Vol. X. No. 24i. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



287 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON 



MARKET. 



Mr. J. R. Jiickson. A.LS., has forwai ded the fol- 

 lowing report on the London drug and spice market, 

 for the month of July : — 



The conditions of the markets in drugs and spices dur- 

 ing the month of July, though perhaps, not brisk, have been 

 quite of a satisfactory character, more e.«pecially when the 

 season of the year is taken into account, July being one of 

 the months when it is usual to think, if not believe, that 

 London is gmpt}', and the requirements of those that remain, 

 are more for cooling drinks tlian for drags The continued 

 prevalence of very liot and dry weather, even up to the time 

 of writing, has to some extent verified this. The following 

 are the details of West Indian products which have been 

 otTered at the fortnightly and weekly aiictions during the 

 month : — 



GINGER. 



Throughout the month this article has been slow of 

 sale. At the first auction on the 5th, some 700 jiack- 

 ages of Cochin were offered and bought in; 21 bags of bold 

 selected Calicut were sold without reserve at 84:.«. to 8.5s. per 

 cwt. On the 19th, the offerings amounted to 127 packages 

 of Cochin, all of which was bought in at 80«. per cwt. for 

 medium cut. No Jamaica has been offered. 



NDTMEG, M.\CE, AND PIMENTO. 



For nutmegs there has been a steady demand. At auction 

 on the -oth, 72 packages of West Indian were brought 

 forward and sold, 78's fetching 5|(/., 80's to 88's, old., 

 102's od. to old., and Ill's to 117's, 5d. Thirteen cases of 

 Pcnang were also sold without reserve. 65's fetching lid. 

 per lb. and 80's 6hd. to 7d. On the 19th there was again 

 a good demand; practically the whole consignment of nearly 

 700 packages of West Indian was disposed of at the follow- 

 ing rates— 53's Is., 57's 8d. to 1,«., 60's to Gl's 9d. to lid., 

 70's to 80's 53d. to 6ld., 108's to 112's S^d.. to 5^d. Mace 

 ■was also in steady demand during the month. At auction on 

 the 5th, 1 1 packages of West Indian were offered and disposed 

 of at 2«. Id. to 2s. 2d. per lb. for good fair reddish, and Is. lOd. 

 to 2s. for ordinary to fair. On the 19th, 160 packages of 

 West Indian were brought forward and sold, good fetching 

 2s 3d. to 2s. id., ordinary to fair 2.s. to 2.'-'. 2d., and broken 

 Is. S'7. to Is. lOd. per lb. Pimento was represented at 

 auction on the 19th by 75 bags, which met with a ready 

 sale at 2J(/. per lb. for fair. 



SARS.IPAEILLA. 



At the drug auction on the 13th, the offerings were as 

 follows: grey Jamaica 7 bales, Lima- Jamaica 14 bales, native 

 Jamaica 1 2 bales, and Honduras 2 bales. The whole of the 

 grey Jamaica and Lima- Jamaica were disposed of, also 1 1 

 bales out of the 12 of native .Jamaica. The Honduras found 

 no buyers; Is. Id. perTb. was paid for the grey Jamaica, which 

 was an advance of Id. per lb. on previous rate.s, notwith- 



standing the quality was slightly coarse. Part of the Lima- 

 Jamaica was quoted at Is 3'/. per lb. for good, and Is. per lb. 

 for ordinary coarse. Of the native Jamaica, lid. per lb. was 

 paid for dullish red, and Id. to 8r/. for common dull and grey 

 mixed. At the last sale on the 27th, grey Jamaica was repre- 

 .^ented by 15 bales, which were sold at Is. 8d. per lb. for good 

 fibrous, and Is. 7rf. for coarse. Seven bales of native Jamaica 

 were also offered, and 4 .sold. Is per lb. being paid for fair 

 red, lOd for mixed, and 9d to 9if/. for common mixed. 



LIME.IUIOE, KOLA, TAMARINDS. 



It was reported at the beginning of the month that the 

 supply of good quality was limited; a few packages of 

 fair have been sold at Is iJd. Later on, 4 barrels of what was 

 described as ' common biown Barbados' were offered, and 

 bought in at Is. 3d. per gallon, but they were afterwards dis- 

 posed of at this rate. Towards the end of the month there 

 were many enquiries for good raw West Indian, for which 

 Is. 9'i. has been paid, and as much as 2s. for refined. For 

 kola there has been a good demand throughout the month, 

 with scanty supplies. At the last auction, good dried West 

 Indian was held at 6d. per lb., an offer of d^d. being refused. 

 On the 12th of the month, 10 packages of dry Antigua tama- 

 rinds were sold at 9s. per cwt., and at the end of the month 

 8 casks of mouldy East Indian were sold without reserve at 

 5s. per cwt. 



ST. VINCENT AND THE VIRGIN ISLANDS 



AT THE CANADIAN NATIONAL 



EXHIBITION. 



Information has been received from the Honorary Secre- 

 tary of the Permanent Exhibition Committee, St. Vincent, 

 which shows that the exhibits sent by that Committee 

 to the Canadian National Exhibition, opened on August 

 26, 1911, were comprised in the following classes: sugar, 

 nine exhibits; cacao, twelve; rum, twelve; fancy molasses, five; 

 arrowroot, forty-seven; cas.sava starch, six; cassava meal, two; 

 arrowroot meal, one; sweet potato starch and yam starch, one 

 each; coffee, two; pigeon peas, one; honey, one; ornamental 

 seeds, four; Sea Island cotton, seven; and Sea Island seed- 

 cotton, three exhibits; making a total of 114. The exhibits 

 were provided chiefly by the owners of estates; they were also 

 supplied by private firms and by the Agricultural Department. 



With reference to the Virgin Islands, the Agricultural 

 Instructor reports that in this, the sixth year of representa- 

 tion of that Presidency at the Canadian National Exhibition, 

 the following samples were forwarded; cacao, coffee, sugar, 

 arrowroot starch, concentrated lime juice, preserved limes, and 

 rum, four exhibits each; cassava bread, one exhibit of eighteen 

 cakes; cotton, eight bags; and fancy work, twenty exhibits. 



A note in the Bulletin Ayricole of Mauritius, which is 

 published under the patronage of the Chamber of Agriculture 

 of that island, states in its issue for May last that the plant- 

 ings of Sea Island cotton in the Colony were generally show- 

 ing good resistance to the drought that was then prevailing; the 

 fields were green and the plants healthy. The statement is 

 made, further, to the efiect that there is little room for 

 doubting the power of this cotton to .survive untoward cir- 

 cumstances in the climate of Mauritius, especially as it has, 

 since its introduction, survived three cyclones and a drought, 

 almost without showing any tendency to fail. 



