Vol. V. No. 104. 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



127 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



Drugs and Spices in the London Market. 



The following report on the London drug and 

 ■spice market for the month of February', has been 

 received from Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S. : — • 



Thougli the business in drugs and spices has not been 

 very brisk during the month of February, there has been an 

 indication of a general imiirovement in trade, and an upward 

 tendency in some well-known drugs, none of which, however, 

 affect the West Indies except, perhaps, the continued scarcity 

 of grey .laniaica and Linia-.Jamaica sarsaparilla, both of 

 which remain extremely scarce. 



GINGER. 



At the early sales in the month, no Jamaica was 

 offered, and of Cochin and Calicut, there were but small 

 •supplies, and few sales were effected. On the 14th. of 

 the month, 9.5 packages of .Jamaica were offered, and bought 

 in at from 41.s. to 55s. Fair washed rough Cochin was 

 bought in at .32s.; privately rough Calicut was dis[iosed of at 

 27s. 6d. to 2Ss., and small medium native cut at from 44s. to 

 46s. On the 2 I st., still no .Jamaica was offered, but nearly 

 1,000 packages of Cochin and Calicut were put up, and 175 

 bags were sold previously to the sale. Medium cut Cochin 

 was bought in at 65s., small cut at 50s., native cut at 

 45s. to 50s., and good bold rough Calicut at 35s. On the 

 last day of the month, 20 barrels of Jamaica were offered, 16 

 of which sold at 60s. for good middling, and 50s. to 54s. for 

 good ordinary. Ninety bags of Cochin were disposed of, 

 ordinary washed rough Cochin being bought in at 27s., 

 native cut at 44s., and limed Japanese at 26s. 



XUTMEGS, MACE, AXD PIMENTO. 



At the first sale on the 7th., nutmegs had slightly 

 advanced over the previous month. A week later, the 

 market was firm, an advance of '2d. to 3(/. being paid 

 privately, owing, it was said, to the shortage in the crops 

 both in the East and West Indies. Little or no change 

 occurred to the end of the month. !Mace was very firm at 

 the beginning of the month, and at the sale on the 14th. but 

 little was offered. Good West Indian was quoted at 2s. to 

 2s. 4c?.; fair. Is. 8J. to Is. lOd.; and ordinary, Is. 6(7. per lb. 

 At the concluding sales no change occurred. Of pimento, 

 there is but little to report. Fair, mixed with a few blacks, 

 was quoted at 2gf/., and grey at '2\d. per Bi. 



AEROWEOOT. 



At the first .sale on the 7th., 370 barrels of St. Vincent 

 were offered and bought in at 2^fZ. to 2|(7. per lb. for fair to 

 good manufacturing. A week later, some small sales were 

 made at 2d. per lb. On the 28th., there was a better demand, 

 the quotations being 2d. for good manufacturing St. Vincent 

 at auction, and 2(7. to 2Jc7. at private sales. Good Natal in 

 cases was bought in at 4i(7. 



SARSAPARILLA. 



At the auction on the 1st., higher prices were demanded 

 than in the previous month. Of grey Jamaica, only 1 1 bales 

 were offered and disposed of at Is. 9c7. for good grey fibrous 

 to partly rough. Is. Sc7. being paid for sea-damaged. For 

 good Honduras Is. 1(7. was refused. Is. 6(7. being the lowest 

 price fixed. A week later, the small quantity of grey 

 Jamaica in hand was firmly held at Is. 10f7. At the auction 

 on the 15tli., the extreme scarcity of genuine grey Jamaica 

 was emphasized by the fact that as much as 2s. per lb. was 

 asked for it, besides which there was but little or no Lima- 

 Jamaica offered. Of native Jamaica, only 12 bales were put 

 up, all of which were sold at from 10c?. to 11(7. for pale 



yellow to red, ])art of which was sea-damaged. At the last 

 auction on the 22nd., it was reported that 12 bales of native 

 Jamaica were all that had arrived during the week, and that 

 the Crutched Friars warehouse was absolutely empty both of 

 grey Jamaica and Lima. 



OIL OF ORANGE, OIL OF LIME, MUSK SEED.S, KOLA, 

 TAMARINDS, AND OR.VNOE PEEL. 



Of other West Indian products that have appeared in 

 the market during the month, may be mentioned oil of 

 orange from Jamaica, of which 4 barrels of hand-pressed 

 sweet orange were disposed of at 7s. 7(7. per lb., and 1 barrel 

 of bitter at 6s. 8t7. At the close of the month, good bitter- 

 .Jamaica orange oil in barrels was offered, and disposed of at 

 from 8s. to 8s. 3(7. per B). Oil of lime at the auction on the 

 14th. was reported scarce, only 2 cases of West Indian 

 distilled being offered, which realized Is. od. to Is. 6(7. 

 A parcel of musk seeds of fair flavour from St. Lucia was 

 offered in the early part of the month, and bought in at 5(7. 

 per K). In the middle of the month, 12 [)ackages of West 

 Indian kola nuts of fair quality were offered and sold at from 

 3|(7. to 3|(7. per lb. Orange peel of good quality has been 

 offered in large supplies during the month at prices from 

 Id. to 8(7. per lb. for fine bright thin Tripoli strips, but 

 there has been little or no demand. 



THE SELECTION OF OOOOA-NUTS. 



The following note on the proper selection of 

 cocoa-nuts has been taken from the Indian Review 

 for January last. It has reference to the annual report 

 for 1904 of the Curator of the Botanic Station in 

 the Seychelles, who makes the following interesting 

 observations on the difference between the cultivated 

 Ceylon and the uncultivated Seychelles trees: — ■ 



Loth belong to the same variety of plants, the only 

 difference being that one is selected with a view to increase 

 the size of the nuts, and to reduce the percentage of the 

 envelopes, and the other is left to itself without selection. 



The thickness of the meat has been found by examina- 

 tion to be the same in both nuts, but the diameter of the 

 Ceylon nut being about three times greater than the diameter 

 of that grown in the Seychelles, the former will produce 

 twice as much copra as can be obtained from the 

 Seychelles variety. This result has been obtained in the 

 •same soil, under the influence of the same climate, and is 

 entirely due to selection. 



It is probable that the trees which produce very small 

 nuts have less recpiirements than those which produce bigger 

 nut.s, and that varieties which produce big nuts normally, 

 will bear smaller nuts if they are starved out. But when 

 one thinks of the very trifling amount of plant food which is 

 removed from the soil by cocoa-nut cultivation, there seems 

 to be no difficulty in supplying the elements which are 

 required to a greater extent by the big-nut varieties. The 

 planter must choose between having small nuts without 

 trouble, and having double the crop by using proper methods 

 of cultivation and selection. 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture em- 

 barked on an official visit to St. Vincent in S.S. 'Oruro' 

 on Tuesday, April 3, and attended a special meeting of 

 the Agricultural and Commercial Society at the 

 Court House, Kingstown, on April 4. The Imperial 

 Commissioner returned to Barbados in S.S. ' Sibun ' on 

 Thursday, April 5. 



