Vol. III. No. 69. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



389 



COTTON INDUSTRY. 



British Guiana. 



In regard to cotton experiments in Briti.sh 

 Guiana, the following statement has been published 

 by Professor J. B. Harrison, Chairman of the Board of 

 Agriculture : — - 



Up to the present the following points may be regarded 

 as being fairly settled : — 



(1) Sea Island cotton does not grow luxui'iantly on the 

 heavy clay lands of the .sea-board of the cok)ny. I'nder 

 favourable conditions of drainage, cultivation and rainfall, 

 it may there jiroduce small crojis of cotton of good quality. 



(2) Sea Island cotton will grow lu.xuriantly on the 

 lighter sandy loams of the front lands of the colony. It will 

 there produce fairly satisfactory crops of cotton of excellent 

 quality. 



(3) On certain heavy clay soils Kgyi>tian cotton grows 

 fairly well, and under suitable conditions of culiivation and 

 manuring may grow luxuriantly. Its yield is a cotton of 

 good value. 



(4) Upland cottons do not appear to thrive on the coast 

 lands of the colony. 



(5) Several of the so called native or Creole varieties 

 grow vigorou.sly on the coast lands, both on the heavier and 

 on the lighter .soils, and promise to give fairly heavy crops 

 of medium-sta[ile to short-staide cotton. 



(6) At present there is nothing reliable before the Board 

 to indicate the cost of cleaning, planting with cotton, and 

 cultivating an acre of land under conunercial conditions, but 

 owing to the higher cost of labour in British Ouiana, this 

 will probably be in excess of the cost in the West India 

 Islands. As a set-off against this, we have former experience 

 which showed, that with varieties of cotton suited to the soil 

 and climatic conditions, exceptionally high yields per acre 

 were obtained in British Guiana. 



Barbados. 



In an account of an interview given to the 

 Washington correspondent of the Liniiaiana Planter 

 by the Hon. D. F. Wilber, United States Con.«ul at 

 Barbados, the following remarks are made on the 

 cultivation of cotton at Barbados : — 



Consul Wilber says that two years ago the Imperial 

 Agricultural Department put 16 acres in Sea Island cotton 

 and sold its }product in Liverpool for 27c. per lb. This, 

 with the [iromise of several planters to set aside some 

 portion of their e.states for cotton cultivation induced the 

 British Cotton-growing Association to furnish an up-to date 

 cotton gin and erect a suitable building at Bridgetown 

 in which to gin and pack the cotton produced on the 

 island. Last year about 1,200 acres were planted in cotton 

 and the crop harvested was sold in Liverpool at an average 

 of 32c. per D). There has been a larger acreage this 

 year devoted to cotton, seed from South Carolina being used 

 exclusively. This seed was procured by the Agricultural 

 Department and sold to the planters at cost price. 



Mr. Wilber .says that the cheap labour of Barbados, 

 coupled with the fine cpiality of cotton raised there, is bound 

 in time to induce capital to enter the island for the establisii- 

 ment of cotton factories and textile nrills. The quality of 

 the cotton renders it highly suitalile for the mairirfacture of 

 laces and fine lawn.s, and such goods are iruch less bulky 

 freight for export. 



Acreag-e in Cotton in the West Indies 

 The following is an approximate return of areas 

 planted in cotton in the West Indies during the 

 season 1904-.5. The returns for Jamaica are provisional 

 and liable to revision, while no returns have yet been 

 received from British Guiana. Further information will 

 be duly recorded : — 



SEA ISL.\ND COTTON. 



Total Sea Island cotton 



7,243 



M.*.EIE GAL.4.KTE AND OTHER VARIETIES OF COTTON. 



Grenada and dependencies ... 4,088 



St. Vincent . 

 Other colonies 



Total Other varieties of cotton 



250 

 100 



4,438 



Grand Total 11,681 



Porto Rico. 



In the annual report of the Porto Rico Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station for 1903, Mr. F. 'W. 

 Gardner, Special Agent-in-charge, makes the following 

 observations on cotton :— 



No systematic experiments have been undertaken with 

 cotton, for the reason that considerable experimenting has 

 been uirdertaken by persons who have recently organized 

 the Walker Industiial Cotton Company. Their experiments 

 extended to all parts of the island and to planting of 

 different sorts every month through the year. They report 

 about 8,000 acres planted during the present season, of 

 which a large percentage promised a good crop. They 

 recommend the Sea Island variety as best for planting and 

 the month of ilay as a preferable time. 



Then follows the extract published in the Agri- 

 cultural iVew'.s (Vol. Ill, p. 37) from The Times of 

 December 21, 1903. 



In another place in this report, Mr. F. S. Earle, 

 formerly of the New York Botanical Garden, now in 

 charge of the Agricultural Department of Cuba, reports 

 as follows: — ■ 



Cotton culture is beginning to attract some attention in 

 Porto Rico. I saw no fields of cotton, but scattered plants 

 of the perennial Gouypium harhadense were not uncommon 

 along the roadsides These thrive so well under conditions 

 of absolute neglect that there can be no doubt as to the 

 success of this crop when properly cultivated. Two leaf 

 diseases were noticed, viz., the true cotton rust {Uredo gos- 

 si/pii) and the well-known disease of the Southern States, 

 the cotton areolate mildew, caused by Ranmlaria areola. 



