■Vol. V. No. 118. 



THE AGRICULTUEAL NEWS. 



3.51 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



Drugs and Spices in the London Market. 



The following report on the London drug and spice 

 market for the month of September haS been received 

 "from Mr. J. K. Jackson, A.L.S. : — 



With the return of autumn there has been a general 

 improvement of trade in the spice and drug market, which, 

 it is hoped, may now go on uninterruptedly till the holiday 

 season of Christmas again disorganizes the- regular flow of 

 •commerce. 



GINGEE. > 



In ginger the sales and prices realized have been, on the 

 whole, satisfactory. On the 5th., 166 packages of Jamaica 

 ■were oflered, of which .50 were disposed of at 79s. for bold, 

 60s. to Qls. 6(1. for fair, and 63s. 6d. for dull washed. Out 

 of 430 packages of Cochin and Calicut offered, only 5 were 

 i5old : washed rough Cochin was bought in at 32s.; good 

 rough Calicut at 35s.; and bold brown Calicut at 40.s. Good 

 limed Japan was bought in at 25s. A week later the prices 

 obtained were somewhat easier. On the 19th:, the quotations 

 were as follows: Small dull washed Jamaica, 60s.; good 

 ordinary, 58s.; and ordinary small and dark, 53s. to 55s. 

 At the concluding sale, there was no Jamaica offered ; and 

 out of some 600 package.s of Cochin and Calicut only a few 

 «old : native-cut Cochin at 55s.; bold and medium at 62s. 6rf.; 

 and cut tips at 40s. per cwt. 



NUTMEGS, MACE, AND PIMENTO. 



On the 19th., there were 350 packages'of West Indian 

 liutmegs offered, for which there was a good demand, nearly 

 all being sold at steady prices, good quantities going at 

 somewhat advanced rates, which were maintained at the close 

 of the month. ' 



!Mace began with a very quiet tone at the first two spice 

 sales, but on the 19th. over 100 packages of West Indian 

 were offered and practically all disposed of at steady rates. 



Pimento has fluctuated but very little during the month. 

 On the 5th., fair quality was quoted at 2i|rf.; a week later 

 a few bags of common were .sold at 2|(/.; fair being bought 

 in at 3-J(/. On the 19th., 144 bags were- sold, without 

 reserve, at 2|cZ. for fair ; and on the 26th., greyish to fair 

 was offered, without reserve, and sold at 2|c?.- to 2Je?. per lb. 



ARROWROOT. 



The month began with firmer prices in _this article, the 

 stock in London being reported as considerably reduced. 

 At the first spice auction, on the 5th., 220 barrels of good 

 manufacturing St. Vincent were offered, and the bulk sold 

 at 2d. ; a few lots realizing 2J(7. Somewhat advanced prices 

 were obtained a week later, when, out of 415 barrels of 

 St. Vincent offered, 120 sold at 2|(/. for fair manufacturing, 

 and 2ifZ. to 3|rf. for good. At the later auction.?, no 

 St. Vincent was offered, but the prices c[uoted privately 

 showed a firm market. 



SARSAPAEILLA. 



At the beginning of the month this article was reported 

 to be selling readily. On the 12th., 11 bales of grey .Jamaica 

 •were offered and sold at from Is. lOd. to 2s. per lb., which 

 was from Id. to 2d. dearer than previous quotations ; 

 for 7 bales of coarse grey Guatemala, 11 -J A -was paid ; and 

 8 bales of native Jamaica realized from §d. to lid. per lb. 

 for ordinary mixed grey and yellow to fair pale red. At 

 the last auction 33 bales of grey .Jamaica were offered and 

 sold at an advance of Id. to 2d. per lb, on previous rates. 



Twelve bales of fair, part coarse, Lima Jamaica fetched 

 Is. 5d. to Is. 6</. per lb. -i - 



CANELLA ALBA, KOLA NUTS, LIME JUICE, OIL OF LIME, 

 TAMARINDS, AND CHILLIES. 



For good pale quill to ordinary dull Canella alba, 50s. 

 was asked at the auction in the middle of the month. It was 

 stated that privately several parcels had lately been cleared 

 off the market for export, and an advance of about 10s. per 

 cwt. was asked in consec[uence. 



Of kola, some 40 barrels were offered in the middle 

 of the month and 12 were sold ; good bright Jamaica at 3|-(^. 

 per lb., and another parcel of 17 bags of bright Ceylon was 

 limited at 4 k/. At the end of the month, kola was again 

 offered, and 6 bags of fair Jamaica sold at 3c:?. and 22 bags of 

 dark, part mouldy, at from 2|d to od. per ft. 



Of lime juice, ordinary brown raw Jamaica was sold on 

 the 12th., without reserve, at 7hd. per gallon. At the close 

 of the month, 5 cases of good pale distilled oil of lime, which 

 was .said to be scarce, were sold at from 3s. to 3s. l(i!per 

 gallon. At the same sale, 20 barrels of new Barbados 

 tamarinds sold, in bond, without reserve, at 16s. 6d. per cwt., 

 and 2 barrels of dry West Indian, also ih bond, were dispo.sed 

 of at 14s. per cwt. 



Chillies have commanded steady prices during the 

 month, fair red slightly yellowish East African fetched 

 34s. 6d.; good Xyasaland were bought in at 35s., and yellow 

 at 30s. 



NEW NITROGENOUS MANURES. 



References have been made in previous issues of 

 the Agricultural Neivs to the utilization of atmos- 

 pheric nitrogen in the manufacture of manures. The 

 two new manures thus placed at the disposal of the 

 agriculturist are calcium cyanamide or lime nitrogen 

 and calcium nitrate or nitrate of lime. 



The following note, from the Journal of the Society 

 of Arts _ (September 21, 1906), contains interesting 

 information in this connexion : — 



An analysis is given in the Journal des Usines a O'az of 

 the respective values of the unit of nitrogen in ammonium 

 sulphate, calcium cyanamide, and calcium nitrate to show the 

 possibilities of the competition likely to arise from the conflict 

 between the sulphate of ammonia derived from gas, the Chile 

 nitrates, and the new compounds of nitrogen obtaiiied by 

 means of electric action. The total annual production of 

 nitrates from Chile, with an average of 16-5 per cent, of 

 nitrogen, may reach 1,567,000 tons, each kilogram of 

 nitrogen in v,hich is valued at lohd. The estimated amount 

 of ammonium sulphate produced annually by the chemical 

 industries varies from 500,000 to 600,000 tons, and the 

 kilogram of nitrogen in this salt is set down at Hid., taking 

 21-2 per cent, of nitrogen throughout. In calcium cyanamide 

 the value of the nitrogen may range from 13,1c/. to 15 Ac/, per 

 kilogram, while in calcium nitrate, under certain conditions, 

 the kilogram of nitrogen may be produced at I2id. Of 

 course, the relative cheapness of the new nitrogen products 

 will depend entirely upon the use of electricity generated by- 

 water power at very low rates. - . 



Reducing these figures to values per pound, it will 

 be seen that each pound of nifrogen in the Chile 

 nitrates is valued at 7'/., and in sulphate of ammonia 

 at 6k?. Similarly, the Value of the nitrogen in 

 calcium cyanamide may range from 6c/. to 7d. per lb., 

 and in calcium nitrate to -5k;/. per lb, . , . 



