214 



THE AORICUrURAL NEWS 



July 5, 1913. 











cno:: H0TC3. ^ 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



iiessrs. W'olst.enholine and Holland, of Liverpool, 

 write as follows, under date June Ki, with reference 

 to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton : — 



Since our last rejjort the business in West Indian Sea 

 Island has been confined to about 70 bales of Montserrat at 

 16rf., and 90 bales Jamaica at Hd. The consumption of Sea 

 Island cotton of all descriptions continues very limited, in 

 spite ('f the small crops in both America and the West Indies 



Spinners are quite indifferent buyers, and their require- 

 ■nients being small, they will only offer very low prices when 

 any specific lots are pressed for sale 



The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on 

 Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week 

 ending June 14-, is as follows: — 



The market has been very quiet throughout the week 



with apparently no demand. Factors are nominally asking 



previous prices but are disposed to meet the views of buyers, 



not wishing to carry the stock on hand into the next season. 



Since the close of the E.\change report, two small crop lots, 



10 bales Calais and 8 bales W:H.M., were sold on private 



terms for export: — 



Extra Fine 28c. to 29c. 



Fully Fine 2Gc. to 27c. 



Fine 2.5c. 



Extra Fine off) .,, 



i in preparation / 



Fully Fine off) 



} 18c. to 20c. 

 'in preparation J 



Fine off in ) 



. preparation J 



This report shows that the total exports of Sea 

 Island cotton from the United States to Liverpool, 

 Manchester and Havre, up to June 14, 1913, were 2,106 

 bales, 5,714 bales, and 4,675 bales, respectively. 



18c. 



I6d. to IGhd. c.i.f., & 5 per cent. 

 14|rf. tol.5|d. „ „ „ ,, 



— 1 i^d 



= 10UtollW. „ „ ., ., 

 = lOH „ ,, „ „ 



THE 



WORLD'S COTTON 

 IN 1912. 



INDUSTRY 



An article which appears in the Jonrnul of the Royal 

 Hociety of Arts for May 9, 1913, provides interesting statistics 

 in regard to the number of spindles that were active, and the 

 amount of cotton consumed, during 1912. 



The world's consumption of cotton during the year referr- 

 ed to has been placed at 20,.587,000 bales, as compared with 

 19,013,000 bales in 1911. Hut as is pointed out, these figures 

 do not rejiresent the total consumption of cotton, for in many 

 countries, for instance, India, a large amount of this com- 

 modity is consumed locally and does not pass therefore 

 through the ordinary commercial channels. It is of interest 

 to compare these figures with the world's production of 

 cotton from the crop of 1911, which is stated to have 

 amounted to 22,297,000 bales of 500 lb, each. This includes 

 the total production for British India. 



The article goes on to say that the number of active 

 spindles in the world has been estimated at 140,996,000. 



In ( I'reat Britain there were .j.5, 000,000 active spindles ia 

 1912, compare! with 45,000,000 in 1900; while the quantity 

 of cotton consumed incroised from 3,300,000 bales in 1900 

 to 4,200,000 in 1912 The interesting fact is noted that 

 the spindles operated in the Uoited Kingdom during the 

 past 5'ear constituted 39 per cent of all the active mill 

 spindles in the world, but the quantity of cotton consumed 

 by them fonued only 21 per cent, of the total. 



In considering this figure it must be borne in mind 

 that it is not truly representative of the place which Great 

 Britain hold.s as a cottoninariuf,tcturing country, since the 

 greater pirt of manufactures are of much finer quality than 

 those produced elsewhere. Only about 20 per cent of the 

 total quantity of c itton goods manufactured is consumed in 

 the country, the remainder being exported, chiefiy to India, 

 China, Turkey, Egypt. Australia, Dutch ?yast Indies, Argen- 

 tina, and the I'nited States. 



As regards the development of the cotton manufacturing 

 industry in different countries, the most interesting case 

 appears to be that of Italy, where the number of active 

 spindles increased from 1,940,000 in 1900 to 4,580,000 in 

 1912. It is interesting to note that great progress 

 has been made in connexion with cotton manufacturing 

 in British India, which occupied the fourth position in impor- 

 tance during the year 1912. The manufacture of cotton 

 is also developing in many of the South American countries. 



RAPIDITY OF GERMINATION IN 



TOBACCO SEED. 



The foUowiuj^ sumniary of results of an investiga- 

 tion into the intiuence of sulphuric acid, ami of factors 

 like age and hybridization on the germination of 

 tobacco seed, appear in Vol. V, No. 5 of the University 

 of California Publications in Botany: — • 



(1) The action of 80 pir cent, sulphuric acid upon 

 tobacco seed for lengths of time not over ten to twelve 

 minutes increases markedly the total amount of germination, 

 and in certain cases increases rapidity of germination. 



(2) The action of concentrated sulphuric acid (sp. gr. 

 1'84) for periods of time as short as one minute killed 

 the seed used. 



(3) A markedly injurious effect of prolonged washing 

 with running water after sulphuric acid treatment was noted. 



(4) Six, seven, and eight-year-old tobacco seed was 

 found to give a relatively high percentage of total germina- 

 tion in most cases. 



(5) Rapidity of germination in general was found to 

 be independent of the age of the seed, and to be characteristic 

 of the seed of certain species or varieties throughout, and 

 not characteristic of others. 



(6) A certain period of 'after ripening' seemed to be 

 essential for average germination percentages as shown in 

 the case of 1912 iV. ac(lwm'l^l varieties Seed taken from 

 dehiscing capsules on the plants in the field gave very low 

 percentages of germination in the case of N. m-uminaUi- 

 varieties alone. 



(7) Fl hybrid seed, three years old, gave higher per« 

 centages of germination than the seed of the parents of tha 

 corresponding cross and of the same age. 



(8) The relation between the germination of parent 

 and hybrid seed indicated that interesting and possibly 

 important supplementary results could be obtained by the 

 germination under controlled conditions of the seed used in 

 hybridization experiments. 



