210 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



October 25, 1902. 



linen is given in the ' Decline ami Fall of 

 the Linen Shirt' a recent editoiial in the Ii-'ikIi 

 Textile Jounuil. ' According to this authority the 

 Rothschilds iiseil to order, on occasions, a siqijilv at a 

 price up to thirty shillings a shirt whereas tiiose now 

 reijuired for the Duke of York and other Royalties 

 are turned out at Belfast with only iionts and cutfs of 

 linen, the bodies of cotton.' .Similarly cotton has 

 become a formidable competitor of wool, and even of 

 silk and ' mercerised cottons ' now displace silk to a 

 certain extent in various classes of goods. 



The world's total consumption of cotton has 

 increa.sed threefjld during the last fifty years. Li 18(i0 

 about 4,500,000 of bales of cotton (of .50011). each) 

 entered the maikets, whilst in 1901 the ' commercial 

 crop' was 12,.500,000 bales. Of this total no 

 less than .S.5 per cent, is supplied by the United 

 States. 



"With regard to the future demand f;)r cotton 

 Mr. Watkins states: 'It is estimated that of the world's 

 population of 1,500,000,000 about 500,000,000 regidarly 

 wear chjthcs, .-Ujout 750,000,000 are partially elothc(l, 

 and 250,000,0,)0 habitually go almost naked, and that 

 to clothe the entire population of the world would 

 recpiire 42,00;),000 bales of 5001t). each. It therefore 

 .seems more than likely that the cotton industry will 

 go on expanding until the whole of the inhabitants 



of the world are clotlied with the products of its 1 ns. 



This is not an unreasonable conclusion when we 

 consider the fact that cotton is the cheapest material 

 for clothing known to man. In the meantime it may 

 come to pass that the ^Norld's area suitable for cottoii 

 culture may have to be seriously reckoned with.' 



It is iuipi-obable tlien-foie that the suppiv of 

 cotton in the world is likely soon to exceed the 

 <lemand, ;ind althougli the West Indies ean never 

 hojie t(.) regain their old position and eontiibute 

 71 per cent, of the cotton useil in tireiit IJiitain, 

 as they did in 17!):}, there seems no reas<in whv they 

 .should not once again pi'oduce cotton to a suttieient 

 extent to b(; a veiy con.-.iderab!e .-^ource <.t wealth to 

 these Colonics. 



The Snakes of Barbados. 



Mr. C. T. .Miuiihy of Tuniei',^ Hall Wood .school, 

 Barbados, writes :— MVitli regard to the snakes of Baihiulos, 

 the only jilace where the larger .species may .still iK)ssil)ly 

 «xist, is along tlic windward coast of St. Aiuhcw. I last 

 saw one about five years ago, al>nut a yard in length, and of 

 a grey colour. I'.efore tlie introduction of tlic mungoosc they 

 weie freiinentjy found under cow-jicns, hut now tlioy .seem 

 cntn-ely extinct in the interior. The tbiana lizard also 

 seems to have been driven to this part of the jiarisli as a last 

 resort hy tlie mungoo.se. It is rarely now that one is seen. 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Beet Sugar in United States. 



COST OF I'ltODlCTION. 



The most important general siu'vey of the condi- 

 tion of the sugar industry as at present carried on in 

 v.irious ])arts of the world is undoubtedly that of 

 Dr. H. W. Wiley of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, delivered before the Ways and Means 

 Committee of the Hou.se of Eejn'esentatives at 

 Washington. From the account jiublislx'd in the 

 Lnaixiii iKi Planter we extract the following sunnnary 

 of the cost of beet sugar ]irodiiction in the United 

 States. By allowing for the charges for duty and freight; 

 West Indian planters may calculate the price at which 

 they must produce cane sugar in order to compete on 

 even terms with beet sugar in the United States' 

 markets. Dr. Wihy .said : — 



• \\'ith all the reliable data which are available, I 

 Wduld say : 



(1) The average yield \ky acre of beets in the 

 States does not reach ten tons. 



(2) Our farmers, for the most part, are growing 

 beets without any fertilization and it is not likely that 

 the average will be increased until fertilizers are 

 abundantly supplied and more scientific f>>rms ofagi-icul- 

 ture practised. 



('^) It is almost impossible to determine just 

 what the f irm ?r's exp:'nsj ingrowing a crop of beets 

 is, as it is hard to estinvite his labour and that of hi.s 

 own people and farm animal.s. 



i'he actual cost of the ])roduction of beets in this 

 country, where fertilizers are not used, may be confi- 

 dently stated as not less than .'i5:5000 per acre. 



'The cost of manufacturing the beets i.s better 

 known, because the data are more easily accessible. In 

 the manufacture, in the censusbulletin, there were n.sed 

 the following ijnantities of materi.als ; — 



Limestone, ()4,S05 tons. 



Coke, 7,51!) tons. 



Sulphur, 14!) tons. 



Ban-els, !)0,!)S5. 



Sacks, l,;U2.(i4!). 



Coal, l()!).2:i5 tons. 



Oil, 7,017,07!) gallons. 



Wood, .S.45!) cords. 

 'In the maimtiicture of ihese beets the follow ing 

 expen.ses were incurred : 



s 



Paid \^u- beets H,4.S.5,:i20 



For fuel 4.5:i.O:{ti 



Milling sui)plies IS, !):{:} 



Freights 8()!),()7() 



All other materials 477,4:{7 



Salaries and wages 1 ,44S,,S«2 



Miscellaneous expenses 451,851 



Total i?G,704,029 



