182 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



June 6, 1914. 



COTTON. 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



Messrs. Wolstenholme and Holland, of Liverpool, 

 "jvrite as follows, under date May IS, with reference 

 4io the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton: — 



Since our last report about 400 bales of West Indian 

 Sea Island cotton have been sold. Firmer rates have ruled 

 for the finer qualities, but easier prices have been accepted 

 for the medium sorts. The sales include St. Vincent 20c/. 

 to 22rf., Anguilla 16rf., Montserrat 1 8(7., St. Kitts IM^to 

 20rf., St. Martin IQd to lid., Barbuda lohd , and 

 St. Croix 18(7. 



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

 Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week 

 endintj May 9, is as foUovs: — 



There has been no demand for the few Planters' crops 

 remaining unsold, which constitute the entire stock, conse- 

 quently the market is quiet with no change to report. 



We quote, viz: — 

 Extra Fine 26c. = 14|c7. c.i.f ., & 5 per cent. 



Fu \y Fine 24c. = 13fd. „ „ „ „ 



Fine 22ic. = 13c7. „ „ „ „ 



This report shows that the total exports of Sea 

 Island cotton from the United States to Liverpool, 

 Manchester and Havre, up to ]\Iay 9, 1914, were 

 4,8yl bales, 6,777 bales, and 4,066 bales, respectively. 



CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT IN EGYPT. 



An interesting paper on the beginnings of the 

 CO operative movement in Egyptian agriculture pub- 

 lished in the Monthly Bulletin of Economic and 

 Sociid InielUgence (March, 1914) ends with the fol- 

 lowiiit^ conclusions: — 



III the short space of this article we have therefore 

 rapi l\ indicated the present situation of the Egyptian 

 feilah, the various attempts made to promote a co-operative 

 iiidvi 111. tit in Egyptian agiiculture, the results so far attained 

 aiid tlif proposals for the future. 



If a positive judgment may be pronounced in so 

 delicate a matter, we should say that Egypt presents 

 an t-xcellent field for the development of agricultural 

 CO operation, especially when the matter is considered 

 from the point of view of the enormous advantages 

 the Egyptian peasant might attain from a widespread 

 movement of association. There are, however, some who 

 object, and perhaps they are not wrong, that the tella/i has 

 not yet reached that degree of social evolution necessary for 

 the cooperative principle to be applied well and safely. This 

 is also for the moment, the opinion of the Egyptian Govern- 

 ment, which, while it is granting the fe/la/i a good system of 

 savings banks, undistrainable 'homesteads' and a con- 

 siderdble amount of land for improvement, does not 

 yet th'iik fit to urge the peasant, e.r abntpto, on the 

 t> ad to syndicalism and mutuality. Certainly every 

 iiiiiv.iii n, above all if radical, requires long prepa- 

 raii' n. at the risk of failing miserably and obtaining 

 ie.'-iili.-< ••"•ntrary to those looked for. We cannot however 

 d' ii\ iliMt Egypt, through the action especially of Prince 

 3lll^.'•^•iIl aiid the Khedivial Society of Agriculture, is being 

 Bi'itf aiiil more prepared for the proposed end, so that the 

 day Cfiun'-t be far off when the ideals of Lufty Bey, now 

 lEnilioiliuiji in M. Ribet's propo.sals, will definitely come to be 

 nalizud. 



TEA MANUFACTURE. 



The following article is part of a review of 

 a recently published work on tea manufacture entitled 

 'La Technologie du The', appearing in the Planters' 

 Chronicle, April 18, 1914:— 



Dr. Neuville [the author] draws strong attention to 

 certain important properties of the enzyme which have 

 a direct bearing on tea manufacture and so deserve the 

 earnest attention of practical tea makers. In the first place 

 light exercises a powerful destructive influence upon the 

 enzyme. This has long been empirically known even before 

 Kelway Bamber's discovery, for even in the belief of the old 

 fermentation theory it was the practice to keep fermenting- 

 houses dark. Further he points out that leaf gathered in 

 the morning is richer in enzyme than that gathered later ia 

 the day, which has in consequence been longer exposed to the 

 light. There is a good reason for the many deliveries of 

 leaf which is the rule on many tea estates. Again he shows- 

 that within a narrow limit the leaf should be as neutral as 

 possible. A very slight excess of acid either destroys the- 

 enzyme or paralyses it and, on the other hand, though to 

 a 'ess extent, the same is true of an excess of alkali. 

 Dr. Neuville also contributes some very readable pages as to- 

 the researches of Dr. Mann and others who followed upoa 

 the above-named authorities, but he rejects the theory more 

 recently put forward by G. Wargel, a German authority, ia 

 the Chem.iker Zeitung, attributing the aroma of tea to the 

 presence of special varieties of bacteria, which he points out 

 is not novel, though an authority, Kozai, for a long tim& 

 defended it. But, says Dr. Neuville, it does not seem that it 

 is indispensable or even useful, since a septic fermentation 

 gives excellent results while appearing to exclude th& 

 possibility of the intervention of bacteria. 



The chapters in this work dealing with actual manufac- 

 ture are full and complete, and accurately describe the 

 procedure in the ordinary factory, but as these processes 

 even in Java are carried out by the familiar British-made 

 machines, there is scarcely any novelty for the British reader. 

 The machines described are all of the .Jackson or Davidson 

 type. In the chapter on 'Fermentation', however, there is 

 a good deal drawn from Dutch sources and the work of 

 Nanninga, Van Romburgh and Lohmann, which bears very 

 intelligently upon the somewhat obscure points of the 

 fermenting or oxydizing process. 



It has occasionally been complained in the West Indies 

 that these colonies do not receive their fair share of recog- 

 nition in the columns of the English press. As regards the- 

 Finaiicier and Bidlionist, this complaint is very clearly 

 unfounded. But a few months ago a full page was devoted 

 to the prospects of the West Indies and British Guiana, and 

 now in the issue for May 4, 1914, a lengthy article appears 

 urging the necessity for haste in the reduction of cable 

 rates and the establishment of wireless telegraphy in these- 

 colonies. The article then goes on to describe the history 

 and functions of the West India Committee, pointing put 

 its value as an influential unofficial body whose advice at the 

 Colonial Office is always received n'ith careful consideration, 

 and whose functions as a means of advertising and keeping 

 English capitalists in touch with the colonies is an invalua- 

 ble asset which cannot be too fully appreciated. A short 

 account is also included to show the timely efforts that the 

 Royal Mail Steam Packet Company are making to improve- 

 their services in these waters. 



