202 



SPICES 



CHAP. 



The trees vary in yield, but some give as much as 

 150 Ibs. of fresh, or 112 Ibs. of dried berries. The returns 

 are considerably affected by the weather during the 

 fruiting season. Thus in 1906-1907 the crops were 

 short, owing to heavy and destructive rains while the 

 fruit was forming, and the next crop was short again 

 from a prolonged drought. 



This raised the price from the average of 15s. per 

 100 Ibs. to 21s., but it has run higher than this, 

 frequently being 25s. to 28s. per 100 Ibs. weight, and 

 Koxburgh quotes it as selling at one time at 40s. The 

 sale price in England is about 4d. to 6d. per Ib. 



Plantation pimento fetches a higher price than that 

 from wild trees, as more care is taken in its preparation. 



The highest export of late years has been 6,857,830 

 Ibs. in 1870-1871, valued at 28,574; in 1877-1878, 

 6,195,105 Ibs., but it has been higher even than that, 

 as mentioned above, within the last few years. The 

 maximum export from Jamaica is given as of the value 

 of 78,900 in 1906. 



About one-third of this goes to North America, the 

 remaining two-thirds to England. 



The following table gives the exports for a series of 

 years, showing its comparatively steady demand : 



1789 . 

 1804-1805 

 1826 

 1827 

 1828 

 1829 

 1830 

 1831 

 1850 

 1855 

 1860 



Ibs. 



2,864,960 

 6,857,838 

 2,914,000 : 

 3,362,216 

 3,278,016 

 5,142,080 

 2,223,768 

 5,465,376 

 1,814,248 

 2,300,144 

 2,284,912 



1 Value 22,000 (Browne, History of Jamaica). 

 2 Import into Great Britain only. 8 Value 40, 250. 



