570 



THE AGIUCULTUKAL NEWS. 



Ni.vKMnKu oO. 191S. 



is not of the Sea Island length and tincne?s. This is 

 commonly known :is native" cotton, plants of which 

 may bo seen growing about the houses of the labourers 

 ;ind small proprit^tors. It is of perennial type, and 

 probably is ilef^cemkil from the cottons cultivated 

 previous to the introduction of Sea Island; and is 

 the cotton referred to in the telegram as indigenous. 

 It is also a matter of record that the Barbailos Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture has experimentotl in the produc- 

 tion of hybrid cottons, and has made extensive trials 

 m t!. 'iltivation -A ih-.- perennial types already 

 menti'jiied. 



The cotton produced from all these sources would 

 h.-»rdly be sutbcient in amounu,,even if it had all found 

 its way into the one sliipment against which the charge 

 of mixing is made, to have attracted the attention 

 which this lot of cotton <.lid. and unless some other 

 souices were known to be available frrmi which native 

 cotton could be obtained, it would be well to hold in 

 abeyance any judgment to the effect that low grade 

 ■cotton had been deliberately ;«id V' '! ' lixed with 



the tine Sea ]<;l;in<l type. 



There can be no doubt, however, that in the ship- 

 ment of cotton under cor.si'leration, there was a very 

 consideiable amount of lint which fell so far short of the 

 stan<lard as to lead the cotton experts who e.xarnineil 

 :ind valued the cotton on behalf of the (Government to 

 declari' that mixing had ' ik"n plnf^ 



If the amount of low gnwe cotton produced in 

 Barbados is not sufficient to account for such a mixture 

 as that rejiorted on, jt would be well to consider 

 another prissible eNplaiiaiJon of the sit':;U Jmi:. 



H'lerenCI' ilMr* .UH. I'lj. n.-i-n •.j.i'if i' |"_-: i-:]iiial 



plants grown without cultivation aV)Out the ■^mal) liouses 

 .>f the pesisantry, an'l to the trials that havi- bee:' 

 m the cultivation of hybrid and native ■■ 



'i.'hesc all have an inlbience on the '|uality of 

 the c)tt">n produced in the, island. P^vi-ry plant '<( 

 'native' cotton which grows within !M,j,,nabl«' ilistanc^ 

 of' cultivations of Sea l.siand jiollen 



which may cause cross-fertili/niii iio 'm.- produce 

 iiiixid >'''ft\ in thi- ne\'. t'cD'Tn'.i'in 



H\blld cotton Ol' ih'- • 1. oil (.; ri..s^ pl.t- 



ditC'-s lint (ipi.-d to that ot . lud parent, but the 



«.(rond .'Old 'inbsefjuejit tjenerations, and the crosses 

 /irising from th^* transfer of its pollen to .Sea Island 



plants, result in the prodtiction of extremely divergent 

 types which mostly yiejii very inferior lint. 



It will lie seen from this that the presence of 

 native cotton and of hybrid strains is always likely to 

 cause a deterioration in the Sea Island cotton as a 

 result of cross-pollination, and if st-ed is planted from 

 fields in which such crossing h'ls taken place, the 

 result will be the production ot mixed cotton contain- 

 ing lint of very inferior (|nalit\. 



There is further to be considered the fact that 

 Sea Island cotton as at present grown consists, as in 

 the case of most plants under culcivalion, of numerous, 

 slight!}' divergent strains. It is therefore necessary, 

 in order that the most desirable of these should remain 

 predominant, to pr.ictice constant seed selection.. 



Kver since the establishment of the Sea Island 

 cotton industry in the West Indies, some sixteen 

 years ago. the Imperial ])epartment of Agri- 

 culture has advocated a system of strict ruid 

 careful seed selection, together with the clearing 

 out of plants in the field, which irom their appeai- 

 auce indicate that the cotton they would produce 

 would be different, and of inferior quality. vSuch plants 

 are spoten of in general as 'rogues', and the process 

 of clearing them out of the field as roguing'. 



For some reason or other, cotton in Barbados 

 appears to have been given much less attention in the 

 matters of seed selection and roguing than is theciise in 

 the other cotton-growing islaiKls. It is quite a common 

 sight in certain districts of liarbados to see fields and 

 small patches .of cotton in which the plants represent 

 in their general appearance and habit of growth many 

 different types of cotton, that i.< to sa\-, there is great 

 divergence amongst the plants, and it. is well known 

 that this divei-geucb is represented by varialiiou in the 

 lint produce<]. This applies principally to the cotton 

 of Hmall propiietors, luit it is by no tucans t'ntiroly con- 

 tine(i to them, f 'otton fields on large estates are itften 

 seen to coiuain m;iny rogues, and give evidence of very 

 mixed seeds. 



This condition prevailing in the cotton cultivation 

 in Barbados was well rccoirnized at the time of the 

 ijottou ('onfetence held by the Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture in .St. Kitt's in March 1910. Mr. Nowell, 

 m discussing the ipiestion of the influence of pure 

 strains on the prices obtained in the fjiverpool market, 

 pointed out that although Barbados cotton fields pre- 

 sent obvious evidence of variety in type, and conse- 

 ijuenlly their pro bir-c is far from being pure, it was still 



