A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



'n;ARY 



OARDisi; 



Vol. III. No. 69. 



BARBADOS, DECEMBER 3, 190i. 



Peice Id. 



The Visit of Cotton Experts 

 the West Indies. 



to 



N" the hist two issues of the Af/ricuUtiral 

 iA^<"!fs several references have been made 

 to the visit of Mr. E. Lomas Oliver 

 and Mr. Richard Stanclitfe, forming a deputation 

 from the Britisli Cotton-growing Association. It 



may be of interest to review briefl}- the steps 

 that \\ere taken to enable these gentlemen to 

 form an adequate opinion of the progress that has 

 been made in the establishment of the cotton industry 

 in the West Indies and at the same time to enable 

 cotton growers to profit by the advice the Deputation 

 was able to give them. 



During the week spent by the experts in 

 Barbados, visits were paid to a large nuQiber of estates 

 on which cotton is being grown ; a conference was held 

 with the Barbados Cotton Committee, and on October 

 29, Mr. Oliver was present at a large public meeting of 

 cotton growers and delivered an interesting address, 

 a summary of which aj^peared in the Agricultural 

 iVciCs (Vol. Ill, p. 3.59). 



On October 31, the Deputation left Barbados, in 

 the company of Sir Daniel Morris, on a tour of the 

 Northern Islands in the S. S. ' Daliome,' by which 

 arrangement it was possible to spend not less than one 

 day in each island. At St. Lucia a meeting of the 

 Agricultural Society was held in the morning, visits 

 being paid later in the day to the cotton plots at the 

 Agricultural School, where cotton of an excellent 

 quality was in course of being picked. A proposal was 

 adopted to start a small Limited Liability Company 

 for the purpose of canying on cotton growing on 

 a commercial scale and erecting a ginning factory. 



At Montserrat visits were paid to the large areas 

 (200 acres) under cotton at Dagenham estate. The 

 plant.s, everywhere, appeared to be in excellent 



