202 
SPICES 
CHAP. 
The trees vary in i yield, but some give as much as 
150 lbs. of fresh, or 112 lbs. 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 lbs. to 21s., but it has run higher than this, 
frequently being 25s. to 28s. per 100 lbs. weight, and 
Roxburgh quotes it as selling at one time at 40s. The 
sale price in England is about 4d. to 6d. per lb. 
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 
lbs. in 1870-1871, valued at £28,574; in 1877-1878, 
6,195,105 lbs., 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 : — 
lbs. 
lbs. 
1789 . 
438,000' 
1865 . 
. 2,864,960 
1804-1805 
. 2,257,000 
1871 . 
. 6,857,838 
1826 . 
. 2,000,0002 
1875 . 
. 2,914,000 3 
1827 . 
. 2,235,3502 
1862 . 
. 3,362,216 
1828 . 
. 2,269,546 2 
1863 . 
. 3,278,016 
1829 . 
. 3,599,268 2 
1864 . 
. 5,142,080 
1830 . 
. 3,628,104 2 
1866 . 
. 2,223,768 
1831 . 
, 1,810,616 2 
1867 . 
. 5,465,376 
1850 . 
. 2,289,280 2 
1868 . 
. 1,814,248 
1855 . 
. 5,927,200 
1869 . 
. 2,300,144 
1860 . 
. 2,240,000 
1870 . 
. 2,284,912 
1 Value £22,000 (Browne, History of Jamaica). 
2 Import into Great Britain only. ^ Value £40,250. 
