246 



THE AGRICULTUEAL NEWS. 



Av( 



1909 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



Messrs. Wolstenholme & Holland of Liverpool 

 ■write as follows under date, July 19, with reference to 

 the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton : — 



West Indian Sea Islands have lieen in moderate request 

 since our last report. The sale.s amount to 400 to .^00 bales 

 and comprise Anguilla, Montserrat, Barbados, St. Kitts, 

 St. Croix, Antigua, Virgin Islands, Barbuda and Jamaica, 

 chiefly at lot/, to 14id, with a few St. Vincent at ISrf. to 16rf. 



The market remains firm and prices in Charleston and 

 Savannah are advancing, owing to the local American 

 demand, but we understand that the American Sea Island 

 crop is progressing favourably. 



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

 Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the 

 weeks ending July ■) and July 10, is as follows : — 



The unsold stock of Islands nov/ consists entirely of 

 planters' crop lots, held here or on plantations, aggregating 

 4-^)7 bales. The factors are still refusing to sell any of them 

 luider 30c., and the larger proportion are held under instruc- 

 tions from the planters at 35c. 



The position in this market, up to July 10, thus 

 .still remained unchancred. 



COTTON EXPORTS FROM TRINIDAD, 

 GRENADA AND BRITISH GUIANA. 



The returns of the cotton which was grown in and 

 exported from the colonies of Trinidad and Tobago, 

 Grenada and British Guiana during the (juarter ended 

 July 30, 1909, are to hand. From these it appears 

 that the kinds of cotton exported from the two first- 

 mentioned colonies were Sea Island and Marie Oalante. 

 The amounts of these kinds exported from Trinidad 

 ;ind Tobago were respectively 5 bales, weighing 

 3,125 lb., and 10 bales, weighing 4,000 lb. ; no estimated 

 value is given. In the case of Grenada the (piantities 

 were, similarl}', 31 bales, weighing bi (j7.S lb. having an 

 estin.ated value of £4(i9 19N,, and 'S27v bales weighintr 

 248,45.5 lb, and of an estimated value of £t),(SS4 5s. G(/. 

 'I'he destination of all this cotton was the United 

 Kingdom. 



No cotton of any Idnd was e.xportcd from British 

 <»uiana. It may be mentioned that returns, for the 

 same period, from the Virgin Islands were given in the 

 iast number (189) of the A'jrictdtural Ncir^. 



THE BY-PRODUCTS OF THE COTTON 



INDUSTRY. 



The following interesting information in regard to 

 the by-products of the cotton industry is contained in 

 an article in the Traiif-rual Aijricidtiircd Journal, 

 Vol. VII, No. 27:— 



For a hundred years, in the Southern States of America, 

 cotton seed used to be regarded of .so little use and such 

 a nui.sance, that ginneries were built near co, and even over, 

 streams, in order that the seed could be washed away, as the 

 accumulating heaps of decomposing and rotten seed on the 

 land had proved a serious menace to health. Times have 

 now altered, and. the seed is worth practically one-fifth of the 

 value of the cotton crop. At first, the seed was allowed to 

 partially decay, and was then returned to the land to supply 

 plant food for future crops. Now, after the seed has been 

 subjected to varied treatments, and valuable oil, etc., ex- 

 tracted, the residue is made into cattle food, and after it has- 

 been fed there is still available three-fourths of the original 

 fertilizing value in the manure from the animals. 



A ton of 2,000 It;, of sjed-cotton usually averages 665 fc, 

 of lint and 1,33.5 lb. of seed ; 18 lb. of lint or short fibre still 

 remains on the .seed after ginning. From the seed can be 

 manufactured or prepared 490 tt). of meal and 186 B). of oil ;. 

 561 lb. consist of huds (also u.sed for feeding), and the balance 

 of 80 It), is waste material, such as dust, sand, etc. 



By the practice of feeding cotton seed or its equivalent 

 in meal, the feeding value is got out of it, and it can after- 

 wards be returned to the soil in the form of manure, which 

 is rapidly available as plant food for the forthcoming crop. 

 It is stated that 100 lb. of groinid cotton seed equals in 

 feeding value 116 lb. of maize, and 100 lb. of cottonseed 

 meal ecjuals 175 lb. of maize. There is still much to learn 

 as to the best way to combine cotton .seed meal with other 

 foods in order ,to secure the very highest feeding value 

 po.ssible, and it is within the range of po.ssibility that human 

 food also will be jiroduced from it, as cotton seed meal 

 contains all the elements necessary for wholesome, nutritious 

 food. 



Fiilure to return the cotton seed to the soil in some 

 form or other leads tn depletion and poor crops. From 

 a fertilizing stand[i(iint, the oil contained in cotton seed is- 

 more objectionable than serviceable. For feeding to live stock 

 it is unfavourable to digestion, and the oil is of no use to the 

 soil, nor is it a source of food for the jilant. Consequently, 

 it is to the farmer's benefit to have the oil e.xtracted from his 

 seed, so that the latter may become of more value to him as 

 a feed or a fertilizer. In artificial manures, nitrogen is the 

 most costly element of plant food that is purchased, and for 

 this reason its production bj- means of home-made manures 



