Vol. III. No. 62. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



277 



COTTON NOTES. 



The Cotton Industry in the West Indies. 

 Considerable interest is being taken in Englaml 

 in the efforts that are being made to establish a cotton 

 industry in these islands. We reproduce the following 

 interesting article from the Thups of July 21: — 



It is satisfactory to report that the experiinental 

 cultivation of cotton in the West Indies has proved a success, 

 and that the industry is now established on a conuiiercial 

 basis. Plantations exist in Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, 

 Montserrat, Antigua, 8t. Kitt's, Trinidad, and the smaller 

 islands, while plots have also been started in Jamaica and 

 British Guiana. The total area estimated to be under 

 cultivation is -t,000 acres. During the season just ended 

 Barbados alone shipped, up to March 31, 24i bales and 

 ■2 bags of cotton, weighing 61,000 lb., and the gins have 

 been busy since. The Imperial Dei)artment of Agriculture, 

 which has the work in hand, has orders from planters for 

 Sea Island seed .sufficient to plant 7,000 acres,* and as 

 this quantity has been paid for, the presumi)tion is that it 

 will be used. In .Jamaica, where the pioneer work is being 

 carried out by the Board of Agriculture, enough seed has 

 been disposed of to plant 500 acres. A number of Syrians, 

 who are acquainted with cotton growing in Egypt, are 

 engaged in the cultivation there. Central factories for 

 ginning and pressing the cotton have been erected in the 

 various islands, and a cotton gin expert, from the Sea Islands, 

 has just completed four months' work on the machines, all of 

 wliich are now in perfect working order. He states that the 

 factory in St. Vincent is the best-arranged and best-equipped 

 he has ever seen. A nine-hours' run of the six gins yielded 

 3,800 tt). of lint ; in Barbados, where the methods and 

 appliances are not so scientifically complete, a similar run 

 gave from 1,.500 Hi. to 1,600 lb. There are a few private 

 ginneries, but the majority are Government undertakings 

 carried on under the direction of the Imperial Department 

 of Agriculture. The cotton is ginned, baled, and .shipped 

 for the planters for 3c. per It), of lint; seed-cotton is also 

 purchased at the rate of -tc. jier lb., which is equivalent to 

 payment at the rate of about 1 hi. per ft), for the lint in the 

 Liverpool market. The prices obtained for the Sea Island 

 cotton have been highly satisfactory. One recent consign- 

 ment from Barbados was valued at from l&d. to ITd. i^er lb., 

 another averaged just under 15(/., the highest price being 

 16i-(/., and the lowest 13rf. Prices current exhibited in 

 Barbados at the same time showed that Sea Island cotton 

 was being quoted in Savannah at from lOrf. to 12i(/., but 

 this was evidently the price for common lint, as the last crop 

 on the Sea Islands brought from 30c. to 3.5e. — this, of course, 

 representing the result of thirty odd years of careful selection 

 and cultivation. The figures given are sufficient to indicate 

 that West Indian cotton, grown from Sea Lsland seed, is 

 capable of yielding a return quite equal to the finest product 

 of America. It is calculated that, the yield of lint being 

 assumed to be 20-1 lb. per acre— the average in America — 

 and the total cost of placing it in the Liverpool market Id. 

 per ft), for cotton fetching 12d. per lb., the net profit would 

 be at the rate of £o 2.5. per acre, t Labour is cheaper in 

 the West Indies than in the Southern States ; the cotton gin 

 expert referred to was amazed at the low value of the labour 

 in Barbados. 



* Probably 10,000 acres will be planted during the season 

 1904-5. 



t Including the value of the seed for feeding purposes, 

 the total net profit would be about £7 per acre. 



Sir Daniel Morris, the head of the Imperial Department 

 of Agriculture, is of opinion that the only cotton that should 

 be grown in the West Indies is the Sea Island variety, 

 which, it i.-' well known, is a native of these islands. Other 

 varieties are therefore being eliminated. Some planters 

 favour the Upland, and even the indigenous varieties wJiich 

 are still found growing wild, but it will undoubtedly prove 

 more ad\antageous to devote attention only to the highly 

 cultivated, long-stajile Sea Island cotton. The area through- 

 out the world suitable for the growth of Upland is unlimited ; 

 that able to produce Sea Lsland is strictly limited. The 

 latter fetches double the price of any other cotton, and, 

 like Blue ilountain coffee, will remain unaftected by future 

 rtuctuations of the market. A sample of the native cotton 

 of Jamaica has been sent to England and pronounced very 

 fine, being valued at 14(f. per ftx It is a cotton which 

 appears to resist insect pests, and many think that a first- 

 clas.s variety might be evolved from it. The experiments in 

 the island, however, are being made with Sea Island seed, 

 and it will probably be found wiser to begin where the Sea 

 Island planters have left oft" than to engage in experiments 

 which may not prove successful. 



Many difficulties have naturally been encountered in 

 establishing the industry, owing largely to the inexperience 

 and ignorance of the growers, the most formidable being the 

 attack of the cotton worm. Remedies were not at hand, and 

 loss was sustained ; but the planters are now forearmed, and 

 they believe themselves able to cope with any similar 

 emergency. Every assistance is rendered to growe)-s by the 

 Imperial Agricultural Department, which has published and 

 circulated an extensive literature on the subject. One of 

 Sir Daniel Jlorris' latest ideas is to send the ofiicers of the 

 Department to the various islands to deliver popular lectures 

 on the industry with magic-lantern illustrations. He 

 recommends, however, that only capable planters should go 

 in for cotton growling at present, and advises those who wish 

 to come out to the West Indies to embark on planting on 

 a large scale, to pay a visit first to St. Vincent, and study 

 the conditions and opportunities there. Great credit is due 

 to him for his indefatigable efforts to promote the industry 

 during the past four years. West Indian planters are not 

 very ready to strike out on new lines, and, but for the steady 

 persistence and infiuence of the Department, aided by 

 practical assistance from the British Cotton Growing 

 Association and the West India Committee, it is doubtful 

 whether the present important results would have been 

 achieved. 



The following paragraph appeared in the 

 >SV. JameH BtuJget of July 23: — 



The announcement that no less than 4,000 acres 

 are now under cultivation seems to point to the establish- 

 ment of the cotton industry in the West Indies upon that 

 commercial basis which must be the foundation of its success. 

 Plantations are now dotted over practically every one of the 

 islands, and the future output shows a most promising 

 tendency to increase. For the coming season the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture has already received orders — and 

 better still, payment, for this argues confidence on the part 

 of the planters — for enough seed to cover 7,000 acres. 

 All this, considering the difficulties which have been 

 encountered during the experimental period, forms a most 

 encouraging start. And the excellent educational work 

 which has been carried on, under the guidance of Sir Daniel 

 Morris, by the Agricultuial Department, must be most heartily 

 commended for the stimulus and direction which have been 

 given to the efforts of the pioneers in this most important 

 movement. 



