Vol. X. No. 248. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



351 



being sold at slightly reduced rates. 

 has been done in Pimento. 



Little or no business 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



DRUGS AND SPICES ON THE LONDON 



MARKET. 



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

 lowing report on the London drug and spice market, 

 for the month of (Jctober : — 



With the continued unsettled state of, the peace of 

 Europe, in the conflict that has arisen at the time of writing, 

 between Italy and Turkey, following so closely on the 

 Moroccan dispute, and the continued Industrial Strikes both 

 in England and on the Continent, it is not to be wondered 

 that the produce markets generally are in a state of dis- 

 organization; and when is added the effects of the long 

 drought of the past summer on vegetation, in causing 

 a serious diminution in all kinds of products both of foods 

 and drug.«, it was to be exjjected that prices would in many 

 cases advance, which has been the case w;th many well- 

 known articles of food and medicine. Of West Indian 

 products the scarcity of lime juice has, perhaps, attracted 

 the greatest amount of attention, and a good supply put 

 upon the market at once, would meet with a ready sale at 

 good prices. 



GIXGEE. 



At the first spice auction on Septemlier 6, ginger was 

 represented by 100 bags only, of .Japanese, which were .sold 

 at 37s. for partly limed. On the 20th of the month, 793 

 packages of Cochin were brought forward, part of which 

 was sold, small limed fetching 70s., limed tips ')^s. and 

 brown rough 40s. At the last auction on the 27th, 16 

 packages of Jamaica were offered and sold, medium, part 

 washed, fetching 53s. Qd. and ordinary 52.s-. per cwt. 

 Other kinds were bought in. 



NU'lMErtS, M.\CE \ND ITMENTO. 



At the first sale on the 6th, some 200 packages of 

 West Indian nutmegs were brought forward and sold 

 at", the following rates; 57's Is., 6y's Shd., 7rs to 74's 

 Q^d. to 7c?., 82's to 88's ad. to 5id', 125's to 143's 

 4|(?. to 4|rf. A week later; the offerings of West 

 India amounted to 238 packages, most of which were 

 disposed of at slightly varying rates, 55's fetching Is. 3d., 

 59's Is., 64's to 67's &ld. to Ik/.; 8.">'s to 89's 5^^ 

 to 5|d; 12S's to 132's -i^ri. to 5|d. Eighty-four pack- 

 ages of eastern nutmegs were also brought forward, 63's 

 to 66's fetching 2fd; 76's to 86's 2:H; 102's to ISO's Ud. 

 to 2|(Z.; ihl. was paid for limed 95's to 145's. At the later 

 sales, namely on the 20th and 27th, respectively, the offerings 

 amounted to 43 packages of West Indian, 34 cases of 

 eastern, 23 packages of West Indian, .and 41 packages 

 of eastern, all of which were sold at similar rates. Mace was 

 represented at the first spice auction by 00 packages, 2s. Id. 

 to 2s. Sd. being paid for ordinary, and Is. lOd. to 2s. for 

 broken. A week later, 59 packages of West Indian were 

 offered and sold at 2s. to 2s. 5c7,, and 28 packages of eastern 

 at 2s. 5(7. to 2s. 6d., part wormy fetching 2s. -Id. At the last 

 sale, mace was in very little demand, a few packages only 



ARROWROOT. 



Forvy barrels of St. Vincent arrowroot were offered at 

 auction on the 6th of the month, part of which was sold, 3](?. 

 per B). being paid for fine. A small quantity of Bermuda was 

 also offered and bought in at Is. 7d. per B). A fortnight later, 

 15 barrels of St. Vincent were brought forward and disposed 

 of at the above mentioned rates. Seven kegs of Bermuda 

 were bought in at Is. Gd. to Is, 8d. per ft)., while 50 cases of 

 good Natal found buyers at 9d. per ft. 



S.ARS.\P.\RILLA. 



At auction on the 6th of the month, the offerings were 

 grey .Jamaica 2 bales, Lima-.Jaraaica 12 bales, and native 

 Jamaica 17 bales; the whole of the two former were sold, the 

 grey Jamaica fetching Is. Id. per ft. for fair, and the Lima- 

 Jamaica from \\d. to Is. for part rough, and Is. Id. for fair. 

 Only 13 bales of the native -Jamaica found buyers, part fetch- 

 ing Is. Id for good red, lOd. for fair, and 8'?. to Sid. for dull 

 red mixed; the other part, composed of 5 bales, was sold at 

 lOd. for dull red and yellow mixed, and 7M. for common grey 

 mixed. At the second drug auction on the 21st, the offerings 

 were: grey Jamaica 6 bales, I.>ima-.Jamaica 4 bales, and native 

 Jamaica 13 bales. The whole of the grey Jamaica was sold, fair 

 fetching Is Sd. per ft. and ordinary dark Is. 7d. The 4 bales 

 of Lima-Jamaica found buyers at Is, 1(/. per ft.— a slight 

 advance on previous prices. Only 4 bales out of the 13 of 

 native Jamaica offered were disposed of; two of them were of 

 dull yellow, and realized Ihd. per ft,; the other two were of 

 fair red, slightly mixed, for which \0d. per ft. was paid. 



LIME JUICE, TAMARINDS AND KOLA. 



The scarcity of lime juice has lieen commented upon in 

 our introductory note. In the week ending September 16, 

 it was reported that for fair pale raw West Indian, 2s. 3d. to 

 2s. 9d. per gallon was quoted, but that it had been purchased 

 as low as 2s. At the end of the month, a few puncheons of 

 good pale raw were stated to have been sold at Is. lid. per 

 gallon. In the middle of the month Barbados tamarinds 

 were quoted at 15s. per cwt., and darkish Antigua at lis. 

 Towards the end of the mouth. Kola was represented by 

 a good supply of varial)le quality. Fresh, but mouldy 

 Jamaica realized only ]d. per lb, while for fair, l)iit part 

 mouldy, 3c?. per ft. was paid. For sound dried halves 'i'^il. 

 was refused, a quantity of wormy and mouldy West African 

 was offered at 2hd. per ft. but out of a total of 100 pack- 

 ages, 3 only were disposed of. 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



The Secretary of State for the Colonies has approv- 

 ed of the appointment of Mr. Harold Waterland as 

 Assistant Master at the Dominica Grammar School. 

 The work of Mr. Waterland, who has already entered 

 upon his duties, is that of Agricultural and Science 

 Master at the School. 



The Report an the HI 11 Census of Grenada, which has 

 just been issued, shows that the population of the Colony, on 

 April 2 last, was 66,750 as compared with 63,438 in 1901. 

 The reason for the small increase is given as the very large 

 exodus of the labouring class to the Panama Canal Zone, in 

 recent years. 



