230 



THE AORICUTURAL NEWS. 



July 19, 1913. 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



Messrs. VVolstenholme and Holland, of Liverpool, 

 "WTite as follows, under date .lune •lo, with reference 

 to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton : — 



Since our last report about 400 bale.s of West Indian 

 Sea Islands have been sold; these are confined to S'. I'^us- 

 tatius 1.5J'l to 20f/., St Kitts lOrf. to 2W., St. Vincent 

 "21(1 to 2 4d., with some superfine lots at 3Qd., and Stains 

 at Shi Spinners have confined their attention to these 

 particular growths owing to their fineness. 



Owing to the great strength of Sakellarides Egyptian, 

 -.vhich sells at about 12./. per R)., spinners find that for all 

 their coarser yarns they can obtain as good results from this 

 as from the coarser and poorer qualities of West Indian and 

 American Sea Island. Tbe result is that the coarser kinds 

 are very much neglected. For the very fine yarns, Sakella- 

 rides is not suitable, and we should therefore strongly 

 recommend all planters in selecting their seed to cultivate 

 for fineness. 



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

 Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week 

 ending June 21, is as follows: — 



The market has remained dull with very limited 

 demand. Factors are concerned by the absence of interest 

 in the unsold stock, which they are desirou.s ©f selling and 

 are disposed to meet the views of buyers in a limited way. 



The following quotations represent the views of the 



Tactors, viz: — 



Extra Fine 28c. to 29c. = 16d. to IGirf. c.i.f., <fe 5 per cent. 



Fully Fine 26c. to 27c. = H^rf. to l.lirf. „ „ „ „ 



■Fine 2.5c. = Uld. „ „ „ „ 



Extra Fine off) ., , . ., „ t ., i j ^ , , , j 



}24c.to26c. = l.BJrf. tol+.W. ,, 

 in preparation ; - - " " " " 



Fully Fine offU.,g = 1-nrf 



in preparation/ " ' ■"' ' >> ■. •• 



Fine off in ") - 



20c. 



IIU 



I preparation / ' 



This report shows that the total exports of Sea 

 Island cotton froin the United States to Liverpool, 

 Manchester and Havre, up to June 21, 191;^, were 2,10(j 

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



It is stated in the Antigua. Swn (June 17, 1913), that 

 At a recent meeting of the Agricultural and Commercial 

 Society the challenge cup for cotton, presented by tbe 

 British Cotton (irowing Association for open competition, 

 was awarded to Mr. A. Edwards of Room estate. The 

 challenge cup for stock, presented by His Excellency 

 Sir Bickham Sweet- Escott, was finally won by Mr. E. D. Dew. 



In the Eighth Annual lleport of the British Cotton 

 Growing Association, reference is made to the continuation 

 of tbe co-operation which has existed for many years between 

 the Association and the Imperial Department of Agriculture. 

 It is stated that the Council must again record their thanks 

 to the Imperial Commis.sioner for the invaluable services 

 rendered to the icdu.stry. 



AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING. 



A PRACTICAL FLOORING FOR PIG-STYES. 



A strikingly ingeni'ms basin-shaped floor foi pigstyes 

 is dp.'cril>fd in the .Vonthlj/ Uiiltflin or Afpunltnr'tl 

 Inlellii/enre ami of I^lanl Diseases (April 191.3). 



The size of the tloor is about 9 feet 9 inches square, with 

 a fall in tbe centre of about,,.") inches A covered drain 

 crosses it throughout its length. An approximately 

 semi-circular concrete or brick rim, 4 inches wide and C inches 

 high, divides the fioor into the part for the litter and the 

 part for the droppinfis. The interesting fact has been 

 observed that pits prefer leaving their droppings against the 

 wall farthest from the trough where the tioor is somewhat 

 higher. The semi-circular rim therefore marks off this area 

 from the central portion. The urine follows the outside of 

 the rim and falls into the drain without wetting the straw, 

 thereby preserving a condition of dryness which, for pigs, is 

 desirable. 



Another advantage offered by this ingenious arrange- 

 ment is that the straw, through the movement of the pigs, 

 tends to collect intlic lowest part just where the animals like 

 to lie: consequently they always rest on the straw instead of 

 on the bare floor. 



For brood sows, a wooden disc about 28 inches ia 

 diameter is fastened to a post reaching down from the roof 

 to 12 inches above the lowest part of the floor. Under this 

 disc, the suckling pigS can crawl and avoid being crushed by 

 the mother. 



A New Hoisting Device. — A novel and apparent- 

 ly satisfactory machine for the economical handling of 

 sugar-cane is described in the Modi^rn Smjar Planter 

 (May 31, 1913). It is stated that the invention not only 

 facilitates the handling of the cane, but also permits it to 

 be done with more despatch and at less cost. Operated 

 either by horse power or by a small gasolene engine or 

 electric motor, one man can easily perform the entire task of 

 unloading the carts, weighing the cane and placing it in cars. 

 A system of cog wheels is so arranged that by the move- 

 ment of the lever the operator lifts the cane, which while 

 suspended in mid air. is accurately weighed by an automatic 

 scale attached to the derrick. A second lever releases the 

 cogs and permits the easy swinging of the load on a ball- 

 bearing turnable to any desired position. The load is 

 unfastened and released by simply operating a third lever. 

 It is stated that a company has been organized for the 

 manufacture and sale of this wonderful piece of mechanism, 

 which, no doubt, will be advertised in the ordinary way in 

 due course. 



An interesting note appears in the E.'peiimeut Station 

 Rt'iotd (Vol. XXVIII^No. -5) concerning some recent tests 

 to determine effects of grade and surface of roads on tractive 

 force. The tests were made on dirt, cinders, asphaltic 

 concrete, and brick materials. One result obtained was that 

 on a dirt road, a team can pull up a 10-per cent, grade only 

 two-ninths of the load that it can draw on the level. The 

 general conclusion is that in determining the permissible 

 grade it is necessary to take into consideration the probable 

 weight of the load to the haul, the average type of horse, and 

 the effect of atmospheric conditions, particularly of rain, on 

 the chosen road materials, in their relation to draft and 

 footing for the horse. 



