Vol. V. No. 108. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 



191 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



Drugrs and Spices in the London Market. 



The following report on the London drug and spice 

 anarkets for the month of April has been received from 

 Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S. : — 



The advent of the budget, which has been somewhat 

 ■delayed this year, has had the effect of diminishing trade 

 generally. The fortnightly sales have been practically non- 

 existent in consequence of the intervention of the holida3's. 

 They were resumed only on the 26th., after a lapse of 

 four weeks. The following are some of the quotations for 

 the principal drugs and spices during the month : — 



At the spice sales on the 4th. a quiet but firm tone 

 prevailed in Jamaica ginger, of which some 220 packages of 

 old crop were offered and bought in at the following rates : 

 for good common, 67s. to 68s.; dull to good washed, 70s. to 

 80s. Un.sorted native-cut Cochin fetched -I.ds.; and ordinary 

 wormy Calicut 29s. 6d.; some washed rough slightly wormy 

 was bought in at 33s. to 34s.; and limed Japan at 27s. 

 At the auction on the 11th. there was a small sale of fair to 

 good washed .Jamaica at 62s. to 69s.; and common at 60s. 

 A fair business was also done privately in small and medium 

 native-cut at 45s. At the same auction, small native-cut Cochin 

 was bought in at 45s. and limed Japan at 25s. On the 25th. 

 A drop took place in the prices realized for old-crop Jamaica, 

 some 360 barrels being offered and 290 sold without reserve 

 at 55s. 6d. to 58s. Gd. for fair common, and 52s. to 55s. for 

 •common. New crop was in steady demand at 62s. to 68s. 

 for fair washed, and 57s. for small washed. 



ARROWROOT. 



This article was offered at the spice sale on the 4th. to 

 the extent of some 559 barrels of good manufacturing 

 St. Vincent, all of which was bought in at 2j(Z. per B). Good 

 Natal was also offered at the same sale and bought in at from 

 4d. to ikl. 



SAESjU>AErLLA. 



The demand for this article continues, and the prices 

 from week to week show but slight fluctuation. At the 

 drug auction on the 5th., 2s. Gd. was the [irice asked for grey 

 Jamaica, and Is. 9(7. for Lima- Jamaica ; but it was reported 

 that there was practically none in the market. The lowest 

 ■Cjuotation for native Jamaica was Is. If?. It was stated 

 that the arrivals during the week were 21 bales of red native 

 Jamaica and 3 bales of grey Jamaica. A week later, the 

 quotations were 2s. 6(/. for grey Jamaica, and Is. 2d. for 

 ■Guatemala. In the auction room on the 19th. it was reported 

 that about 23 bales of grey Jamaica had arrived during the 

 week and at the sale on the 26th. there was a steady demand 

 at from 2s. Id. to 2s. '2d., according to quality. Twenty-three 

 bales of native red, for which there was much demand, were 

 disposed of at from lOhd. to Is. Ohd. It was stated that 

 35 bales of Lima-Jamaica would probably be offered at the 

 nest sale. 



TAMARINDS. 



Of other West Indian products, Barbados tamarinds, new 

 crop, were offered at the beginning of April, but were 

 bought in at 30s. At the last auction some 77 packages of 

 W^est Indian were offered and onlj' 49 sold at lower rates, 

 viz., good Antigua, new crop, 14s. to 14s. 6c/. per cwt. in 

 hond for 12 barrels of low stony Antigua and Barbados, 

 upon which there was no reserve ; no offer was made. 



KOLA XUTS, CASSIA FISTULA, LIME JUICE, ETC. 



Of kola, 10 barrels of fair West Indian were disposed 

 of at the auction on the 26th. at 3W., and 3 packages of 

 West Indian dried native from 2|(A to 4Jrf.; the latter price 

 being given for fair Grenada halves. "At the same sale 

 7 bags of new Cassia Fistula pods from Dominica were all 

 sold at 18s. Good raw Jamaica lime juice was quoted at 

 Is. |3t/. per gallon. 



LIME NITROGEN OR CALCIUM OYANA- 

 MIDE. 



In the last volume of the Agi'icidtwral News 

 (p. 70) an account was given of the manufacture and 

 properties of a new nitrogenous fertilizer known as 

 calcium cyanamide. Special interest attaches to this 

 fertilizer in that it 'represents the first attempt, on 

 a commercial scale, to bring atmospheric nitrogen into 

 a state of combination, to manufecture, in fact, an 

 artificial manure containing nitrogen obtained from the 

 air.' In the Journal of the Board of Agricultwre 

 (London), for April 1906, a summary is given of recent 

 experiments carried out in Germany for the purpose of 

 testing its effect. The following information is 

 extracted from this article :— 



Experiments as to its eSect on germination, carried out 

 by Dr. Haselhoft' at JIarbourg, showed, generally, that the 

 direct action of lime nitrogen was injurious, but that the 

 injury was dependent on the length of time the nitrogen was 

 given to the soil before the seed was sown. Thus, if soil 

 which had received h per cent, of lime nitrogen was 

 employed, and sowing took place a week after the manuring, 

 the final result of the germinating test was unaffected, in the 

 case of both clover and mustard. If sand alone was used, 

 the germinating power of clover was somewhat diminished, 

 even when the manure was applied a fortnight before ; and if 

 the seed was sown in less than a fortnight, germination did 

 not take place. 



Looking at the results obtained in the pot experiments, 

 undertaken to test its manurial value, it is considered that, 

 if the effect of the nitrogen in nitrate of soda be expressed as 

 100, the action of lime nitrogen is equal to 79. It is also 

 evident that lime nitrogen acted favourably on plant growth 

 when a sufficiently long period elapsed between its application 

 and the sowing of the seed. 



In general, all the trials with barley, potatos, and 

 mangels were favourable to the action of limo nitrogen. 

 From the whole of the experiments Dr. Haselhoft' concludes 

 that lime nitrogen affects the germination of the seed, but so 

 soon as the injurious properties are dissolved by the soil, the 

 nitrogen it contains is available as plant food, and its action 

 approximates to that of nitrate of soda. The period required 

 to dissipate the injurious combinations in lime nitrogen 

 varies according to the character of the soil, and for the 

 present, caution is recommended in regard to its employment 

 in actual practice. 



Another series of pot experiments to test the action of 

 this substance on germination is reported by Professor 

 Schulze, of Breslau. In 1905 the experiments were repeated 

 on a more comprehensive scale. Generally, Dr. Schulze 

 recommends, in order to avoid all danger, that this manure 

 should be applied from a week to a fortnight before the seed 

 is sown, and this is the conclusion that may be drawn from 

 the experiments generally. The effect of the new fertilizer 

 appears to be about 93 to 94 per cent, of that of nitrate of 

 soda. 



