406 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



December 26, 1908, 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



Messrs. WciUteiiholiue & Holland, uf Liverpool, 

 write rts follows, tinder date of December 7, with refer- 

 once to the sales of West Indian tSea Island cotton : — 



Since our last report wu have been in treaty with some 

 of the largest buyers of Sea Island cotton, with a view to 

 (■learing off the balance of old stock of West Indian, with the 

 result that between 1,000 and 1,100 bales have been sold on 

 the basis of the prices ruling for Sea Island cotton to arrive. 



The above sales include Antigua, Barbado.s, Nevis, 

 St. Croix, St. Kitt's, St. JIartin, and the Virgin Islands, and 

 the prices range chiefly between 10:^rf and [i'l'l, with a few 

 of the better qualities of Barbados at 14r/, to 1 •")(./. 



COTTON GROWING AT ST. VINCENT. 



An article recently contributed to the .^7. \'iacevf 

 Si'Dtr;/ by Mr. W. N. Sands. Curator of the Botanic 

 Station of the island, deals with the present, position of 

 the cotton and arrowi-ont indiistiles of St. Vincent. 



It is pointed out tliat tlu; market for arrowroot is 

 uncertain, and that profits are limited. There does not appeal- 

 to be any increase in the demand for arrowroot, but rather 

 a decrease, and therefore the only wise plan is to turn tn 

 tiie careful cultivation of other proilucts, which promise to lie 

 more remunerative. Chief among these is cotton. 



In averagi; years it may be taken that St. N'ineeiil cottun 

 will sell at prices ranging from llv/. to 1S(/. per It)., or there- 

 abouts if the quality is kept n\>. in order to pay at these 

 ligiires, oveiy effort must be maile to ensure a good yield (not 

 le.ss than Adjide, i.e. 180 lb.) j'cr acre. For the I907-S .season, 

 the average yield of lint per acre obtained by St. Vincent 

 growers was i;').5 Iti. nnly, and foi- the 190S-9 season it 

 j)roiuiscs to be lower still. 



The cau.se of this low return is undoubtedly due in large 

 part to careless cultivation and deficient manuring, the crop 

 in large numbers of cases being grown on poor or exhausted 

 land. 



In the hoiie of inducing growers to make every effort to 

 impriivi' the conditions under which tlie cotton crop is pro- 

 duceil, and so to increa'-(> the yield, Jlr. Sands offer the 

 following suggestion.s, wlii(di may usefully be brought to the 

 notice of planters anil siimll holders (uitside of St. \'inccnt : — 



' Practise a well-arranged rotation of crops, or some 

 method of I'ldlivatiun uliieh will give the land a ili.inge and 

 rest from entton. 



' .Make greater use of leguminous and otlier plants for 



green dressing purposes. Among useful plants of this kind 

 are pigeon peas, cow peas, woolly j^yrol, etc. 



' Return the cotton seed in some form or other to the 

 land, and u.se pen or other organic manures more freelj'. 



' Cultivate the land thoroughly." 



IMPORTANCE OF STRENGTH IN 



SEA ISLAND COTTON. 



The followine; note, quoted from the official report' 

 of the proceedings of the Lancashire Cotton Conference 

 held in August last, and which forms a siunniary of 

 a speech made by Mr. E. Lonias Oliver, of the British 

 Cotton (h'owiiig Association, emphasizes the great 

 importance of strength of staple in Sea Island 

 cotton : — 



As pointing out how cottf)ii altered its character, and 

 the necessity of growing ty[)es of cotton suitable for the 

 different soils and climatic conditions under which they were 

 cultivated, Mr. Oliver stated that the results of growing 

 St. A'incent cotton seed in Ceylon, -10 miles inland, were 

 that the cotton had entirely changed its characteristics, but 

 it had fully maintained its strength, and was a very good, 

 desirable class of cotton. This showed that if the grower 

 started with cotton wdiicli had strength, that character would 

 t>e maintained, l>iil he must point out that fineness by itself 

 was of no use. It did nut matter wdiether cotton was tine or 

 coarse, long or short, but it must be strong ; and he could 

 not impress too carne.stly on the growers that however fine 

 and Icmg the staple may be, their cotton would never fetch 

 a good price unless it was also strong, and, provided this charac- 

 teristic were jircsent, .spinners would rather buy shorter cotton 

 than a soft, weak |>rodiicl, no matter how fine or Imw Inug 

 it might be. 



CACAO EXPORTS FROM TRINIDAD. 



The shi|imenls of cacao from Trinidad in the pa.-<t 

 November amounted altogether to 2,709,22() lb., which brings 

 the total export since .lannaiy 31 last up to ;!7,0.'50,821 lt>. 

 In 1907, the shipments to the .same date were .'!."), 062, (ill) ]h. 



The United St^ites- form the chief market for Trinidad 

 cacao, and on November last, the quantity shipped to that 

 country was 1, (>."", S06 lb. In tlie same month France took 

 686,1-15 11)., Holland, 188,100 11>.; Cermany, 114,24;nb.: the 

 United Kingdom, 102,032 11).: and Canada only 1,0001b. 



London (juot-itions for Trinidad cacao of ' ordinary , 

 urade varied from f^Ss. to 62.«. during the month of November. 



