140 SPICES 



CHAP. 



Peninsula gave 200,000 kilos nutmegs and 50,000 kilos 

 mace. 



West Indies. The West Indian cultivation appeared 

 first to influence the market in from 1865 to 1874, when 

 10,000 kilograms of nutmegs and 3000 kilograms of 

 mace were exported ; 1875 to 1885, 10,000 kilos nutmegs 

 and 3000 kilos of mace; 1885 to 1894, 100,000 kilos 

 of nutmegs and 25,000 kilos of mace. The increase of 

 output in the West Indies then increased steadily, so 

 that though the West Indian nutmegs are less hard and 

 more liable to fracture than those of the East Indies,, 

 they seem to be gradually ousting the former. 



Holmes, in tables given by Messrs. Evans, Gray, and 

 Hood (Pharmaceutical Journal, 1909, p. 419), shows 

 that the West Indian nutmegs have trebled in the last 

 ten years, and the price has fallen, apparently in con- 

 sequence of increased supply, to about one-third of the 

 value ten years previously. 



From an article in the American journal, The 

 Spice-Mill, for November 1908, p. 677, extracted by 

 the editor of the Agricultural News, vol. Ix. p. 84, 

 we learn that though the ordinary customer in this 

 country (U.S.A.) never heard of or purchased British 

 West Indian nutmegs under their name, still these 

 articles are being sold to them mixed up with Singapore 

 nutmegs. Owing to the small demand in the United 

 States for the British West Indian nutmegs, because of 

 their inferior quality, the importations are exceedingly 

 light, amounting to 2000 barrels per annum. The 

 nutmegs are shipped principally from Grenada, which 

 island is the heaviest producer of the entire group of the 

 British West Indies, to London. There they are graded 

 as to size and mixed with Singapore nutmegs, then 

 shipped to this market and sold as Singapore nut- 

 megs. The import market value of British West 

 Indian nutmegs is from 10 to 20 per cent below the 

 import price of Singapore nutmegs, both as to size 

 and quality. 



To this the editor of the Agricultural News adds : 



