THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



-Mai l^, lit|^. 



COTTON. 



SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET. 



The Report of Messrs. Henry \V. Frost >Sc Co., on 

 Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the 

 week ended April ti, 191N, isas follows: — 



isi.anhs. We have no change to report in the market, 

 which remains quiet with only limited imjuiry. 'I'he Factors 

 however continue unwilling to make any concessioDS in their 

 asking prices, consequently we have to rej)eat our last 

 quotations. 



We quote, viz: — 



Extra Fine T-"ic. to 80c. = 77c. to fiL'c, c.i.f. 



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

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



to 73c., c.i.f. 

 Fir.e to Fully Fine, stained, (i.5c. to 6Sc. = (!7c. to 70c., c if. 



uEoRGiAs AND i-LORiHAs. The uiarket remains very 

 quiet, with Factor.-* willing sellers of average I'l.vtra Choice 

 at 73c. but there is only limited in(|uiry and apparently no 

 demand. 



The exports consist largely of cotton held by the 

 Government, in Savannah and .Jacksonville, which it is 

 reported they forward to tucli mills as they have contracted 

 with tor material requiring lliis quality of cotton. 



We quote, viz: — 



Fancy 74c. = 7f)C. c.i.f. 



Average Extra Clinict 73c-=7-")c. ,, 



Ch'-ice 72c. = 74c. „ 



The exports from .Savannah for the week have been, to 

 Northern Mills .">27 bale.«. and from .Tack.sonville to Xorthern 

 Mills 714 bales. 



THE SUPPLY OF FINE COTTON. 



'I'bf Kmpire C'iit<iD 'jrowing Cmnniilt e. whioh was 

 appointed last year by the Hoard of Trade, has issued a 

 report on the tine cotton supply in the immediate future. 

 Thi~ report [iubli.shed in '/'//(■ Tiimrd nf Trudc Jinininl, 

 March -M, 1'J18, is of special intere-t to the llritish 

 We-t Indies, where the finest cotton in the world is produced. 



It is pointed out in the report that the tendency towards 

 a dimini.shed supply threatens to become more marked during 

 the next year or two. The yield of lh<' Egyptian croj) has 

 been falling somewhat steadily for stJine years past, and 

 a very serious reduction is thr.'atened in the Sea Island crfjp. 



If the world's cotton snp[ily is divided into live grades. 

 the finest grade of all. the best Sea I.<land cotton, is a verv 

 .small crop, but of very high value. It comes only from 

 {\) certain small islands off the coast of South Carolina, and 

 (2) from some of the I'.ritisli West Indits. The supply ot 



this type of cotton before the war amounted to not more 

 than lU.OOO bales of 400 ft., and the value of the very best 

 grades went as hijjh at times as 4 0</. per ft). J luring the 

 war the total Sea Island cro|i of this grade has shown a 

 marked downward tendency. In 191(i the total was under 

 700,000 bales. 



The best West Indian Sea Island cotton only represents 

 about -0 per cent, of the West Indian cro[). a further 50 

 per cent, is of the second grade, about the same quality as 

 Florida and (ieorgia Sea Island, and the best Egyptian. 

 The whole West Indian crop has sutiered serious diminution 

 since the war began. This has especially been noticeable 

 in P.arbados. where in 1VII3 there were 3,970 acres 

 under this crop, but this fell to 1.078 acres in 1916. 

 The reduction has been largely due to the competition 

 of sugar at high war prices, tempting the planters to devote 

 their attention entirely to the cultivation of sugar-cane. 

 The future prospects of the crop depend largely on the relative 

 prices of sugar and cotton, and though it is said that the 

 area under cotton will be considerably increased, theie is 

 hardly any reasc n to liojie for the return to the pre-war 

 figures of the area under cotton for .some yeais to come. 



As repards the supply of the .second grade cotton from 

 Florida andOeorgia, the extreme variationof the yield, coupled 

 with the speculative character of the price, has done much to 

 render the crop unpopular among the planters. For the year 

 1916-17 Florida and (ieorgia produced 110,000 bales of 

 400tt)., while they are not expected to yield much more than 

 90,000 for 191 7-1 f<. The greatest factor in the diminution 

 of the cultivation of Sea Island cotton in Florida and (Jeorgi;» 

 is the boll weevil, which has steadily been advancing from 

 the Gulf States towards the Atlantic, and when once it arrives 

 in the Sea Island districts there is every reason to believe 

 that it will cause the complete abandfvnment of the cultiva- 

 tion of fine cotton. It must therefore be expected, as f|uite 

 probable, that the American supply of both the first and 

 .second grades of fine cotton will be seriously reduced in 1918. 

 It may be said that this reduction in American tine cotton 

 will not seriously affect the llritish supplies, because tor 

 sometime past very little .Sea Island cotton has been exported 

 from America, the whole of tiie crop having been practically 

 kept for the needs of American spinners; and llritish spinners 

 have been dependent almost entirely upon the West Indian 

 crop and the finer grades of Kgyptian cc^tton. 



In considering possible alternative Sources of supjily of 

 fine cotton, there must be taken into account a remarkable 

 development in irrigated districts of Arizona and California, 

 where the cultivation of certain new types of cotton of 

 Kgyptian character has been introduced, and is being consider- 

 ably extended. The crop of the present year has been 

 estimated within the very wide limits of from ."ly.OOO down 

 to 13.000 bales, but even at the largest estimate the total 

 amount of the crop would not be sullicient to replace the loss 

 of the I'lorida and Georgia crops, even if its quality was of 

 the same high grade. 



The other quarter from which it might have been hoped 

 that a largely increased supply of fine cotton nuglit have been 

 obtained is Egypt, but there, unfortunately, recent temlencies 

 have been all in the wrong direction. The best Kgy])tian 

 varieties arc almost, though not quite, equal t > the best 

 Florida anddeorgiii Sea Island, but the quantity of the.se 

 varieties was conqiaratively small. <>f lute, unfortunately, 

 the tendency in Kgyptian cotton has been towards deter- 

 ioration, and it does not .seem likely that any considerable 

 increa.se in production of the best grades is to be looked 

 for in the near futuie from Egypt 



