A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



Vol. I. No. U. 



BARBADOS, OCTOBER 2.5, 1902. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 



Agricultural Sucieties : — 



Antigm 210 



Diiiiiiuica 2IH 



Arbor Day 210 



Barbados : — 



Lectures to Teaohers ... 21:? 



Soils of 221 



Snakes of, 210 



Cotton, Deniaiul for ... 200 



1>epartm3nt News 221 



Djjiartnient Publications 22.'5 

 Department Reports : — 

 A'ltigua Botmic Station 221 

 Dominica Botanic Sta- 

 tion etc 221 



Gleanings 220 



Goat Keeping 221 



Hay Grass at Antigui ... 21G 



Insect Notes : — • 



Insects at Sea 211 



Sjjraying young Corn ... 2]() 



Page. 



Market Reports 222 



Notes and Comments ... 214 



Onions, Experiments at 



Dominica 211) 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Proj;re3sive Lessons in 

 Science 210 



Pine-apples, Dise.ise of ... 213 

 Poultry 218 



Sour Grass and Ticks ... 210 

 Sugar Industry : — 



Beet-SugarintheU.S.A. 210 



Vanilla cultivation ... 212 

 Volcanic dust, at Barbados 217 



West Indies, Commercial 



inquiries in 210 



ri' 



The Demand for Cotton. 



^^ "^^ * > the ' Yt-ar-bouk ' of the United States 

 (^ 2^3^ Department of Agriculture for 1901, Mr. 

 ^fe^l J. L. Watkins, the Cotton Expert of the 

 Dej)artinent, contributes a paper entitled 'The Future 

 Demand fur Amaiic?»i Cottwn.' This paper is of 

 particular interest to the West Indies at the present 



time, containing, as it does, an account of the extra- 

 ordinaril)' i-apiil growth of the world's demand fijr 

 cotton during the last hundred years, together with 

 some forecasts as to the future. 



The three most important textile fibres of the 

 world are Hax, wool and cotton. At the end of the 

 eighteenth century (1793) wool occupied the first 

 place in Great Britain, flax being second, and cotton 

 third. ' In fact the value of cotton fabrics and yarns 

 amounted to only 5 per cent of the whole.' Ten years 

 later ci:)tton had advanced to second place, and in 

 an :)t!ier ten years had attained the lead. Tiiis posi- 

 tion it still occupies, Mdth its two competitors left far 

 behind. The following figures from Elison's Cuttun 

 Tniilr (if Great Brltdin well illustrate this point. The 

 Consumption of cotton, wool and flax in CJreat Britain 

 is given in millions of pounds. 



Cothm Wiiid Flax 



41-8 100-() 108-6 



l,.594-0 4961) 214-7 



These figures show that during the last century, 

 whilst the increase of consumption of flax increased 

 about twice, that of wool increased by five times 

 and that of cotton by no less than thirty-nine times. 



The enormous increase in the amount of cotton 

 used has been due to various causes. In the first 

 place, new markets have. been found fur cotton goods, 

 and many races who formi?rly went unclothed now wear 

 cotton fabrics. In other countries cotton has entered 

 into competition with linen, wool ami silk. An inter- 

 esting example of the competition between cotton and 



Yea r-i 

 1799-1801 

 1898-1900 



