April I, 1902.J 
THE TROPICAL AaRIC'JLTURIST. 
691 
THE LONDON CINNAMON SALES. 
The mail of 28th Feb. from Europe brought 
particulars of the quarterly Cinnamon Sales 
held in London on the 24th Feb. The brief tele- 
graphic intelligence we published three weeks 
ago, made us tear a worse sale than is dis- 
closed in the catalogues. The quantity offered 
was by no means excessive for the first sale 
in the yeai', and fell far short of the offer- 
ings in February, 1901, when an unusually 
heavy catalogue had to be faced ; but at the 
November auctions exceptionally high prices 
were realised. A drop was almost inevit- 
aV)le unless luiexpected circumstances helped 
to maintain prices; and as "worked" spice 
showed an advance of Id to 2d a lb. in 
November, the falling off of a penny last 
month yet secures for Cinnamon quills of 
the best marks satisfactory prices. It will 
he seen that " worked" Firsts fetched from Is 
5d to Is 7d, and both Seconds and Thirds 
ran these figures close ; while Fourths ranged 
from 8hd to lid per lb. The quantity of 
fine bark which oifered (109 bales) was small, 
and the whole of it seems to have been 
disposed of at the auctions. The " un- 
worked" spice which generally includes 
the coarser makes aggregated 1,202 bales, 
and so large a proportion of the inferior 
marks necessarily led to a fall in price. 
The drop of Jd to Id, at which nearly 1,000 
hales were cleared, cannot be regarded as 
heavy ; and on the whole the Auctions 
were not as disappointing as we feared they 
-vTould be from the private wire to which 
we gave prominence at the end of last 
month. Unworked bark from 7d for Fourths 
to Is for Firsts, should leave a fair margin 
to the producer ; but as we have remarked 
before, there seems no limit to the expan- 
sion of Cmn.imon exports. Last year we 
•ent away 2| million lb. quilled bark, and 
over li million chips ; and that prices did 
not recede more markedly if proof that 
new uses are being found for the spice, and 
that the demand is not far short of the 
supply which would have been deemed ruinous 
twenty, or even ten years ago. Still, there 
is a limit to the consumption of what must 
be reo'arded as a luxury, save so tar as 
CinnaTDon is used for medicinal purposes, and 
if the acreage under the spice continues to 
expand in the Southern Province, there may 
be a reversion to the prices which almost 
ruined the industry 20 to 25 years ago. 
We note that the exports this year, so fav, 
are much shorter than in the thrue years 
preceding— due doubtless to the severe 
drought which has been experienced the last 
few weeks, following insufficient rainfall 
from the North-East in the low country. 
The prices which Chips fetched, SJd to 3gd 
per lb., have seldom been exceeded, and 
point to a useful demand ; but how any- 
thing which fetches less than a penny a lb. 
in England can be profitably exported from 
here is a puzzle. Rather, there can be no 
doubt such business cannot ^ay, and that, 
we are glad to find, is the position of " Wild 
Bark" which represents a dishonest trade in 
adulterated stuff. 
87 
The following is the report of the well- 
known London firm of Forbes, Forbes & Co., 
Limited :— 
9, King William Street, London, 25th Feb., 1902 
Cinnamon. — Yesterday's auctions, the first of the 
year, went off with a qniet tone, the competition 
being poor ; 1,311 bales Plantation quill were offered 
compared with 2,162 bales at this period last year 
and 1,690 bales in November. 
The usoal " worked " spice comprised the small 
quantity of 109 btiles only and these sold irregularly 
at late prices to Id per lb. decline. 
The " unworked " Cinnamon comprised with 1,202 
bales (including 51 bales which had to be worked 
owing to sea damage, &c. ) of which nearly 987 bales 
were cleared chiefly at id to Id per lb. lower. 
The regular " worked ' marks sold, first Is 5d to 
Is 7d ; seconds Is 3d to la 6d ; thirds Is 2d to Is 5d 
and fourths to lid per lb. 
" Unworked " first 8-id to is ; seconds 8d to lOd ; 
thirds 7id to and" fourths 7d to 8d per lb. 
Chips, &c. — Ol 776 bags only a small proportion 
sold, chips 3|d to 3|d and quiilinga, &c,, 9d to lOd 
per lb. 
Bark. — 847 packages offered and 63 sold at id to 
Id per lb. 
Wild Ceylon.— 586 packages offered a few lots 
meeting bids of |d to §d per lb. 
1901. 1900. 
Stock of Ceylon 3,420 bales 4,215 bales 4,1('9 bales 
„ „ chips 2,318 „ 4,360 „ 2,736 „ 
„ Wild Ceylon 
birk 9,945 pkgs. 9,616 pkga. 12,938 pkgs. 
Next Auctions. — l'6ih May, 1902. 
Forbes, Forbes A Co., Limited. 
Alfbd E. Hoare, Managing Director. 
PROFITABLE TOBACCO CULTURE. 
One of the features of American tobacco pro- 
duction i.s that a very remunerative variety of leaf 
is given in Connecticut, altliough the climatic 
conditions of that State, situated as it is in the 
east, along the shores of the Atlantic are, both as 
to cold and poorness of soil, the very reverse of 
those which obtain where the large plantations 
are down south. Now, an effort is being made to 
produce the most valuable class of leaf, in con- 
nection with which the director of the Con- 
necticut experiment station thus reports: — 
The best Sumatra type is a l?af smaller than the Ha- 
vana, 16 inches or IB inches being the most desirabla 
length light to medium colors with open grain, free 
burn, great elasticity or ' life,' and very thin texture. 
That is what the trade wants. In 1900 the Connecticut 
station began trying to raise this quality of leaf. One- 
third of an acre was enclosed with a substantial 
wooden frame, to support a cover of very thin cheese 
cloth 9 feet above the ground, and closed on all sides 
to the ground with the sume material. The soil waa 
fertilised as usual for oar other leaf, and half the 
ame was set with Sumatra plants, and the other 
half with New England Havana. Both were set 
nip.ch closer than is usual in rows 3 feet and Ij foot 
apart, aud plants 12 inches apart in the row. Tha 
cover was a perfect protection against insect pests. 
Cut worms did some damage to the young plants 
but no flying insects preyed on the tobuceo. As 
harvest it was very hard to find a leaf which showed 
insect bites. The tobacco was also perfectly protected 
from wind whipning and from lit'ht h<<il. The icin- 
perature under the shade was considerably higher than 
outside, aud flucti.a'.ed less. 
Two rows each of Havana seed leaf and of Sumatra, 
grown under the shade, were topped, rather high. 
The leaf from the topped plants, however, after curing, 
was seen to be distinctly inferior to that from the 
untopped plants. The nntopped tobacco of both 
