Vol. VII. No. 159. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



167 



most economical method of using cotton-cake-meal was to 

 feed it to stock. With care, about 60 <ir 70 per cent, of the 

 fertilizing constituents could be saved in the manure, and in 

 that state they were in a much more readily avaihible condi- 

 tion than ill the original cotton-cake-meal. 



In conclusion Professor d'Albuquerque made brief 

 reference to the method of disinfecting cotton seed by the use 

 of a solution of corrosive sublimate. E.xperiments had 

 shown that in consequence of the absorption of the corro.sive 

 sublimate by the seed, and also by the wood of the vessel, it 

 was necessary, in order to ensure satisfactory results, to 

 prepare the solution only just before it is required, and to use 

 it for one lot of seed onl)-. 



Mr. J. It. Bovell, Agricultural Superintendent of 

 Barbados, read a paper in which he dealt with the 

 preparation of the land for cotton, the sowing and cultiva- 

 tion of the crop, and the methods follcfvved in the cotton 

 seed selection work carried on in Barbados. In regard to 

 the selection of land for cotton, Mr. Rovell stated, it would 

 appear that all parts of the island, with the e.vception 

 perhaps of some of the very heavy day sqils in the Scotland 

 district, were .suitable for growing the crop. No hard and 

 fast rules could be laid down as tfi the amount of cultivation 

 required, but it was essential in all cases that the land 

 should be got into proper tilth some time before the seed is 

 to be sown. Land that had previously Ijeen planted in some 

 crop such as sweet potatos would naturally nut recjuire so 

 much tillage preparatory to cotton as a field from which 

 a crop of second ratoons had recently been reaped. Similarly, 

 so large a quantity of manure would probably not be needed 

 by a cotton crop following plant canes which had been well 

 manured as where the cotton came after a cmp of seci:>iid 

 ratoons. 



The results that have so far been obtained indicate that 

 the best time for planting cotton .seed in the black-soil 

 districts of Barbados is from the beginning of June or 

 middle of July to the middle of August, and in the red-soil 

 districts of the island from the beginning of August to the 

 middle of September. Occasionally, cotton planted out of 

 season has given good results, but only in e.xceptional cases. 

 Under no circumstances should more than ime plant lie 

 allowed to grow at each hole. 



About 6 11). of seed was mentioned as the quantity 

 required per acre under the ordinary circumstances of plant- 

 ing (with distances of 5 feet between the rows, and 20 inches 

 from plant to plant in the rows, and al.so when the rows are 6 

 feet ai)art, and the plants are at a distance of 18 inches from 

 each other in the rows). If the seed is of good germinating 

 power, four seeds should be planted at each hole, about an 

 inch deep. Later, the plants will be reduced to one at each 

 hole, the strongest naturally being the one left. 



One of the chief points in the after-cultivation of the 

 crop consists in keeping the cotton plants free from weeds. 

 As the growth of the crop advances, this work should be 

 done by hand, since in weeding with a hoe there is a danger 

 of bruising the plants, and red maggots are freipiently found 

 in such bruises later on. 



When the cotton has been gathere<l it is most imjiortant 

 that the different qualities should be sorted from each other, 

 and that any bits of leaf, stalks, etc., be removed from the 

 lint. If necessary the cotton should I>e whipped to remove 

 adhering dirt or sand, and it shmdd be sunned for at least 

 a day, being afterwards bulked for about four to six weeks, 

 to allow some of the oil in the seeds tf) be absorbed by the 

 fibres. This cau.ses them to be .silky and lu.strous. 



Mr. Bovell then dwelt upon the great importance of 

 .seed selection in connexion with Sea Island cotton cultiva 



tion, and gave a detailed account of the methods followed in 

 the cotton seed selection work carried on at Barbados under the 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture. The characteristics 

 of the plant taken into account in the selection work were 

 the productivity or total yield, the quality of the lint, 

 resistance of the plant to insect pests and fungoid diseases, 

 and the habit of the plant. Some two or three years ago, 

 three plants were selected on a certain estate at Barbados, 

 and the owner recently shipped to England 7 bales of 

 cotton, the ]>rogeny of one of these plants. Messrs. Wolsten- 

 holme and Holland, in their report on the shipment, stated 

 that it was the mrjst serviceabh- clas.-, of cotton that had ever 

 been received from the West Indies. 



A summary of the remaining papers read at the 

 Conference, together with Sir Daniel Morris' conclud- 

 ing address, will be given in the next issue of the 

 Ai/ricultii rill News. 



CROWN LANDS IN ST. VINCENT. 



The following note giving particulars of the grants 

 of Crown and other lands in St. Vincent made during 

 1906-7, appears in the Annual Report on the island 

 for that year : — 



The price of ordiiuuy Crown land is £\ per acre for 

 cash, and £l' if paid in instalments. A certain area is rented 

 out in .small lots at 6.s. 'id. an acre. The law governing the 

 disjiosition and administration of these lands was con.solidated 

 and simplified during the year under review. 



The amount of Crown land proper granted.during lf}06-7 

 was 253 acres, the number of grants issued being fifty-five, as 

 against forty-.seven in the })revious year ; while of eruption 

 lands (the latter lieing the estates acquired from the Eruption 

 Fund in 1902 for location of refugees, on which, however, 

 there were numerous tenants found, many of whom have since 

 acquired their holdings) grants were issued to l.'-il persons, 

 of which thirty-four were for small lots and ninety-.seven for 

 house-spots. 



The revenue from sales and rental of t'rown lands, 

 not including eruption estates, was £407, as against £444 

 in the previous year; whilst the revenue from the eruption 

 lands aggregated £2.'?.S, as against £20S in the previous 

 year. 



COFFEE CULTURE IN SURINAM. 



Dr. Van Hall, Director of Agriculture at Parama- 

 ribo, in the course of a brief article on present condi- 

 tions in Dutch Guiana, contributed to Tropical Life 

 for April last, writes as follows in regard to efforts that 

 are being made to re-introduce the cultivation of 

 Surinam coffee into the colony: — 



In order to wean the small proprietors of the colony 

 from being wholly dependent on cacao culture^ a large 

 number of coffee .seedlings have been .sold to them, .so as to 

 encourage them as much as possible in again taking up the 

 old Surinam coffee cultivation, so prominent in former years. 

 The variety is a kind of Cof\-a arahim, yielding what was 

 known on the Amsterdam market as the ' blue bean.' At 

 one time this was a very favourite .sort, but after the abolition 

 of slavery it was no longer a paying crop, and so the cultiva- 

 tion was abandoned. If, however, the small proprietors 

 continue to per.severe with its cultivation in the near future as 

 well as they have done in the past ten years, then Surinam 

 coffee will again make its appearance on the European 

 markets. 



