

 importations to the United States have been made 

 of high-class spices, and tbe time appears not far distant 

 when this country will do her purchasing of these com- 

 modities direct from first hands to « large extent. 



The growth of the trade in the United States is said 

 by good authorities to have been at least 10 per cent, 

 during the two years past. Since 1870 it has increased 

 in a marked degree. Some statisiics diawn from govern- 

 ment reports will illustrate this. During December 

 1880, the value of the imports of spices amounted to 

 §154,13.5 ; iu December the following year the total was 

 Sl'JtJ, 176. Again in January 1881, the month following 

 the first given above, the value of the spice imports 

 was SS7,&30, against §154,776 in January 1882. During 

 the seven months eu'iing January Slst, 1881, the value 

 was .$1, 216, 233, and in the corresponding seven months 

 ending January 31st, 1882, the total was Jl, 937, 944. 

 During the calendar year 1880 the value of spice im- 

 poris mto the United States was §2,241,150, and iu 

 the twelve moiitlis of 1881 it was §'.^,355,032. The last 

 totals given show the growtli of the trane iu the last 

 half of 1881 wlieu tlie total for the fiscal year ending 

 June oOth, ISSl, is recalled— §1,700,267. 



Ihe intricacies of the spice trade are due to the 

 numerous grades and the methods of packing, which to 

 the uninformed are the cause of doubt whether they re- 



present different qualities of the same product, or like 

 products from different localities simply. Broadly 

 speaking, the hatter is true. Thus, the four varieties 

 of cinnamon are known by the country where grown, 

 China, Saigon (French E. I. ), .lava and Ceylon; 

 cloves, Amboyna, Bencoolen and Penang ; ginger, 

 three grades from Jamaica, Cochin, African and Race. 

 Mace is from Penang, where nutmegs arc grown, 

 the former surrounding tlie latter, which grows some- 

 what similar in appearance to the walnut. Black pep- 

 per, which grows in a berry form, ujion vines which 

 ciing to trees, is procured at Singapore, Sumatra and 

 Batavia. White pepper is prepared from the black, 

 and is obtained in perfection from Tellicherry ; while 

 red pepper, which grows in poHs upon bushes, is im- 

 ported from Bombay and Natal, that obtained from 

 the latter place being the finest. Curry powder, 

 from the East Indies, long in use in England, has 

 only recently received extended favor in the United 

 States. The special prominence given to the spice 

 trade of late has been due somewhat to the contro- 

 versy going on among dealers relative to adulteration. 

 It usee! to be realily admitted by grocers that ground 

 spices sold by them were adulterated with harmless 

 ingredients. It was claimed that absolutely pure 

 spices would not prove acceptable to consumers owing 

 to their great strength. In this way a popular ac- 

 ceptance of the notion justitieil or permitted a very 

 large amount of adulteration. Recent efforts toward 

 reformation by grinding and selling absolute pure 

 spices have not only excited, as stated, considerable 

 feeling, but appear to have gone far toward show- 

 ing that pure spices are as necessary as pure food, 

 and far in advance of the adulterated article in the 

 matter of S.a,vor.—Bradstreet^s. 



THE PIASSAVA: OR ROPE-BEARING PALM. 

 (Prom " Notes on New Industries." By Arthur 



ROBOTTOM.) 



Although this article has been before the British 

 public for nearly 40 years, very few persons know 

 its origin, where ifc comes from, or how it grows. 

 Being one of the first to introduce it to the trade 

 throughout Great Britain, Germany, Fr.aiice, Belgium, 

 and Denmark, and having travelled through the 

 forests in Brazil where it is collected, a few remarks 

 from me may be of interest. The word piassava means 

 a rope-bearing palm, and the districts where the trees 

 thrive are Una, Taperoa Camniamu, Ileous, Cana- 

 verious Marayu, Morro San Paulo, Boypepa, Porto 

 Seguro, Rio de Contas, Belmonte Siinta Cruz, and 

 Cammandatuba, all situated in the Province of Bahia, 

 Brazil. The first-named district is about 80 miles 

 south of the town of Bahia and the forests extend to 

 the Rio Pardo. The fibre grows from the beard of the 

 leaf to the length of 10 to 14 feet. The natives climb 

 the trees, which are from 30 to 40 feet high, and make 

 a nick in the first leaf which bends so that the man 

 can stand on it with safety ; the piassava is then 

 cut down, each tree giving from 20 to 30 lb. 

 The natives have a great objection to cutting it 

 during rainy weather, as iu the wet season the 

 venomous snakes are known to conceal themselves 

 within the trees for shelter. After being cut down the 

 piassava is taken to the nearest village and cleaned in a 

 rough way by fi.King pieces of sticks in the ground 

 with sharp points, and the piassava is drawn through 

 this rude cleansing apparatus, so as to remove the 

 flossy fibre, the bulk of which is sold for consump- 

 tion in Brazil for making ropes to tie poles to- 

 gether, or lor making fences. &c., and in several 

 native villages that I have visited 1 found the huts 

 were made entirely of poles fastened together by this 

 piassava rope, and covered with leaves froni the 

 piassava tree. The fine and flossy part, which is 



