16G 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



May 23, 1914. 



COTTON. 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



Messrs. Wolscenholme and Holland, of Liverpool, 

 write as follows, under date May 5, with reference 

 bo the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton: — 



About 200 bales of West Indian Sea Island cotton have 

 been sold since our last report at prices ranging from 11 ^d. 

 to 20d., chiefly Montserrat 17|rf. to 19|d., and Barbados 

 ISd. to 20d., with stains at 7id. to 7;d 



The stock is now considerable, and the bulk of it has 

 arrived within six weeks; meanwhile, spinners are only buy- 

 ing in small quantities as they require it. 



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

 Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week 

 ending April 11, is as follows: — 



There is left unsold only about 150 bales, consisting 

 almost entirely of a few Planters' crop lots held here and on 

 plantation. In the absence of a demand for these crops, the 

 market remains very (|uiet, with no sales to report. 



We quote, viz: — 

 Extra Fine 26c. = 14|d. c.i.f., <fe 5 per cent. 



Fully Fine 

 Fine 



24c. 

 22Ac. 



= 13fd. 

 = 13rf. 



This report shows that the total exports of Sea 

 Island cotton from the United States to Liverpool, 

 Manchester and Havre, up to April II, 1914, were 

 4,328 bales, 6,59.5 bales, and 4,066 bales, respectively. 



STUDIES IN INDIAN COTTON. 



An important paper on the vegetative characters of 

 Indian cotton?, by H. Martin Leake, and Ram Prasad, appears 

 as No. 4 of Vol. VI, of the Memoirs of the Department of 

 Agriculture in India. An attempt is made to give an 

 account of the observations which have been carried out on 

 vegetative characters such as the method of branching, the 

 red colouring matter in the sap, the leaf factor, and particu- 

 larly the type of branching in relation to the length of 

 vegetative period. Though these do not directly concern 

 that portion of the crop which is commercially valuable, yet 

 they are of very considerable indirect importance. The habit of 

 the plant is dependent in great measure on the method of 

 branching, and on this habit depends such vital points as the 

 suitability of the plant for field culture, and the yield of lint 

 per acre. 



It is necessary to call attention to the importance of the 

 interdependence between the type of branching and the 

 length of the vegetative period.* It is essential in the United 

 Provinces of India, where the work under review was carried 

 out, that a plant which is to be cultivated on a field scale 

 should pass through the entire stages and produce an abun- 

 dance of fruit between the time of sowing in May or, in the 

 case of unirrigated lands, at the beginning of the monsoon 

 and the end of the year. Under these conditions, if a remun- 

 erative yield per acre is to be obtained, the plant must 



* This subject has recently received attention also by 

 ti. F. Cook, in America. 



commence to ripen its fruit by the middle of October at the 

 latest This means that flowering should commence in the 

 end of August, giving a maximum vegetative period, i.e., the 

 period between the date of sowing and the appearance of the 

 first flowers — of eighty to ninety days — a period which has to 

 be considerably reduced in the case of a crop grown on barani 

 lands. It is shown in the paper that in the monopodial types, 

 the vegetative period is considerably longer than that of the 

 sympodial types, and too long to render the cultivation of 

 such forms on a field scale practicable. In crosses, therefore 

 which are produced with the object of transferring the long 

 staple of the monopodial Type 3 to a plant having the 

 sympodial habit, a knowledge of the exact conditions which 

 determine the length of the vegetative period is essential. 



In concluding, the authors state that the .study of the 

 commercially valuable portion of the crop is far rarre intri- 

 cate, and while a considerable amount of information has 

 already been gleaned, further study is necessary before it 

 will be profitable to put forward a clear account of the 

 results obtained in this .section of the work. It is hoped, 

 however, that it will be possible to do this at no distant date 

 in a second part of that paper which has just 1 etn reviewed. 



OOTTON-GROWING IN QUEENSLAND. 

 It would seem from the March (1914) issue of the 

 Queensland Agrindtural Journal that fresh interest has 

 been aroused in this part of Australia with regard to cotton- 

 growing. An article which appeared in the Agricultural 

 News on the subject of the British Cotton Growing Associa- 

 tion and Australia is reproduced, and certain editorial 

 remarks are made which appear to be of some interest. The 

 reasons given by Mr. J. A. Button, Chairman of the British 

 Cotton Growing Association, for barring the cultivation of 

 Sea Island and perennial cottons in Queensland are regarded 

 as being well worthy of consideration, but exception is taken 

 to the statement made in our article that 'it must be remem- 

 bered that although it has been proved experimentally that 

 cotton can be grown in Queensland, the legislation against 

 the importation of black labour makes the scale of wages so 

 high that it is necessary to grow only the best type of high 

 value, if the cultivation is to be a success commercially,' The 

 editor observes that cotton-growing in Queensland has long 

 ago passed the experimental stages, as is shown by the 

 exports of Queensland cotton between the years 1866 and 

 1873, when the exports of cotton rose to 2,602,100 (?tt). ) in 

 1871. As regards the question of labour, the Queensland 

 Agricultural Journal maintains that Australian cotton in its 

 palmiest as well as in its decaying days has been grown, 

 picked, ginned, and prepared for market entirely by white 

 labour. In this matter the journal is quite in agreement 

 with the conclusions arrived at by the Dominion Commission 

 on the cotton industry, which stated that black labour is abso- 

 lutely unnecessary for the successful cultivation of cotton, and 

 that 75 per cent, of the labour in the cotton fields of Texas is 

 white. Unfortunately the Commissioners state further in 

 their report that hand picking in Queensland by white 

 labour would cost M. per lb. With a selling price of ginned 

 cotton at 6irf. it is difticult to see that there is any possi- 

 bility of establishing an industry in Queensland. Presumably 

 the Commissioners' estimate of this charge is an error, at 

 least it is to be hoped so, if there is any definite intention 

 of investing capital in cotton-growing in Queensland. 



