166 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



JIay 30, 190S. 



CONFERENCE OF COTTON GROWERS AT BARBADOS. 



A Conference of llio cotton growers of Barbados 

 was held on May L5, in ihe Lecture Hall of the Fiee 

 Library, Bridgetown, under the auspices (if the Barba- 

 dos General Agricidtural Society, for the inirpose of 

 enabling planters and others to take s^tock of the 

 present situation in regard to the Cotton Industry. 

 The Hon'ble. Sir Daniel Morris, K.C.M.G., was present 

 witli several officers of his Department. The Chair 

 was occupied by Hon. F. J. Clarke, C.M.(!., Speaker of 

 the House of Assembly and President of the Agri- 

 cultural Society. 



Sir Daniel Morris, in the introductory speech with 

 which he opened the meeting, e.xpressed his conviction that 

 the conferences betw'een scientific officers engageil in agri- 

 cultural work and members of the planting conununity, 

 inasmuch as they afforded an opjiortunity for the mutual 

 exchange of ideas respecting the treatment of crops on a laige 

 .scale, were calculated to he of benefit to all concerned. The 

 present (Jonferenee which had been arranged on his sugges- 

 tion by the Agricultural Societj% was intended to deal with 

 the present circumstances iind pro.spects of the Cotton Indus- 

 try. This indu.stry was started in 1903 with only 16 acres 

 under cultivation. The value of the crop that year was only 

 a little over £300. Last year the area under cultivation was 

 5,000 acres,andthe value of the lint and seed reached £76,876. 



According to figures supplied by ilr. .T. It. Bovell, Agri- 

 cultural Superintendent of thf island, this year the total area 

 under cultivation in cotton is 6,93.5 acres and the value of 

 lint and seed, in spite of low prices, is estimated not to fall 

 short of ,£100,000. It is evident that a new industry that 

 has shown such reniarkalde ])rfigress within so short a time is 

 deserving of the fullest consideration by those interested in 

 the welfare of this island. 



With a view of placing cotton growers in a fovourable 

 position for carrying on the industry, a complete little hand- 

 book {A. B.C. of Cotton J'litiitliHi) has been placed within the 

 reach of everyone. Further, the services of the officers of 

 the Department — the Entomologist and the Mycologist — as 

 well as those of Mr. I'ovcll, are always at hand in 

 cases of difficulty, therefore no one sliould be at a loss as to 

 what ought to be done in cases of emergem-y. 



We have already solved a good many problems which 

 confronted us when starting tlie industry, for instance, we 

 are now j)retty well agreed that in the black soil districts of 

 Barbados, the best time to jilant cotton is from the beginning 

 of July to the nnddle of .August ; whereas, on the higher lands 

 in the reibsoil districts, the best planting season is from the 

 beginning of August to the middle of Septendier. 



In regard to planting di.stances, there is practically 

 little to add to what i> already stated in tin- A. IS. Cot' 

 Cotton l^lnnlinii, p. 15. In a moderately ]ioor soil the distan- 

 ces reconunended are 5 feet between the lows and L'O inches 

 apart in the rows. In good land or land well manured, the 

 jilants may be set wider a[>art, .say, 6 feet between the 

 lows with the jilants IS inches apart in the roivs. 



In legai'd to the preparation of the lauil and manuring, 

 ,Mr. llovell anil others will ofl'er suggestions based on exper- 

 ience during the last five years. These I commend to your 

 favourable consideiation , 



Seed selection is possibly one of tlu' most imp<atant 

 matters requiring attention just now. The cotton plant is 

 of so pla.stic a character, and it is so easy to influence it by 



skilful methods of seed selection, that it is within our pr_>\ver 

 to raise plants suited to almost any condition of .soil and 

 climate,, which at. the same time produce exactly the charac- 

 ter of lint required by the spinners. It should also be within 

 our power to produce plants more or less inunure to several 

 of the diseases from which they now sufler. A striking 

 example of what is possible to be done in this direction is 

 that (if a ijlanter at Bai-bados. Last year he shijiped 7 bales 

 of cotton raised originally from a single plant. This cotton 

 has been pronounced at fjiverpijol fJiv most servicealilt- rlaax 

 fiU:)- jirodnccd in thf West Indirx. It is further stated that 

 during the last four plantings, it gave heavier yields than any 

 other variety. Thi.s remarkable result is within reach of 

 everyone who cares to devote clo.se attention to .seed .selection. 



As you are aware, owiTig to the general depression in 

 trade, prices are at ]ircsent lower than at any time during 

 the past five years. On the other hand, on looking over the 

 average prices of fine Sea Island cotton during the last twentv 

 years (published in the Aijrirnltnriil Xews, Vol. V, p. 279) it 

 will be observed that ten j'ears ago prices were lower than they 

 are now, but they gradually improved until last year, they 

 reached the maximum of more than i?0(/. j)er lb. When 

 trade improves there is no doubt that the price of Sea Island 

 cotton will also improve. In any case, at present Sea Island 

 cotton sells at three times the value of Upland cotton, .so if 

 we are to grow cotton at all, a good, hardy and prolific 

 variety of Sea Island cotton is likely to suit the.se Coloiues 

 better than any other. 



Professor d'.\lliU(|Uerijne addres>rd the meeting on 

 the subject of manuring Sea Island cotton. As stated 

 in the A.li.C. of Cotton J'/<intini;, e.x)ieriments carrieil out 

 under the Imperial 1 k'jiai-tment of .\griculture showed that the 

 best results were obtained by the application of a mixture 

 consisting of 300 !t). high grade superphosphate, 40 lb. good 

 suliihate of potash, and 100 U). good sulphate of ammonia 

 [ler acre. The plots which received the above mixture showed 

 a profit -of ■'?12'99 per acre. These results are similar to 

 those (iliiained from corresponding exjieriments previou.sly 

 carried out in theUnited States. 



I'lie necessity of kee[iing U|i the supply of liunius in 

 the soils of Barbados was then referred to, and it was 

 mentioned that many of the .soils of the island, which 

 are naturally thin, show a humus content of no more than 

 from 1 to 3 percent., and this notwithstanding the fact that 

 sugar-cane cultivation, witli its regular return of large 

 amounts of oiganic n]atter to the .soil, had been carried out 

 on these lands for such a long period. The growth of sugar- 

 cane was undoubtedly the best means of providing the 

 necessary humus, which was but imperfectly sujiplied by 

 cotton-cake-meal or ai tificial organic manures, such as tankage, 

 dried blood, etc. In view nf the fact that cotton did not 

 return anything liUe so much liunuis to the soil, ])lanters in 

 Barbados would lie well advi.secl to regard cotton as one 

 crop in a rotation, of whidi the sugar-cane t'orined an 

 inqiortant part. 



In I'onnexion with the use of cotton-cake-meal for maiui 

 rial puriHises, it was mentioned that, taking as a basis the 

 average results of ten analyses of liarbados i-i.ttnn-cake 

 (undecorticated), 1,000 Ih. of such a. substance, applied directly 

 to the land, would yield aliout the .same amount of nitrogen 

 as that given liy 200 tt). sulphate of ammonia, together with 

 about 50 lb. phosphate of lime, and potash equal to 30 lb. 

 sulphate of [lotash. It was pointed out, however, that the 



