Vol. III. No. 64. 



THE AGKICULTCRAL NEWS. 



309 



COTTON INDUSTRY, 



West Indian Cotton in England. 



Tlie Wrt^t Iiiiliii < '•iiniiiitti'c C'iiriiliir lias the 

 i'oUowing interesting note on the position ot West 

 Indian cotton on the English markets: — 



AVe learn from ^Ir. Wolstenliohiie, Vice-chainnau of 

 the West Indies section of the British Cotton-growhig 

 Association, that, after remaining steady for several months, 

 the market for Florida and Georgia Sea I.slnnd cotton in 

 Savannah has declined Id. }ier R». A stock of about !^,000 

 bales has been held there for extreme prices, and owing to 

 the near ai)proach of the new crop, which will come forward 

 in September, holders are pnshing sales. In conse.]uence, all 

 the lower qualities of West Indian Sea Island, which comiiete 

 with Floridas and Georgias, have fallen in value to a similar 

 extent. The very best, which compares with Carolina Sea 

 Island, of which there is no stock, commands full rates. For 

 Florida, which was recently worth loiL to 16(f. per Iti., the 

 new cro[( is expected to open at about \3iL, which was last 

 ■season's opening price. 



Cotton in Paraguay. 



The following note on the prospects of cotton 

 cultivation in Paraguay is taken from the Cini.'odi.ir 

 Rri>(,rf for WO?,:— 



Cotton has been cultivated in Paraguay for many years, 

 but hitherto little or no attempt has been made to cxjiort it. 

 In the past year, however, considerable interest has been 

 manifested in this product by cotton dealers and experts 

 who have visited the country. Samples forwardeil to the 

 United Kingdom have met with considerable approval, and 

 one shipment to JIanchester vvas pronounced ' very good 

 standard quality.' Paraguayan cotton is said to re.senible the 

 Egyptian variety. A shi[iment of 12 bales has been sold by 

 two ditt'erent firms in London, the opinion expressed by the 

 buyei's being favourable, and to the effect that the cotton was 

 clean, lustrous, and free from seeds or leaves, and should be 

 able to compete with United States cotton. Besides the 

 white variet}', there is also a coloured cotton growing 

 in this country which is stated to command a good price 

 in Europe. Tlie prices obtained for these cottons in 

 Eurojie were dd. per If), for the white and 6</. for the red. 



Cotton Cultivation in British Guiana. 



At a meeting of the British Guiana Board of 

 Acrriculture held on August 20, Professor Harrison 

 made the following interesting statement with regard 

 to cotton experiments in the colony: — 



Since the Board's last meeting he had visited the 



majority of places in the colony where cotton was being 



cultivated, and the result had iiointed fairly conclusively tip 



"the fact that the cultivation of Sea Island cotton on heav\- 



clay soil was absolutely waste of men's time and money. 



On the lightest soil, like the soil of Bush Lot, satisfactory 



crops were being obtained, and if the experimenter had 



known more of agriculture he would have had not onlj- 



a satisfactory crop but a heavy one. In going from [ilace to 



place he saw a great variety of soils and in that way obtained 



indications with regard to the cultivation of Sea Island 



[cotton. The experiments at Windsor Forest were very 



I interesting. The variety there, which had been sold as 



Egyptian, seemed to be very promising so far as growth was 



concerned, but how it promised ccanmercially he did not know. 



Cotton Growinig in the Gold Coast Colony. 

 J\[r. Edward Fisher visited the Gold Coast in the 

 interests of the British Cotton-growing Association in 

 June last year to report on the prospects of establishing 

 a cotton-growing industry in the colonj-. His report is 

 published in the Report of tl,e Botu nlcal on<l Arjrl- 

 cultuivl Deptirtnwnt for' lOO-S. The following is a 

 summary of his views : — 



Cotton will grow well in most of the districts visited, 

 provided it receives proper care and attention. 



Labour-saving implements .should be introduced, and the 

 natives taught the use of them. 



Convenient markets should be provided in all cotton- 

 growing districts. 



The producer should be paid the highest possible price 

 for his raw- :-otton, e\en if the buyers have to abstain from 

 making any profit at pre.sent. 



Until the stock and transport proljlem is settled, it \\ill 

 not pay to ojien up large [ilantations for the growing of 

 cotton alone under European management. 



Native cotton receiving the .same care and attention as 

 is given to cotton grown from American seed would compare 

 favourably with the latter, and being acclimatized is less 

 liable to injury, although at present its yield is smaller. 



Insects are at present very injurious. 



Seed Selection. 



The following note on the importance of selecting 

 good cotton seed is extracted from Balletin 62, Bureau 

 of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, 'Notes on Egyptian Agricidture' : — 



The question of the selection of seed for sowing is 

 occupying considerable attention in Egypt, as Afifi cotton, 

 which is the mainstay of the crop, is greatly deteriorating. 

 Owing to the great similarity not only of the plants of the 

 different varieties grown in the country but also of their 

 seed.s, the matter is a somewhat difficult one. At the 

 present time the question of seed is entirely in the hands of 

 the cotton merchants. When the best qualities of cotton of 

 the first picking are being ginned, the factory owner places 

 on one side the resulting seed for di.sposal to his clients the 

 following season. This is excellent as far as it goe.s, but 

 where two or three varieties are being dealt with in 

 a factory, even though the pro[irietor may clean his gins, his 

 riddles, etc., after each ginning, a certain admixture must 

 take place. The seedsman class is quite wanting in Egypt, 

 and luitil recently most of the cultivators were not sufficiently 

 alive to the question of good seed. At the present time, 

 however, the Khedivial Agricultural Society is paying special 

 attention to this most important subject, while individual 

 cultivators appreciate more the necessitj' of employing good 

 and pure seed. 



Small cultivators in the past obtained their seed to 

 a great extent through the village money-lender, wlio supplied 

 them with ordinary commercial seed quite unsuited for 

 sowing purposes. The Khedivial Agricultural Societj" now 

 distributes .seed of first-picking cotton to small growers at 

 cost price. The value of the seed, plus a moderate rate of 

 interest, is collected by the Government agents when the 

 ordinaiy taxes are collected. The seed is not paid for 

 until the resulting cotton crop is picked. The benefits are 

 two-fold, not only is the fellah provided with better seed 

 than he would obtain elsewhere, Vint he is to a certain extent 

 kept out of the hands of the usurer. The question of the 

 establishment of seed areas is now under consideration. 



