Vol. III. No. 54. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



149 



COTTON NOTES. 



A planter writes : — I mil of opinion that land for Sea 

 Island cotton should be regularly cultivated and manured 

 as for canes. Under such treatment the jdeld of seed-cotton 

 has averaged 1,000 lb. per acre. This gives me a return 

 equal to that from canes, but in eight months instead of 

 sixteen months. 



The planter continues : — I have hail two phices under 

 my charge wliere these results have been attained, and 

 I propose to take up cotton growing on a still larger scale this 

 year. There can be no doubt that Sea Island cotton is the 

 best to grow — that is, provided it is well looked after and the 

 cotton worm is kept in check. 



The Secretary of the British Cotton Growing Association 

 writes to the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture, under 

 date Aiiril 11, 1904: — 'You will be glad to hear that the 

 cotton coming forward is fetching good prices, especially 

 that fi'om Barbados. For some reason or other the cotton 

 from Anguiila, St. Kitt's, and some other small islands is not 

 quite up to the mark.' 



Disinfecting Cotton Seed. 



In a recent issue of the Agrirulfiiral AVjcs (Vol. Ill, 

 p. 117) an account was given of some experiments, carried on 

 in the Mycological Laboratory of the Imperial Department 

 of Agriculture, to test the efl'ect on the germination of cotton 

 seeds of steeping them in solutions of corrosive sublimate. 

 In this .series of experiments the seeds were planted 

 immediately after being taken from the solutions. 



It was then mentioned that a second series of 

 experiments had been started. This was a duplicate of the 

 first series, but in addition, the effect of a 1 : 100 solution 

 was tested. The results were as follows : — 



The 1 per cent, solution thus had a marked effect in 

 reducing the percentage of seeds that germinated. 



A third series was started to test the effect of steeping the 

 seeds, drying them and then planting at different intervals. 

 I The seeds were all .soaked in a 1 : 500 solution of corrosive 

 I sublimate for one hour, on March 23. The results were : — 



A. Seeds planted immediately, 

 Percentage of seeds germinated 



B. Seeds dried, planted April 6 (after 14 days). 

 Percentage of seeds germinated 



C. Seeds dried, planted April 13 (after 21 days). 

 Percentage of seeds germinated 



D. Seeds dried, planted April 20 (after 2b days). 

 Percentage of seeds germinated 



= 73 



65 



74 



72 



It is evident, therefore, that, so far as the effect on 

 germination goes, it is immaterial whether the seeds be 

 planted immediately after being steeped or dried and planted 

 at any interval afterwards. 



Improvement of Indian Cotton. 



In a recently published letter from the Govern- 

 ment of India, the following important statement is 

 made with regard to efforts that are being put forth 

 to bring about an improvement in the quality of 

 indigenous varieties of cotton: — 



As Sir G. Watt has i>ointed out in the papers forwarded 

 with Lord George Hamilton's despatch of July 17 last, 

 efforts were at first directed too much to the acclimatization 

 of e.xotic species. !More recently attention has been given to 

 the improvement of indigenous varieties at the various 

 Government farms, and we are convinced that in this 

 direction lies our best hope of success. The great importance 

 of improving the quality of Indian cottons has always been 

 recognized by the Government, and when an Inspector- 

 General of Agriculture was appointed in 1901, he was asked 

 to devote his first attention to the subject. Experiments 

 were then undertaken on a more extensive scale under the 

 personal supervision of the Inspector-General, who had 

 studied the methods adojited in America. The cultivation of 

 exotic varieties has not been discontinued, but the main 

 object of the exi)oriments has been the improvement of the 

 quality of indigenous varieties and the possibility of obtaining 

 new and impro\ed varieties by hybridization. 



Cotton Experiments at Nevis. 



The Hon. C. Artliur Shand has forwarded the 

 following notes on the experiments in cotton growing 

 at the Experiment Station at Nevis during 1903-4 : — • 



The experiments were particularly designed to test the 

 best distance for planting cotton. For this purpose four 

 plots (A,B,C,D,) were planted in cotton at varying distances. 

 The following table gives particulars for eacli plot : — 



It will be observed that the best results were obtained 

 from plots A and D, especially the latter. The land was 

 treated in the same manner for each plot, and no manure of 

 any kind was applied. The total yield from the four plots 

 (about -fV acre) was 129 lb. of seed-cotton, or at the rate of 

 about 1,900 &. per acre. 



Owing to frequent applications of Paris green no 

 damage whatever was done by the cotton worm. 



Green Dressing. We are informed by Mr. John 

 Belling, B.Sc, that in the drought of 1903 the velvet bean, 

 grown in St. Kitt's as green dressing, was often skeletonized 

 by caterpillars, while the cow pea with leathery leaves was 

 scarcely ever attacked by the inescts. 



