THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



May 



1919, 



COTTON. 



SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET. 



Thi! report of ^lessrs. H>^nry \V. Frost, it Co., on 

 Sf.i Island cotton in tht^ Southern States, for the 

 w<ek ended April .'>, 1919, is as follows: — 



ISLANDS. The market was quieter during the week, 

 -and the Exchanjie report.s sales of only 75 bales. 



There continues a deaiHnd for cotton .-siightly off iu 

 pieparatioii, but the entire offerings of these qualities were 

 di.'iposed of last week, leaving a stock consisting largely of 

 Fine to Fully Fine, which is bright fancy cotton, better tlian 

 ■ any selection that can ba made out of the Georgia and 

 Florida crops, and relatively the" cheapest cotton for sale- 



We quote, viz.; — 



Fine to Fally Fine, (^ 53c. to 53Jc-, f.o.b. and fr ight. 



•JEORGi.** ANii FLORiDAs. There ha.<j been a good 

 deiuatid throughout the week for the limited offering*, result- 

 ing in -siles of -429 bales, the buying being on account of 

 the Xorthern Mills. 



The interior markets are very firm, and the Savannah 

 Factors are asking higher prices. 



The better grades, Fancy, and Estra Ch')ice, are very 

 scarce and diliicult to buy at <juotations. 



We quote, viz.: — 



Fancy, 5.3c. to 53^c., f.o.b. and freight. 



Extra Choice, 52c. to 52Jc., f.o.b. and freight. 



Choice oOAc , f.o.b. and freight. 



Extra Fine, iShc , f.o.b. and freight. 



TLe expijrts from Savannah for the week were: to 

 Northern Mills 1,010 bales, Liverpool 375 bales There 

 -were do e.^ports from .Jacksonville this week. 



THE COTTON CROP IN MONPSERRAT. 



Mr. W. Kobson, Curator, Botanic Station, Montserrat. 

 ha< informed the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture that 

 the total area under cotton in Montserrat during the season 

 19 IS. 19 was .'{,107 a. 'res. a- compared with 2,';0Sasres in the 

 previous year. The pre.sent acreage is considerably the largest 

 ever placed under this crop in the island. The total amount 

 of lint produced was 43S,222Ib.. giving an average yield per 

 acre of 13^0)., as compared with an average yield per acre of 

 157B). in the year before. Although the average yiel>l was 

 •distinctly low as compared with the previous three years, 

 .Mr llob.'sdn con.siders the result to be, on the whole, very 

 Batinfactory, con.siilfring that tile weather experienced during 

 the critical period of the development of the crop was the 

 worst in the histoiy of the industry. 



It may be noted that at least half of this crop was the 

 production of HUiall giowerd, who seein to be taking more and 

 more interest in the cultivation of cotton. For this reisoc 

 Mr. rtobsoii believ.js that the area to be planted for the cotton 

 crop of 1919.20 \r\\' he even larger than the' record one of the 

 crop just finished. 



The position of the c-itton industry in Montserrat is 

 a very striking instance o' the improvement in agricultural 

 resources whi'rh may result from the careful cultivation of a 

 new cmp. Heference to the H\sf Ivdinn />'////<•'>/;, Vol. VITI. 

 p. 1, will fhow, in an article on the agricultural iiidttstries of 

 Monlsorr'' bv -ir Francis Wat'.-;, K.(^' ^f.G., that up to the 



year 1S92, the principal agricultural resource of Montserrat 

 was sugar cane. In that year, out of a total value of exports 

 from the isLmd of about i;2"J,0O0, the value of augar exported 

 was nearly £2 1 ,000. After that year, with a small rtujtuation, 

 the cultivation of sugar steadily declined tlie total exports in 

 1901 of that commodity being only some £3,000. Althougli 

 the value of the expirts of lime and lime juice reached iu that 

 year £7, 500, the decline in the sugar industry was leilected 

 in the total exports, which were only some £21,000. 



In th'.- article above referred to. Sir Francis Watts made 

 the following prophetic remark: 'Li'otton growing hiis now 

 become an important industry, and upijn this it would seem 

 the development of the island in the immediate future 

 directly depends.' Row true this remark was will be seen 

 by reference to another article on the same subject, also by 

 Sir Francis Wacis in the llht Jmh.xn IhiUctit^, \'o\.\\, 

 p. 11, in which is noticed the steady progress in the commer- 

 cial prosperity of Jfontseriat, the exports having risen from 

 £21,000 ill "1931 to£34,.".53 in 1914, of which cotton and 

 cotton seed supplied £1 3,530 This increasing value of cotton 

 to the revenue of the island evidently continues to the present 

 time The cotton crop just reaped, of more than 130,0001b. 

 represents at the present price, say .'l*. per B6., something more 

 than £65,000 in value. 



It is no wonder, therefore, that the .Montserrat cotton 

 growers are increasing their acreage, and devoting their 

 energies to the careful preservation of a good local strain of 

 Sea Island cotton, as well as the eradication of pests and 

 disea.ses inimical to that crop. 



PRECIPITATION OF FOa MOISTURE 

 BY TREES. 



A pip-.-r on tlie abive subjc;t by Dr. George V. I'eivz, 

 of Teneriffe, was published in a Sp.mish journal in .lanu ary 

 1918, and has since been translated into French, and pub- 

 lished as a leaflet for general distribution by the '''reuch 

 Central Association for tli° care of mountain forests. The 

 subject is so interesting that, although the conditions des- 

 cribed in Cape Colony and the Canaries aiijily only to a very 

 few spots in the more mountainous islands of the West 

 Indies, a translation of the article is here given as one more 

 argument in favour of the wise conservation of mountain 

 forests which has been advocated in this Journal from time 

 to time. 



The celebrated mountain, nearly 3,000 feet high, situated 

 to the south of the city of Cape Town forms, as is well 

 known, a plateau on which the sea-breezes are condensed. 

 The bree/.os I)l<)w there from the southeast, and prevail 

 especially during the summer season. The traveileri com- 

 pare the mist which they deposit on the mountain to a cloak 

 cov. ring it. 



Some years ago ]3r. Marloth made some simple and 

 enlightening experiments by placing two rain gauges in 

 situations where tliis mist is formed. (_)ne was of the usual 

 construction, while the other supported a sroro of 

 rods about 15 inches long, joined together at their ends by 

 metal gauze. The records showed that the ordinary g.iuge 

 did not collect a single drop of water from December 21, 

 1902 to .January 1, 1903, but that during the same pL-riod 

 .a.bout 15 inches of water were collected in that on which the 

 rods were erected; the total receive.1 up to February 15 in 

 the first instrument was only some 5 inches, while the level in 

 the .si-cond reached the almost incredible amount of nearly 

 78 inches. 



It is to be remembered that the time of the year when 

 rlii- . v|i.'ri'r..aii', «i- i'\rrl''d out. is .-iuiiiiiicr -.it I'l.ir l-nit'idn 



