246 



'!HE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



AiuujsT S, 1908. 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



Messrs. WolstciiholuK' i<r Hulhmd, of Liverpool, 

 write as follows under date July 20, with reference 

 to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton on the 

 Liverpool market : — 



8ini;e our last reiiort, uliout 190 r)ales of West Indian i^ea 

 Island cotton have been sold, which include small (|Uantities 

 of ISarbados and St. Kitfs at 1 •")(/. to 1.5id, St. Croix, 

 Antigua, and St. ]\Iartius at \ii/. to lod., together with 

 about 50 bales stains at (v/. to 7'/., and 2-5 Ijales slightly 

 stained at \.t. 



Prices are steady, but factors are not free liuyers, 

 pending the developments of the American crop. 



COTTON MARKET IN THE SEA ISLANDS. 



Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., of Charleston, in 

 their fortnightly report on the American Sea Island 

 cotton market, dated July 11 last, write as follows: — 



There has been a limited demand during the past fort- 

 night for cotton for export to France, resulting in the sale of 

 77 bales, including 30 bales of 'fully tine' quality, sold at 30c. 

 Apart from this the market remains quiet and unchanged. 



The factors and planters continue to hold the crop lots 

 very firmly at 32c. and upwards, having decided to carry 

 them over into the uext crop if they fail to sell at their 

 asking [irices, hoping tliat there may be some improvement 

 in the tine trade, wliirh will admit of the .spinners paying 

 better ladces. 



In reference to the cominj^ crop, Messrs. Frost 

 write : — 



We have had good re[)orts from all sections, and so far 

 as we can learn, tlie crop is making fa\ourable progress. 



MANURIAL EXPERIMENTS WITH 



COTTON AT ST. KITT'S AND 



MONTSERRAT. 



A report for the year 1907^<S on the manurial 

 experiments with cotton that have been in progress at 

 St. Kitt's and ]\Iontserrat since 1IK)4 has been received 

 from Dr. Francis Watts, C.M.G. CompJeto details of 

 ihe scheme of manuring that is being followed in these 

 experiments were given in the A()rLCultural iVeifs 

 (Vol III, p. 237), and summaries of the annual reports 

 h>r 1904-5, 1905-G, and 190l)-7 were published in 

 Vol. IV, p. 263 : Vol. V, p. 231, and in Vol. VI, p. 198. 



The .series of trials i.s a very comprehensive one, there 

 being as many as thirty-eight distinct experiments. Furtlier, 

 idl tlie experiments have been repeated three times every 

 year, tlie seed in the first instance being sown in June, in the 



second instance in August, and in the third instance in 

 September or October. At St. Kitt's, the experiments have 

 now been conducted for four years on the same individual 

 plots : i.e., every plot in the series has received a sinular 

 ap|ilication of manure each season since 1904. The ilont- 

 serrat experiments differed from those carried out at St. Kitt's, 

 in that they were not conducted on plots which liad previously 

 received similar manures. 



As in previous seasons, tlie application of artificial 

 manures seems to have had little influence on the yield of 

 cotton. Ff)r exanq)le, in the tir.st series of experiments at 

 St. Kitt's, i.e., the cotton planted in June, an average return 

 of 1,1 G.3 11). of .seed-cotton per acre was obtained from the 

 uiimantued [ilots, a plot dressed witli a complete artificial man- 

 uie, containing nitrogen, [iotasli, and phosphates, yielded at tlie 

 rate of 1,172 lb. per acre, while the plot which had been 

 given ordinarj' pen manure yielded seed-cotton at the rate of 

 1,242 lb. per acre. 



In the case of the experiments with July-planted cotton, 

 the unmaiun-ed plot gave 1,480 It), of seed-cotton per acre, 

 the plot which had received a com])lete dressing of artificials 

 yielded at the rate of only 1,3:>2 Hi. of .seed-cotton, while the 

 plot which had been dressed with pen manure gave a crop of 

 seed-cotton at the rate of 1,.")72 It), per acre, lieturns of 

 a similar nature were obtained in the iiianiuiid tiials carried 

 out at Montserrat. 



From the above returns, it is evident that an exj)enditnre 

 on artificial manures for the cotton crop is not justified 

 in St. Kitt's or Montserrat, when the croji is grown under 

 conditions sinnlar to tho.se which governed the experiment.s. 

 The general results of the experiments have shown that 

 factors other than the application of artificial manures exert 

 the most marked influence on the yield of cotton obtained. 

 The crop requires that the land shall be in good condition, 

 and it is the experience of [ilanters that this condition is best 

 served by the use of manures of the larm \aid tvpe, <n- by 

 green dres.Mngs. 



Cnder the circumstances iircvailiug in the Leeward 

 Islands, the crop return obtained with Sealslar.d cotton i.s 

 evidently influenced more li\ lln' linic of planting than by 

 uianuring with iirtiticials. The \ariations in the yields 



obtained as the results of planting in .Inne, in August, and in 

 Sei)tember or t)ctober respectively, were shown in the tabular 

 statement given in the course of an article dealing with 

 the cotton experiments at St. Kitt"s that appeared in 

 the A;/rir,i/t,irn/ A'- ('■.< of .luly 1 1 last (Vol. VII. p. 214). 



The low return of seed-cotton obtained from the 

 .September-sown area— 4 7.") It), per acre and the fact that 

 still lower yields were given each year in the past, appear 

 certainly to indicate that sowing in this month is too late 

 for cotton planters in St. Kitt's. 



