

THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Apeil 24, 1915. 



COTTON. 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



Messrs. Wolstenholme and Holland, of Liverpool, 

 write as follows, under date .March 31, L915,with refer 

 ence to the sales oi Wesl [ndianSea [sland cotton: 



Since our last report about 250 bales ol West Indian 



[sland cotton have been sold, chiefly Montserrat I5d. to 

 ]'<;■/.. with -i few St. Vincent I5d. to I8d., St. Kitts at I5d. 

 and Stains at od. to Id. 



The market remains quite firm, but with onlj occasional 

 enquiries. Seeing that American Sea I.-land ha- advanced 

 in price, we see no reason why these prices should not be 

 maintained although, owing to the dislocation of the fine 

 h on account of the war, progress will probablj be slow. 



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

 S Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week 

 ended March 27, is as follows: — • 



The sale- consisted of several Planters' crop lots for 

 export to England, at prices ranging from 25£c. to 27c; 

 otherwise the market was quiet. There is some further 

 demand for crop lots, but at prices lc. to 2c. below the views 



oi planters. 



The limited unsold stock of odd bags classing Fine to 



Fully Fine is firmly held at quotations. 



We quote, viz: — 

 Extra Fine 23c. to 2 lc = lid. to U.W., c.i.f. & 5 per cent, 

 Fine to Fully Fine 22c. = 13£<i., „ „ „ „ 



Fine, off in colour 18c. to 20c. =lljd. to 12rf. c.i.f. 



This report shows that the total exports of Sea 

 Island cotton from the United Stales to Liverpool, 

 and Manchester, up to .March 27, 1915, were 103 and 

 1,516 bales respectively. 



British Cotton Growing Association. The 

 [33rd Meeting of the Council of the British Cotton 

 Growing Association was held at the Offices, 15, Cross 

 Sti t, Manchester, on Tuesday, March '-'. The President, 

 Tli. Right Hon. the Earl of Derby, K. G., occupied the 

 Chair. 



west \ici' v Owing i" the inadequate supply ol 



steamers from Liver] 1 there i- a large accumulation of 



produce in the Government Railway Stores at [ddo, and as 



sequel some difficult} is being experienced in shipping 



tin Association's cotton and seed, and it is hoped that 



..■incuts will soon lie made lor a more adequate steam- 

 ship service between Liver] 1 and West Africa. The 



report- from West Africa state that the crop is a late one 

 this year, owing to the drought dtiriii. the last planting 



season, but it is too soon yet to form any reliable opinion as 



to the size ot the crop. 



The purchases ol cotton in Lagos to the end of February 



led t.. 165 bales, a- compared with 2,480 bales tor the 



same period oi last year. In Northern .Nigeria, the purchase 

 to the end oi .Linn. n\ amounted to 23 bales, as compared 

 with 65 bales 1 1-1 > 



(JOA2JDA. With regard to the prop gements 



, i n .. be 1915 Uganda cotton crop, a letter ha- been 

 received from the Col .'I ' Iffice expressing warm apprecia 



■ the public spirit which the Association have shown 

 in their desire to take all | ible steps to ifeguard the 



industry, and regretting that the great pain- which were 



bestowed on the preparation ot the scheme Bhouldhave been 



wasted. Arrangements have now I u made for the buying 



..t tin crop in some districts, which will ensure the natives 

 obtaining a fair price far their crop, but in some of the more 

 remote district- no arrangements have yet Ween made for 

 buying the cotton, and for the future welfare of the 

 industry it is hoped that steps will be taken before long to 

 ensure the natives a read) market for their cotton. 



COTTON EXPERIMENTS IN ST. CROIX. 

 Through the courtesy oi Dr. Longfield Smith, Director 



of Agriculture, we have received an advanced copy ol that 



portion of his Annual Report for 1913-14, which deals with 

 cotton experiments. 



Details are given of the results obtained from planting 



the Mid ot fifty -elected varieties, i ipared with last year's 



results from the parent plants. The mean result given by 

 the progeny is very closely similar to that from the parents. 



Twenty-oi f these strains have been kept for trial on 



a larger scale. 



The plots of Sakellaridcs and oi the Upland variety 

 Southern Cross have given no better yield- than can he 

 obtained from Sea 1-land cotton, hence their cultivation 

 cannot he recommended. Small plots of Caravonica have 

 yielded at the rale of over 1,000 lb. seed cotton per acre. 



A very interesting section of the report deals with the 



results of hybrids between Sea [sland and the St. Croix 

 'Native' cotton. Ratoons from the previous season's hybrids 



"ere kept, and bore exceedingly well. They were des- 

 troyed, because of harbouring cotton stainers, while still full 

 ol 1. oils, and up to then had yielded from Too to '.mil It,, 

 of lint per acre. 



Experiments were made with a view to the production 

 of first-generation hybrids on a larger >c i\r, and it was 

 found that by pollinating the Mowers of the 'native' early in 

 the morning, about 70 per cent, of hybrids were obtained 

 without bagging or emasculation. Since the young plants 

 are easily distinguishable, ii i- possible by planting several 



eeds to the hole and singling tw three weeks later, to 



obtain a good stand of the hybrids. The lint ot these first- 

 generation hybrids is worth about {5d. with Sea Island at 17c/. 

 Dr. Smith finds that such hybrids are immune to leaf-blister 

 mile. This ha- not been the case in similar experiments seen 



by the writer, where a proportion at least of tile plant- have 



been susceptible. 



Experiments hive also been carried on with hybrids 

 between Sea Island and Sakellarides, - e of which are now 



in the third generation. This cross differs from the previous 

 ..in- in that the generations subsequent to the first do not 

 split up into a complex medley of inferior types, but remain 



fairly uniform. Owing to bad germinati nly a few plants 



were obtained. Tiny bore much more heavily than Sea 



Island, and tl \p. inncnt is being continued. 



The question a- to the adoption of the policy oi growing 

 first year hybrids between Sea [sland and •native i- one of 

 interest and importance to all the cotton growing islands. 



The large yield and greater resistance to pests ma\ well 



induce planters whose experience has been unfortunate in 



the-e matter- to face the extra trouble which has to 



be taken in securing seed. A- regards the individual plan- 

 ter, the results may be evcellclit. but mile-- his neigh- 

 bour.- are also prepared to WOrh OH the same line- the 



effects t" them may be disastrous. It will l.e very diffi- 

 cult to maintain tor long anything like a pure strain ol 



[sland plants within, a wide radius of what would be, from 



