and Magazine oj the (fey Ion Agricultural Society,- Feb., 1910. 



183 



Commercial Valuation.— The cocoas wei-o 

 submitted to commercial experts for valuation 

 with the following results : — 



Samjile A. One firm reported that this; cocoa 

 had a d*rk "break" and a poor flavour ; they 

 valued it at about 54s to 55s per cvvt. in London 

 (May, 1909). — A firm of manufacturers com idered 

 that this sample had been spoilt in preparation, 

 being apparently too highly fermeoted They 

 described it as having a very dark break and a 

 poor flavour, and valued it at 52s per cvvt. (May, 

 1909). 



Sample B. This cocoa was described as hav- 

 ing a rather dull red, thin skin and a good 

 palish break. It was valued at from 70s to 72s 

 per cwt. in London (May 19U9). — These valua- 

 tions indicate that sample A is a distinctly in- 

 ferior cocoa, and would realise low prices on 

 the market, whereas sample B is of very good 

 quality, and would fetch almost the same price 

 as superior Trinidad, Caracas, or high-class 

 Ceylon cocoa. 



Cassava Starch. 

 The material received consisted of clean white 

 starch, free from visible impurity and without 

 noticeable odour or taste. An analysis gave 

 the following results :— Starch 84'8 per cent., 

 Moisture 14"9 per cent., Ash 0'2 per cent. The 

 product is, therefore, of high purity. 



Commercial Valuation. — Cassava starch is 

 not yet well known in this country, and the 

 present specimen, was therefore submitted to 

 experts in various branches of industry in which 

 raw starch is used, in order to determine its 

 utility and value as a substitute for the better- 

 known starches in common use. The following in- 

 formation has been obtained regarding the suit- 

 ability of the starch for various manufactures : — 



Laundry Purposes. — The experts consulted 

 on this point state that they have already tried 

 cassava starch on several occasions for laundry 

 work, and found that it did not compare well 

 with the rice starch now in general use. A test 

 made with the present sample from Fiji con- 

 firmed their opinion. 



Olucose Manufactuke.— Cassava starch is 

 quite suitable tor this purpose, but in this coun- 

 try it would have to compete with low-grade 

 sago and tapioca flours and with maize. The 

 former contain 60 to 70 per cent, of starch, and 

 realised £5 to £0 per ton, so that clean cassava 

 starch is not likely to be worth more than £8 

 per ton for the manufacture of glucose. If this 

 Fi ji cassava starch could be placed on the mar- 

 ket at this price, a firm of glucose manufac- 

 turers offered to take a trial consignment of 50 

 to 100 tons. 



Sizing Yarn.— As the result of comparative 

 tests with cassava and potato starches as sizes 

 for cotton yarns, it was stated that the former 

 would not be a good substitute for potato 

 starch, but it could probably be used in place of 

 sago. The Fiji starch being of good colour and 

 yielding a viscous paste with water, would pro- 

 bably be useful for dressing or finishing fabrics. 



Ceveral Purposes.— A firm of brokers stated 

 that there was at one time a good demand for J 



cassava starch in Manchester and Liverpool at 

 £14 to £15 per ton, and they were of opinion that 

 this Fiji product would at present fetch about 

 that price as a manufacturing starch if placed on 

 the market in quantity. 



GROUNDNUTS. 



The sample consisted of large ground-nuts, 

 some of which contained two kernels and others 

 only one. Those containing two varied in length 

 frjm 1 2 to 18 inch, and those with one from - 8 

 to 1*1 inch The kernels were from 6 to 10 inch 

 in length, and formed 75 per cent, of the total 

 weight of the nuts. On extraction with solvents 

 491 per cent, of oil was obtained from the ker- 

 nels. This represents a good average yield of oil, 

 and compares well with that given by the ground- 

 nuts i f commerce. Thesamole was too small for 

 satisfactory valuation, but it is probable that the 

 kernels would fetch about the normal price for 

 decorticated ground-nuts of good quality, viz. 

 £14 to £15 per ton in London. 



Castor-Oil Seed. 

 Three varieties of these seeds were received : 



1. "Fiji castor-oil beans, Mexican variety." These were 

 small, dar -brown and mottled. 



2. " Fiji castor-oil beans, Mexican variety. " These were 

 large white seeds, mottled with dark brown. 



3. "Fiji castor-oil beans, Hawaiian variety. " These were 

 medium sized dark brown mottled see'ls, similar to No. 1, 

 but larger. 



The percentage of oil in each variety was de- 

 termined with the following results : — Yield 

 of oil No. 1 47 '4 per cent., No. 2 49 '6 per cent., 

 No. 3 48 '5 per cent. These percentages agree 

 with the average figures recorded for castor-cil 

 seed, which usually contains from 46 to 53 per 

 cent, of oil. The slightly greater yield from the 

 larger seeds (Nos. 2 and 3) is no doubt due to 

 the fuct that in these cases the proportion of 

 kernel to husk is greater. Castor-oil seed as re- 

 presented by these samples would probably 

 realise from £9 to £9 10s. per ton in London. 



FlERES. 



Ramie. — The samples consisted of four bun- 

 dles of scraped ramie ribbons, which were la- 

 belled respectively, "Boehmeria nivca. grade I," 

 "Boehmeria nivea, grade I," " Boehmeria tena- 

 cissimn, grade 1," and "Boehmeria tenacissima, 

 grade II." There were also two bundles of de- 

 gummed fibre labelled " Ramie fibre, B nivea" 

 and " Kamie fibre, tenacissima." Each sample 

 weighed about 2 ounces. The specimens were 

 all clean and well prepared, but those marked 

 "Grade II" were somewhat inferior in these 

 respects to those marked "Grade I." Compared 

 with ramie fibre from Fiji previously examined 

 at the Imperial Institute the present samples 

 wore longer, varying generally from 4 feet to 5 

 feet, and the ribbons were much broader, being 

 half-an-inch or more in breadth, whereas pre- 

 vious samples consisted of very narrow ribbons. 

 Although somewhat different in appearance 

 from both hand-scraped China grass and lamie 

 , ribbons from Fiji previously examined, the pre- 

 . sent samples were nevertheless of gooil quality, 

 Ifanel would probably approximate in value to 

 lhand-scrapeel China grass, which was quoted in 

 | London at £21 to £27 per ton in December, 1908, 



