Vol. III. No. 45. 



THE AGRICULTTJEAL NEWS. 



COTTON. 



Cotton at St. Kitt's. 



We extract the following information on the 

 experimental cultivation of cotton at St. Kitt's from a 

 paper by Mr. A. O. Thurston published in the West 

 Indian Bulletin, Vol. IV, pp. 227-8 :— 



Advices received by last mail report the sale of the 

 first shii>inent of 12,000 ft. of lint at \s. lid. per lb. From 

 the experience gained during the past year, I have come to 

 the following conclusions: (1) That the cotton industry is 

 a promising one if the present prices last ; ("2) that low-lying 

 lands capable of bearing good crops of cane are also the best 

 for cotton ; (.'3) that such lands should be well tilled and kept 

 free from weeds from the time of planting to the develoji- 

 ment of the cotton bolls ; (-t) that during the process 

 of cultivation the soil should be drawn up around the plants 

 to keep them from being injured by wind ; (.5) that 4-feet 

 rows on good lands and 3-feet in hilly or exposed .situations, 

 with single plants left in 12 to 1-5 inches apart, are good 

 distances ; (G) that June, .July and August are tho best 

 months for planting ; (7) that it is necessary to have on hand 

 spraying machines and a sufficient supply of Paris green or 

 other insecticide, to deal with a sudden inroad of cater- 

 pillars ; (8) that the red stain bug can also do considerable 

 damage to the quality of the cotton, and efforts .should be 

 made to keep it in check ; (9) that the cost of labour 

 required to cultivate an acre, from the time of preparation to 

 the reaping of the cotton, under conditions i)revailing here in 

 lands recently under cane cultivation, does not exceed los. ; 

 and (10) that cotton is ginned much better if recently picked. 

 In conclusion I may say that 1 purjiose planting 350 acres 

 in cotton this year. 



Utilization of Cotton Seed By-products. 



In the Cmisular Report on the trade of Marseilles 

 for 190.2 reference is made to the utilization of the 

 by-products of cotton seed in the manufacture of soap. 

 The information is supplied at the request of Indian 

 cotton growers and makers of cotton seed cake, who 

 have made inquiries as to the processes by which their 

 waste products might be converted into paper and 

 soap. In view of a possible cotton seed oil industry in 

 these islands the following information is likely to be 

 of interest : — 



Nothing is known in Marseilles as to the production 

 and utilization of linter cotton. The cotton seed used by 

 the Marseilles millers is imported solely from Egypt. The 

 Egyptian seed gives no lint. There is only one large cru.sher 

 of cotton seed in Marseilles. He does not decorticate the 

 seed, and the hulls are pressed into shape for cattle feeding 

 and for manuring the market gardens in the neighbourhood 

 of Marseilles. The turn out of the cotton oil in Marseilles is 

 limited by the sale of the cake, which alnne enables the 

 millers to work at a profit. 



The supply of cotton seed from Egypt has been sufficient 

 to meet the local demand. Some Indian trial importations 

 were made, but shipments were discontinued owing to the 

 seed being enveloiied in lint and the oil obtained being 

 inferior in quality to that given liy the Egyptian seed. 

 2*birseilles soap manufacturers have established their reputa- 

 tion by the superior quality of their soap ; and it is essential 

 that the ingredients employed should be of the finest quality. 



A common brown soap is made at Marseilles from the 

 residue of cotton seed oil after refining, the process adopted 

 in refining the oil making the residue suitable to the purpose. 

 After crushing, the hulls are pressed into cake, the oil 

 extracted is refined by caustic alkalis (soda), and the residue, 

 after refining, is thus in itself an imperfect soap. 



SEA-WEED AS MANURE. 



It has long been known that sea-weed has 

 valuable fertilizing properties. Sir Humphrey Davy 

 in his Elements of Agricultural Chemistry, published 

 in 1814, refers to its use as a manure on the sea-coasts 

 of Britain and Ireland. Yet the value of this material 

 is not generally recognized and it is probably not 

 utilized to the extent it deserves. Naturally its use, 

 on account of its bulky nature, is restricted to lands 

 near the sea-coast ; but in such places sea-weed might 

 well be used as a means of enriching the soil. 



It may be regarded as a ' general ' manure, 

 supplying all the constituents of plant food, and is 

 therefore classed with such materials as farmyard 

 manure, although it contains a much higher percentage 

 of potash. It is especially useful on light, sandy soils 

 on account of the large Jimount of humus which it 

 supplies to the soil, a soil constituent which, on account 

 of the rapidity of decay under tropical conditions, is 

 too often deficient in West Indian soils. Watts in his 

 Introductory Manuid for Suijar Growers writes: 

 ' This forms a valuable manure when ploughed in ; by 

 this means nitrogen and potash are supplied together 

 with vegetable matter. About 20 to 30 tons per acre 

 form an excellent dressing'. 



On the sea-side sugar estates in Jamaica and also 

 in Barbados, sea-weed is freely used as a litter for 

 stalled animals or for pen manuring, and many 

 cultivators have employed it with considerable success 

 for yams and other starchy ground provisions, just as it 

 has been used to increase the yield of potatos iu other 

 countries. In the United States Department of 

 Agiiculture, Farmers' Bulletin No. 105, an account is 

 given of experiments in the use of sea-weed conducted 

 by James Hendrick at Aberdeen University, Scotland, 

 and by the Rhode Island Station staff in the United 

 States, and gives the following summary of results : — 



"While sea-weed has been used for a variety of purposes 

 it is chiefly valuable as a manure. For this purpose it might 

 be classed with green manures and barnyard manure, though 

 differing from the latter in its higher content of potash 

 (largely soluble) and lower content of phosphoric acid. On 

 account of its higher content of potash, sea-weed is best 

 adapted to soils deficient in this element and to crops which 

 are ' potash feeders ' such as potatos, clover, etc. To secure 

 a well-balanced fertilizer adapted to general purposes, the 

 sea-weed should be combined with a phosphate of some kind. 

 Sea-weed rapidly decomposes in the soil readily yielding up 

 its fertilizing constituents to crops. It is therefore most 

 economical to apply it to the soil as a top dressing or to 

 lilough it in in the fre.sh condition without previous fermenta- 

 tion. 



An advantage of sea-weed over barnyard manure is its 

 freedom from weed seeds, insects, and germs or spores of 

 plant diseases. 



