Vol. XVII. No. 418. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS;, 



131 



j^rading of the material of differing ijuality. But in 

 the end, however long it may continue to be evaded, the 

 matter is bound to become one of growing pure strains 

 instead of the present mongrel collections to be 

 seen on cacao estates. This c(uestion will be further 

 considered in a subscijuent issue. 



niPEKlAL INSTITUTE UASBBOOKS: COI- 

 TO \AND OTHER VEGETABLE EIBRES; THEIR 

 PRODUCTION AXD UTIIl/.ATIOX. By Ernest 

 Goulding, D.Sc, F.LC , with a preface by Wvndham I.'. 

 Dunstan, C.M.G., LL.D., F.K.S., pp. 2.31 + viii, Plates 

 XIT, London: JoJiii Murray, (iy. net. 



This volume of the Imperial Institute Handbooks to 

 the Commercial llesources of the Tropics is intended as 

 a general Nummary of the position and prospects of the 

 world's production and utilization of fibres, in view of the 

 increased attention whi^h must shortly be given to extend- 

 ing the sources of supply. The author is describeil as having 

 been for many years in charge of the fibre section of the 

 Scientific and Technical Department of the Imperial Institute. 



Three of the eight chapters of the book deal with the 

 .subject of cotton, its origin and cultivation, the main sources 

 of world suppl)". and the ilevelopment of cotton production 

 in the British Empire. The teniainmg chapters relate to 

 the nature and production of tla.v, hemp, ramie, jute, the 

 cordaee hemps, and miscellaneous tibres. 



For the commercial or the general reader, especially 

 if it is used in connexion with the e.xhibits at the Imperial 

 Institute Galleries or in provincial collections, the book 

 should be of considerable educational value. If the ideas 

 which are now current with regard to fuller development 

 of the agricultural resources of the colonies are to result in 

 action, it is es.sential under our forms of government that 

 an intelligent interest in colonial products and their use.s 

 should be cultivated, and for that reason the issue of hand- 

 books such as the one under notice is to be welcomed. But 

 while this view of the function of the book would seem to be 

 most in keeping with the origin ot the series, some parts of 

 the discussion in the .section relating to cotton tend to pass 

 from description into advice in matters more appropriate for 

 an agricultural treatise. 



The dithculties of counsel with regard to the subjects of 

 manuring, of seed selection, of the treatment of pe.sts and 

 di.<eases, are perhaps greater in respect of cotton than of 

 any other crop, for in none is adjustment to local conditions 

 a more delicate matter. When information has to be 

 compiled, as it very evidently has l">en in the present case, 

 frouA publications of varying age and authority, it afford.- 



a very unsafe basis for recommendations regarding agricul- 

 tural practice. Very marked progress in the application of 

 science to cotton growing has been made in the last dozen 

 years. 



The most successful example so far of the deliberate 

 development of cotton production in the British Colonies, 

 the Sea Island industry of the West Indies, stands in direct 

 opposition to the statement on page JO that 'if there is 

 already a native cotton plant which appears capable of 

 yielding a satisfactory crop, attention should be primarily 

 directed towards the improvement of this variety.' Had such 

 a view been taken in liiQO these islands would be producing 

 a selected Marie Galante. the only type of commercial 

 significance which was to be found here. (The idea that 

 Sea Island cotton originated in the West Indies is hardly 

 more than a legend.) That this would have remotely 

 approached the quality of Sea Island is about as unlikely as 

 getting a quart out of a pint pot. 



Nor can the information that 'con.siderable improvement 

 can be achieved by simply picking out large, ripe, well- 

 developed seeds for sowing' or, without some hint of limita- 

 tion, the statement that 'if it is desired to increase the 

 lengtli of staple the seeds should be selected from those 

 plants which produce the longest fibre' be regarded as showing 

 biological insight of a high order. That experiments in the 

 direction of improving cotton by hj'bridization should only 

 be undertaken by a competent botanist is certainly true, and 

 the reference could well have been made wider. 



The information regarding pests and diseases of cotton 

 might reasonably have been expected to be somewhat more 

 modern. Angular leaf spot, e.g., here classed as a physio- 

 logical disease, was proved by inoculation to be of 

 bacterial origin in 190.5 or earlier; the announcement of 

 this reached popular form in a Faniurs' Bulletin of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture in 1907, and 

 would hardly be questioned by anyone who has seen 

 the disease. Neoaismospora as the cause of wilt has been 

 discredited since 1910. Bacterial boll rot may, as stated, 

 start at a point near tlie peduncle, but it may equally well 

 start near the tip of the boll, and can occur over any part of 

 the intervening surface. Dyscierciis is, as usual, described as 

 staining the cotton in the open boll with its excrement, while 

 the best remedial measure against this insect is said to consist 

 in the attraction of the bugs to heaps of cotton seed or sugar- 

 cane on which they can he destroyed by kerosene or boiling 

 water, a remedy which is likely to prove a disappointment to 

 those who try it. That the leaf-blister mite does not usually 

 do much harm to full-grown plants is hard to be believed by . 

 anyone who has seen the havoc it commonly produces on the 

 secondary growth. 



There are considerable differences of usage among 

 botanists with regard to terms for the bracts subtending the 

 cotton tlower, but the latitude can hardly be extended to 

 cover a description of the young fruit as enveloped in the 

 calyx. I'he account of the oetals changing in colour until 

 the third or fourth day might readily be taken to mean that 

 the flower opens or remains open after the first day, which 

 would be contrary to the habit of any variety kmavn to the 

 reviewer. 



There is no intention to dis[iarage I)r. Goulding's book 

 in making these criticisms: they apply to no more than a few 

 pages which do not concern the main purpose of the book 

 as it is stated in the preface. They may serve as useful 

 illustrations, with a quite general application, of the dangers 

 which wait upon attempts to issue detailed advice concerning 

 agricultural matters in the colonies from centralised 

 institutions in London. 



W.N. 



