Vol. III. No. 67. 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



359 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



The following is a short .summary of an address 

 delivered at Barbados by Mr. E. Lomas Oliver, one 

 of the Deputation from the British Cotton-growing 

 Association • — 



It is always an achaiitage for the in-oducer and consumer 

 to keep in close touch with one another. You are cotton 

 ifrowers : I am a cotton s[iinner. If I can do no good, it can 

 at any rate do no harm for us to explain to one another 

 the ditficuUies we have to contend with in our relative 

 industries. I intend to be perfectly candid with you 

 and to tell you the faults as well as the merits of the cotton 

 you have so far sent us. 



One of the characteristics of the "West Indian cotton 

 shipped during the last two years has been the large 

 proportion of fibres which contain little or no natural 

 twist, the cotton not being round with a si)iral twist 

 but fiat like a tape. This natural twist is very desirable 

 because, if it is not in the fibres naturally, the spinner is 

 obliged to put in extra twist to hold the fibres together. The 

 more twist a spinner has to put in, the more his cost of 

 production is increased. Even when the extra twist is 

 put on, the yarn is not so good, because the twist being 

 artificial and not natural, the yarn is rendered more brittle 

 and less elastic and snaps more easily under any strain. At 

 the close of my remarks, I shall show you samples of these 

 fine yarns and I think you will then understand the great 

 advantage of the presence of natural twist. I understand 

 from Sir Daniel Morris that one of the chief causes of this 

 absence of natural twist in West Indian cotton was the 

 presence of immature fibre caused indirectly by the attacks of 

 the cotton worm, and by picking the cotton before it was 

 properly ripe. :^Iore care will therefore have to be taken by 

 the pickers, if you are to send us perfect cotton. 



Another important point is most carefully to avoid mixing 

 the seed of long-staple and short-staple cotton, and, if through 

 any cause whatever after carefully selecting your seed-cotton, 

 that grown on one patch should be inferior to that grown on 

 another patch, then keep them separate, for, if you mix them, 

 you will only obtain a price equal to the worst cotton in each 

 bag, and, even then, a spinner will avoid buying mixed cotton, 

 if there is a plentiful supply of perfect cotton on the market. 

 ,Just as tlie strength of a chain is its weakest link, so is 

 cotton only worth the value of the poorest cotton in the bag. 

 If necessary, divide your crop into three grades, and,_ if you 

 do this, you will be able to obtain the full market prices for 

 each grade. Eemember you are aiming at supplying a trade 

 in which quality is all important. 



Those planters who intend producing a really good 

 quality of cotton .should put their names, or the name of 

 their estate, upon the liags containing their first grade of 

 cotton, and some other distinguishing mark on their 

 second grade. In our trade, if a cotton of a certain mark 

 has been found to yield satisfactory results, the spinner will 

 look out with interest for the same mark of cotton again, and 

 in two or three years that planter, if he keeps \x\) a regular 

 standard quality, will have established a reputation which 

 will prove a very valuable trade asset. 



A third point, which it is very desirable you should 

 observe, is to use a good covering for the bags and to 

 press them to about 200 cubic feet to the ton weight, and 

 to let the bags be between ,300 and 400 lb. weight each. 

 Of course, if you have 100 or 200 lb. over, you will have 

 to send a smaller bag to finish off the cro}! of that grade ; 

 but do not be tempted to make up a bag of full weight by 



mixing two grades, for it is almost certain the spinner 

 will find you out and your reputation as a grower will 

 in consequence suffer. It will be well for you not to ship 

 smaller lots than .5 or 6 bags of one grade at a time. 

 Odd bags are not easily saleable and less than 100 B). 

 is not a merchantable quantity. The British Cotton-growing 

 Association will, however, bu}' odd bags of ginned cotton 

 which are not stained, but which are clean, at 8(Z. per lb. 

 Stained cotton should not be shipped unless the owner 

 is prejiared to see it sold for f)d. (ler 11"). when it reaches 

 England. 



It would also be as well for a standard ^^eight and 

 size of canvas to be adopted for the whole of the West Indies, 

 and be sure to choose a fairly good cpiality so that when the 

 cotton arrives at the mill in England there is no cotton 

 protruding through holes in the bag. This may not be as 

 important as the first points I have touched upon, but you 

 will be well advised if you bale your cotton so that it will 

 arrive in the best possible condition. Some of your cotton 

 is sent out in bales bound round with iron bands like Florida 

 and Georgia Sea Island cotton, but I understand in some 

 cases presses have been obtained for making up the cotton 

 in bags without bands, which will give the bales the same 

 appearance as the cotton from Edisto and .lames Island. 

 The very finest and highest-priced cotton never has iron 

 bands round the bales. I do not think a single planter in 

 Edisto or .lames Island puts bands round his cotton, and to see 

 bales with iron bands round them might lead some spinners 

 to be suspicious lest they were buying Florida and Georgia 

 Sea Island and not real Sea Island grown upon islands. 



You have had a considerable advantage over every 

 other British cotton-growing area in that you have had the 

 benefit of Sir Daniel Morris' presence and his unrivalled agri- 

 cultural knowledge. Jlost of us have to buy our experience 

 very dearly and learn by the mistakes we make how 

 not to do it. The progress which you have so far made 

 in cotton growing is simply phenomenal ; and if your 

 industry has made such strides, you have Sir Daniel Morris 

 and his stafl" to thank for obtaining such an accumulation of 

 knowledge '>f detail as you could not perhaps otherwise have 

 gained in less than a generation of failures and mistakes. It 

 is a great pleasure to me, 1 can assure you, to come here and 

 second the efforts of so devoted a public official, and, if my 

 experience as a spinner of cotton is of any use to you, I shall 

 be only too hai>py to explain what the requirements of 

 a spinner as regards his raw material are. Remember that 

 the class of cotton you are growing does not go into coarse 

 goods where defects are not readily detected. It is used, 

 amongst other things, in the manufacture of Brussels and 

 other lace, embroidery, curtains, muslins, gloves, and the best 

 sewing cotton. If you will follow the advise of Sir Daniel 

 Morris and the members of his stafl" on matters on which you 

 are not quite sure, you will be well advised. The great 

 regret often expressed at the British Cotton-growing 

 Association meetings is that they are unable to find five or 

 six other agricultural authorities with the same energy as 

 Sir Daniel, because they see that the state of progress arrived 

 at in the West Indies surpasses by far the progress made in 

 other places where we are trying to grow cotton. The cotton 

 you have already sent possesses some most important and 

 satisfactory features. It is not yet quite .so good as the 

 cotton we get from Edisto and James Island, but, with the 

 hints which have been given you from time to time, there 

 is no reason why, if you follow them, you should fear, in the 

 case of very fine cotton, the competition of the whole world, 

 and you will be able to take that place to which your soil and 

 your climate entitle you in this important industry. 



