11& 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Ai-RiL 20, 1918. 



COTTON. 



SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET. 



The report of ^lessrs. Henry W. Frost .S: Co., on 

 Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week 

 •«nded March 16, 1918, is as follows: — 



ISLANDS. The market has been verj" quiet with only 

 limited demand for the odd bags classing Fine to Fully Fim-, 

 which are firmly held at iiuotations. 



There has been, however, some demand for Planters' 

 <rop lots classing full Extra Fine for export, and several crops 

 liave been sold on private term?. 



Factors are very firm in their views, refusing to make 

 ■concessions to sell, thinking thai the unsold portion of the 

 «crop will all be required, and that at prices current it is 

 relatively cheaper than Georgian an<i Floridas. 



We quote, viz: — 



Extra Fine T-'ic. to 80c = 77c. to 82c c.i.f. 



Fine to Fully Fine 73ic. to 74c.=.75Jc. to 76c. „ 



Fine to Fully Fine, off in preparation, 70c. to 71c. = 72c. 

 to 73c. c.i.f. 

 Fine to Fully Fine, stained, 6.5c. to 68c. = 67c. to 70c. „ 



GE0R(;iAS .\Nri FLORIDAS. The market in Savannah is 

 ^ery quiet, with apparently no inquiry, and the Factors 

 teport having made no sales. The sales reported by the 

 Exchange of 300 bales were cotton bought in the interior, 

 or appropriated on orders by exporters out of their stocks. 

 Notwithstanding the lack of general demand, the holders of 

 the unsold stock are very firm in their asking prices, remaining 

 under the impression that the cotton will be required in time 

 on a basis of prices current. 



We quote, viz:^ — 



Fancy 74c = 76c. c.i.f. 



Average Extra Choice 73c = 75c. c.i.f. 



Choice 72c = 74c. c.i.f. 



The exports from Savannah for the week have been, to 

 Korthtrn Mills 153 bales, and from Jacksonville to Northern 

 Mills 338 bales. 



BRITISH COTTON GROWING ASSO- 

 CIATION. 



Thf one hundred and sixty-ninth meeting of the Council 

 of the British Cotton firowing Association was held at the 

 Office.s, 15 Cross Street, M&nchester, on Tuesday March 5. 

 In the absence of the rresident (The lit. Hon. thf Karl of 

 I»erVA-, K.G.) Mr. William Mullin occupied the Chair. 



A letter which had been received from the Colonial 

 UHice with reference to the resignation of .Mr. Hutton, as 

 Chairman of the As.sociation, wa.s read as follows:— 



'I am directed by .Mr. Secretary liOng to acknowledge 

 the recei[)t of your letter of the llihof February reporting 

 the re.signation by Mr. Arthur Hutton of the C'hairmanahip 

 of the Council of tlie British Cottoii Growing Association. 



"J. Mr. Long has received with great regret the inforina- 

 lion that Mr. Huttons health will not permit of his retaining 

 hL- oHice as Chairuian, and he desires me to cxpre.ss liis deep 

 aenae of the services which Mr. Hutton has rendered 

 tor go many years in the active pro.secution of pioneer 

 work in cotton cultivation, ea[)e(ially in tropical Africa. 

 He is glad to note that Mr. Hutton's connexion with the 



Association will not end with his resignation of the Chair- 

 manship: and he hopes that in any future discussions which 

 may take place, as in the past, between the Association and 

 the Colonial OflBce, the benefit of Mr. Hutton's advice and' 

 experience may still be available.' 



WEST AFRICA. The crop reports are not altogether 

 satisfactory, but there is no doubt that the season is a late ' 

 one, and from the reports received from the staff it is 

 estimated that the Lagos crop will be about the same as last 

 year, viz. 8,000 bales, and the crop in Northern Nigeria is 

 estimated at 5,000 to 6,000 bales. 



An embargo has recently been placed on shipments of 

 cotton lint and cotton seed from West Africa; fortunately all 

 last year's cotton crop has now been shipped, and it is hoped 

 that the authorities will be in a position to give permission 

 for the resumption of shipments of cotton at an early date. 



COTTON-GROWING RESOQRCES OF THE, 



BRITISH EMPIRE, 



The A^^i-icuttural Jounial of India, January 1918, 

 reprints from the Empire Kivinv an article on the ibove 

 subject by Mr. J. Arthur Hutton, who, as our readers are 

 aware, has only .just resigned the Chairmanship of the 

 Council of the British Cotton Growing Association. 

 Mr. Hutton states that during recent years it has been a 

 matter of constant complaint with spinners that they find 

 an evergrowing difficulty in obtaining suitable cotton for 

 spianing yarn of good quality, and that year by j-ear they 

 have to pay a higher premium for the requisite quality of 

 cotton. 



The demand for finer goods, and consequently for high. 

 class cotton, will certainly grow in the future as it has done 

 in the past, and this is a question atlecting the British cotton- 

 manufacturing industry more than that of any country, 

 British manufacturers have been able to meet the competi- 

 tion of the world by devoting themselves to the [iroduction 

 of goods of a finer quality. If ample (guantities of 

 the requisite (lualiiy of cotton are not available, the export 

 trade will certainly be most seriously injured, with disastrous 

 results to the whole country. On the rapid development 

 of every district in the British Kiiipire which is capable of 

 growing high class cottons depends the whole future of the 

 great Uritish cotton industry. 



Few people realize that at the present time something 

 like 5i million bales of cotton are produced every year in the 

 British Empire. At the first glance this is reassuring, for 

 we have a total production of nearly 5^, million bales, 

 whereas the annual consumption of Lancashire is about 

 4 million bales. It would appear, therefore, that the Kmpira 

 ought to be able to produce all the cotton reijuired by the 

 British manufacturers, with a fair surplus for other countries. 

 There are, however, several factors to be taken into considera- 

 tion. In the first place, India itself requires more than half 

 of the cotton crop for use in its own mills. This therefore 

 reduces the available ijuantity to 3A inillion bales, which is 

 half a million bales less than the consumption of Lancashire. 

 We have also to consider the needs of our Allies, who use 

 a considerable quantity of Indian cotton and nearly one-third 

 of the Kiiyp*^'"" cotton. Further, probably not more 

 than 200,0(10 bales of Indian cotton, which is almost entirely 

 short stai)le, would be suitable to the requirements of 

 Lancashire mills. 



The iiuestion therefore is whether the resources of the 

 Empire can be sufficiently developed to supply cotton of 



