Vol. XVII. No. 421. 



THE AGSICULTUKAL NEWS, 



183 



number. He say.s that it consists primarily of a pair of revolv- 

 ing rollers which, as they revolve, are traversed, or translated 

 bodily along a path at right angles t(i their a.xis of rotation. 

 The cotton to be examined is first run through ordinary 

 drafting mechanism, so as to cause the hairs to lie parallel 

 and straight, and this 'sliver' is presented to the rollers 

 at the beginning of a traverse until they have seized a milli- 

 metre or so of the front end of the foremost hairs.- The 

 sliver is then drawn away, leaving in the nip of the rollers 

 a tuft of hairs which are all held by their front ends. 



The rollers continue to revolve, and obviously the first 

 hairs to be delivered from them on the other side will be the 

 shortest hairs, while the longest hairs will be the last to 

 escape, since all started with their front ends level. But 

 since this feeding action of the rollers is combined with, and 

 positively geared to the motion which caases the traverse, 

 it follows that, the short hairs will e.scape on to a suitable 

 collecting device at the beginning of the traverse, the long 

 ones at its completion, and intermediate lengths at interme- 

 diate points. Thus the cotton is fractionated by a contin- 

 uous cycle of operations, repeated as many times as is 

 convenient, not merely into separate parcels of hairs but 

 into a graduated series which may be subdivided to any 

 degree desired. 



In 1907-8 the total export of Sea Island cotton from 

 Barbados was given as 988,-17.3 &. In the year 191.5-16 

 the export had dropped to 133,733 ft)., whereas from other 

 cotton-growing islands, notably St. Kitts- Nevis and Mont- 

 serrat, the average production has been fairly well maintained. 



As is pointed out by Dr. Balls in his paper dealt with 

 in this issue with regard to Egyptian cotton, the contamin- 

 ation by natural crossing or by seed mixture of any type 

 of cotton means deterioration in the product. Continual 

 and careful seed selection is imperatively necessary for pre- 

 serving a type of cotton of superfine grade. 



In a letter from Mr. J. W. McConnel published in the 

 IFes/ Indian Bulletin, Vol. XVI, p. 90, reference is made to 

 the statement of a speaker at the West Indian Cotton Confer- 

 ence to the effect that in the case of Barbados, where there 

 was no elaborate proces.s of selection for purposes of general 

 seed supply, and where yields and types fluctuated consid- 

 erably, the cotton had yet always commanded a good 

 price; he say.s, 'I entirely disagree with this statement 

 as showing that seed from mixed types would give satisfactory 

 lint. I do not think the best cotton growers in Barbados 

 would accept this description of their ideals, and so far as it 

 is the practice in Barbado.s, it may explain the great falling 

 off there has been for many years in its production of cotton.' 



COTTON CULTIVATION IN BARBADOS. 



According to the Barbados Agricultural Ripofh>\ -Jane 

 1, 191S, ata meeting of the Agricultural Society held the 

 day before, a letter from the Acting Colonial Secretary 

 dated ilay 22 was read, informing the Society that 

 the Acting Governor had received a telegram from the 

 Secretary of State for the Colonies asking that, as far as 

 possible, the acreage of land planted in Sea Island cotton in 

 that island might be increased. The Imperial Government 

 would i)urchase all the cotton of the next crop, and no 

 quantity could be too large for their requirements. His 

 Excellency had been advLsed that there was land in the island 

 which would grow good cotton, but poor cane, and that 

 a considerable portion of this land, formerly plmted in 

 cotton, had been, owing to the tempting price of sugar, 

 planted in cane. His Excellency would be obliged if the 

 Society could furthtr the interests of the Imperial Govern- 

 ment by using their influence as far as possible to indtice 

 planters to revert to the cultivation of cotton on such land. 

 The grant of a bounty on jotton cultivation in Barbados had 

 been recommended by His Kxcellency-in-Executive Committee, 

 and this matter would shortly be brought to the notice of 

 the House of Assembly. As a preliminary step the Govern- 

 ment intended to issue posters and leaflets appealing for the 

 increased cultivation of cotton wherever practicable. His 

 Excellency asked the Society to consider the matter at their 

 next meeting. 



In regard to this subject, the ['resident of the Society, 

 Sir F. J. Clarke, K.C.M.G., stated that formerly Barbados 

 cotton fetched a price within the range of prices quoted 

 for superfine cotton and not very much below that of 

 St. Vincent cotton. After the .\dmiralty commandeered the 

 West Indian Sea Island crop a communication was received 

 stating that Baroados cotton would be relegated tu a lower 

 grade, and consequently fetch a very much lower price. 

 Under such circumstances, there was no encouragement to 

 cotton growers in Barbados to continue the cultivation of 

 cotton on a large scale. 



That there has been a very large decrease in the output 

 of cotton from l>arbado,s during the last four or five years is 

 evident from the official returns of the cotton exported. 



INCREASED USE OF 'CUNAS' OR 

 CHINESE GAMBIER. 



According to i he Journal of the Royal Society of Arts 

 for March 8, 1918, there was an increased trade in 'cunas' or 

 Chinese Gambler in South China during 1916; the value of 

 the trade in this product in Hong-Kong alone is nearly 30,000 

 ■short tons (of 2,000 lb.) annually. The product is one of 

 great value, and merits the attention of dyers. It has been 

 used by the Chinese for many generations for dye and pre- 

 servative purposes, and since the disappearance of aniline 

 dyes from the Chinese market as a result of the war, it is 

 coming into still more general u.se. 



The dye is the product of crushing and .soaking the root 

 of a plant known by the Chinese as 'cunas', and drawing off 

 and concentrating the liquor therefrom. It is of a brown 

 colour, is highly astringent, works well with various mor- 

 dants, and is used extensively by the Chinese for dyeing both 

 •silk and cotton, a certain class of silk dyed with it being one 

 of the standard cloths of South China. The coarser quality 

 is al.so the chief component part of a mixture applied to 

 fishing-nets, sails, and similar fabrics to prevent rot. The 

 product seems to have ill the merits of gambler, and in 

 general is much cheaper. 



It might be worth while to remind readers of the 

 Agricultural News of an attempt which was made so far 

 back as 1891 to introduce the Gambler plant {Uncaria 

 Gambier) into the West Indies. A description of such intro- 

 duction was given in this .Journal (Vol. II, p. i.")8), in the 

 form of an abstract from an account by Sir Daniel (then Dr.) 

 Morris, published in the Kew Bulletin, 1891, pp 104-9 

 and reprinted in the West Indian Bulletin (Vol. IV, p. 80). 

 Unfortunately the attempt did not prove a success. Plants 

 were sent to Jamaica, British Guiana, Trinidad, St. Vincent, 

 and Dominica. In Trinidad the plants, although they pro- 

 duced flowers, never set seed; in Dominica al.so no seed was 

 produced; in British Guiana one plant only, which was tried 

 in the forest region of the interior, flourished. Whether 

 further attempts at introduction have been made, and with 

 what measure of success, the writer of this note is not aware. 



