^ov. 1, 1902.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
329 
CINNAMON IN LONDON. 
It is of interest, after our reterence ou the 
19th Sept. to the London Commercial Record, 
to turn to the specific expert report on 
the last quarterly sales of cinnamon — 
the source from which we have chiefly 
quotid for many years past, From the 
report, which bears dcite the day after 
the auctions, we learn that the quantity 
offered was a fair iiverage one of 825 bales 
— the offerings at the corresponding sale 
last year having been 858, and in May 
this year 433. Had London been our only 
market for the famous Ceylon spice, as it 
was practically until the ^opening of the 
Suez Canal, the smallness of the previous 
quarterly catalogue would have led to keen 
competition, and to an advance in prices ; 
but, as the Commercial Record observed, 
the Continent is supplied direct through its 
own Ports, to which generally foreign 
merchants now ship produce direct from 
the producing country. As a matter of 
fact we sent to the United Kingdom less 
thiin one-third of our quilled cinnamon — 
812,280 lb. out of exports totalling over 2| 
million lb —and 239,000 lb. chips out of over 
a million and-a-half I Germany took almost 
thrice the quantity of chips and about 
57,000 lb. quilled back more than the United 
Kingdom ; while Belgium, Italy7 Spain and 
America, all ran into pretty high six 
figures. Though London no longer holds 
the proud position she did in the spice 
market, she doubtless has among her con- 
stituents in the spice trade some of the 
best of her old customers. While it must 
not be forgotten that the volume of trade 
has about trebled, so that London attracts 
perhaps as much as she ever did in ante- 
Suez Canal days ; while it is also a fact that 
the highest priced cinnamon continues to go 
to London. In the report before us, for 
instance, First quality of worked cinnamon 
fetched up to Is 8d ; seconds up to Is 7d ; 
thirds up to Is 5d and fourths up to ll^d. 
We doubt if even one bale of cinnamon has 
changed hands locally at anything ap- 
proaching these prices. The prices piid in 
the Port for Firsts, we understand, are 
about the equivalent of what fourths from 
good gardens like Goluapokana fetched at 
the London Quarterly Auctions. If the 
Continent of Europe and America draw 
almost all their supplies from Colombo 
direct, Loudon still continues to raono- 
ftolise our best marks, chiefly it is be- 
ieved for old Spanish and Italian houses 
which ask for the tinest quills the island Ccxn 
tui-n out ; and if its prices no longer 
regulate local rates, yet London pays for 
what it likes, double the prices which 
are quoted in local Price Currents ! 
As we said, the prices which ruled at the 
last auctions did not advance as expected 
because of the smallness of the offerings at the 
{)revious sales ; but such as they were, they 
eave no cause for dissatisfaction. Previous 
rates were generally maintained, and where 
there wasafall it waseasily explained. Alto- 
gether, as has been remarked, the spice 
market was about the only one in which 
produce showecl some aniiuatiou last mouth; 
<3 
but heavy shipments have gone forward since 
then ; and we are [not sure that the next 
sales will show as good an 'average. Any 
way, the stocks are not heavy ; and there 
is hope in that. Elsewhere (see page 7) wa 
give the usual London Report on last sales. 
SALT IN THE SOIL IN INDIA AND CROPS. 
The soil in some pxrta of the oonatry ia very salt 
and so is the water of many of the wells. Aa it 
is important to know how far this affects their value 
for agricultufal purposes, Dr. Leather, Agricultural 
Chemist to the Governmeut of India, has investigated 
the effect of the salt on crops. He has found cefeala 
growing well in soil which contained 0"099 per cent 
of sodium carbonate, and 0 018 of sodium chloride 
in the Cawnpore District. In the Aligarh District, 
wheat grew well in one case in the presence of 0 044 
per cent of carbonate plus 0'021 of chloride, and ia 
another in the presence of 0137 per cent of carbonate 
plus 0'062 of chloride. The crop failed, however, in 
the presence of 0193 per cent of carbonate plus O'Ol 
of chloride in one plot, and of 0'251 por cent of 
carbonate plus 0"008 of chloride in another. It ia 
remarkable that such a small difference should ba 
found in the amount of salts present in the soil 
when the crop grew well in the one case and failed 
in the other, but this ia confirmed by aimilar resalta 
obtained in Oalifornia. Dr. Leather finds the ex- 
planation to lie in the respective amounts of rain- 
water which the several soils would allow to enter 
at the surface. The word 'drain,' he says, cannot 
here ba properly used, because the presence of these 
salt is a proof that the drainage conditions are ex- 
tremely imperfect. But one soil will allow more water 
to descend into the surface soil than another. This 
would produce more dilute solutions of the salts ia 
the one case than in the other, and it would explain 
why considerable differences in the growth of crops 
may occur in soils which contain maoh about the 
same proportion of salts. It is. indeed, a question 
of concentration of solutions that must be considered 
rather than weight of these salts per hundred parts 
of soil. 
The water oE many saline wells is used for irrigation. 
For instance, in the Mattra District of the United 
Provinces the water of such wells is considered by 
the people in some cases to be fit for application 
to the land before sowing, while in others it is 
applied to growing crops. Tie. Leather finds that 
in the latter case there is often a o.insiderable pro- 
portion of nitrates in the water. In Gujerat he haa 
observed that when the am')uat of total salts is high, 
the water is mixed with that from less saline wells. 
Whan the water does not contain a good proportion 
of nitrates, it cannot be used for irrigation in the 
absence of a good rainfall. U^ed alone in dry weither, 
such water is practically fatal to crops. A distinct 
line cannot be drawn between waters which are fatal 
and those which are not, but J);. Leather finds that 
the most that crops such as cereals will bear is a 
solution containing O o par cent of salts, 
More generally. Dr. Leather finds that crops may 
suffer in solutions of 0'3 per cent of total salts, those 
which are most easily affected being the Leffwaiiiosw. 
In order to compare this result with thit showing 
the proportion of salts in soil, he aays that it may 
be assumed that the proportion of water in soils 
varies, shortly after irrigation, from 30 per cent to 
10 per cent according to the nature of the aoil and 
the climatic conJitious. A soil containing 0"1 per 
cent of salts and 30 per cent of water may thus be 
considered as holding a solutioa of 0'33 per cent of 
salts. Dr. Leather infers from the agricultural effects 
of well Wdters that such a proportion is as much as 
cereal crops can bear, He therefore considers that 
a aoil ooatariuiug bigt) a proportiou aa 01 
