262 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Au.iusT \r>, UJU. 



COTTON. 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



Messrs. Wolstt-iiholiiif and Holland, iif Liverpool, 

 write as follows, under date Jul}- 27, with reference to 

 the sales ot West Indian Sea Island cotton: — 



About 200 bales of We.st Indian Sea Island cotton have 

 lieen sold since our last report, chiefly St. Vincent lid. to 

 19d; and Stains at 7|rf. 



Prices are fairly steady, Imt sjiinufis are well supplied 

 for some time ahead and are therefi ire not eager purchasers. 



The sales aJso include some su[)er-Hiie St. Vincent at 

 32(f. to S7d. 



The Secretary of State for the Colonies in a presidential 

 address to the cotton-growing section of the International 

 Congress of Tropical Agriculture spoke on cotton growing in 

 the British colonies and Protectoi-ates and the modern func- 

 tions in this connexion of the Colonial OtHce. Reference was 

 made to the future of Sonialiland as a new country for cotton 

 growing, and it was expected that a valualile industry would 

 be built up in this territory similar to that which has lieeii 

 achieved in the neighbouring Protectorate of Xyasaland. The 

 principal products of Sonialiland at present appear to lie 

 Dervishes, camels and Mullahs. (TL, Timr^, .Tuly 1, 1914.) 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE THIRD INTER- 

 NATIONAL CONGRESS OF TROPICAL 

 AGRICULTURE. 



A concise account of the general iliscussions carried 

 on and conclusions drawn at this Congress, which sat 

 during June 2.3 to 30, is given in JS'atnw for July i), 

 liU-t. It is stated, fir.st, that the lunnlier of Govern- 

 ments and societies represented by delegates was forty- 

 two and forty respectively, and the total number of mem- 

 bers and delegates was about 400. In these respects, and 

 alsf) as regards the number and quality of the papers read, 

 the London Congress showed a very great advance on the 

 previotis Congresses, held in Paris ar.d Brtisscls. 



At the opening of the Congress a \ery pinnounceil 

 interest was shown in the subject of education and research in 

 tropical agriculture — a subject which was ably dealt with by 

 the Pi-esident in his address, and in papers l>y Dr. Francis 

 Watts. C.M.G., Imperial Commissioner of Agricultnre for the 

 West Indies, l)y Mr. G. C. Dudgeon, .\gricultural Adviser to 

 the Government of Egypt and otheis. The necessity for better 

 (irganization in education and research was strongly empha- 

 .sized, and the Congress has appointed a conunittee to collect 

 precise information on the subject. Similar action has been 

 taken by the Congress in regard to co-operative credit and other 

 social and economic questions, and a report on the working 

 of co-operative societies in tropical countries will shortly be 

 issued. Gn the .second morning, an important discussion was 

 that which had relation to the Phytopatliological Convention 

 of Rome. A considerable numlier of Entomologists and Myco- 



logists working- in agricultural departments in the Tropics 

 were pre.sent, and some of them were of opinion that the 

 Convention was not altogether suitable for adfii)tion in the 

 Tropics. 



The greater part of the time during which the Congress 

 sat was occupied with the reading of papers on technical 

 proWems. This part of the proceedings is reported on in 

 Nature as follows — 



'The tropical crops which chiefly claimed the atten- 

 tion of the congress were rubber and cotton, one day 

 being de\oted Avholly to the former and one and a half 

 days to the latter. A good deal of discussion took place 

 with regard to the alleged variation in the properties 

 and quality of plantation Para rubber. The discussion 

 made it clear that at present each manufacturer .seems 

 to have set tqj for himself an enqjirical standard of quality 

 for plantation rul)ber, and that it is very desirable that some 

 generally accejited standard should be adopted. A nundjer 

 of papers on the cultivation of Ceara, Castilloa, and other 

 rnl>ber-yielding species in various cottntries were also read, 

 and ilessrs. Petch and Green contributed interesting and 

 tiseful papers on the tapping of Hevea and on the insect 

 pests of Hevea respectively. 



'A series of papers on cotton was read dealing with 

 almost every phase of this important subject, such as the 

 l)reeding of new cottons, the selection of cotton-seed, the 

 technical qualities which manitfacturers require in new 

 cottons, the methods of investigating cottons, and so on. 

 One fif the most interesting contributions on cotton was that 

 by Lonl Kitchener describing the successfttl reclamation of 

 a large area of salt land in the Egyptian delta and its 

 utilization for cotton growing. Equally useful was the 

 address delivereil by Mr. Harcourt, Secretary of State for 

 the Colonics, describing the work of the Imperial Institute, 

 the British Cotton Growing As.sociation, the Colonial Depart- 

 ments of .Agriculture and other bodies, which under the 

 direct control of the Colonial Office, or with its active 

 sym|iathy and support, now further in every possible way 

 the (■nlti\atiou of cotton within the Empire. 



'The various subjects alluded to above occupy such an 

 inqiortant place in every tropical country that a large propor- 

 tion of the time of the congress was devoted to them, but 

 time was also found for the discussion of a number of subjects 

 which are of special inqaortance to certain countries. Thus 

 Professor Carroody of Trinidad, contributed a most interest- 

 ing account of the experiments on cacao cultivation and 

 preparation now in progress in that island, and useful contri- 

 butions of this subject were also made Ijy Messrs. Johnson, 

 Tudhope, van Hall, liootli. and Knai:i|i and others. 



'Wheat is us yet scarcely regarded as a tropical crop, 

 and i[r. A. E. Humphries's paper on the possibilities of 

 wheat production in the tropics, no less than that of 

 il. Baillaitd on the wheats of Tunis and Algeria, was 

 a revelation to many members of the congress of nvw and 

 un.suspected areas suitable for wheat cultivatifin. 



'Herr HupfieUrs paper on the oil palm in the German 

 colonies was another contriliution of which special mention 

 may be made, since it gave an aitthentic account of the actual 

 operation rif European machinery in West Africa in the 

 extraction of jialm oil, an innovation which is likely to levolu- 

 tifinize this immense industry which has hitherto been 

 conducted l>y natives tising mo>t |ii'imitive aM<l wasteful 

 methods'. 



