294 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



September 12, 1914. 



COTTON. 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



Messrs. Wolstenhwline and Hollaml. ijf Liverpool, 

 write as follows, under date August 2-5, 1914, with refer- 

 ence to the sales ot West Indian Sea Island cotton: — 



Since our last report sales of West Indian Sea Island 

 cotton are eonfirmed and cnntiiied to IG bales of St. Vincent 

 at lG(f. to 17rf. 



Owing to the war, this growth is at present quite 

 uns deable, except at ridiculously speculative price.s. We are 

 afraid that it will be a considerable time before the market 

 will be established again on a proper basis, as, not only are 

 the mills which use Sea Island yarn situated in France 

 anil Belgium in the region of the present hostilities but 

 tlicre will be a tendency not to use any luxuries, and we 

 therefore think that lace will suffer as uuich as any article 

 of this class. We see no hurry for planters to push their 

 new (Top forwiird, as there is no possitile enquii'y here at the 

 pr;^-<ent, and planters will prol^ably be able to hold their 

 cotton in the West Indies at less expense than if consigned 

 to England. The only otter which we have obtained since 

 the war is 12'/. per It), for several hundreds of bales, all of 

 which wei-c selling a few months ago at prices ranging from 

 15r/. to 20/. 



NOTE ON NEW COTTONS. 



According to the B^iUelin of Mi>ciill.(i iieous Information, 

 No. o of 1914, published by the Royal Bcjtanie Gardens, 

 Kew, a fine series of specimens of Cauto cotton had lieen 

 received from Jamaica. It is derived from a tree which 

 is found wild in the Cauto district of Cuba. ilr. W. Harris, 

 Superintendent of the Public Gardens and Plantations, 

 Jamaica, who foi-warded the specimens, says that the 

 plant is a perennial, and according to present informa- 

 tion is likely to ))rove of considerable agricultural 

 value for cultivation in di-y districts, of the Tropics. The 

 2 acres planted at the garden contains plants which are only 

 six months from seed but are now laishes up to 10 feet high. 

 In Jamaica the areas which are at present under trial with 

 this plant in various parts of the arid southern districts aflbrd 

 evidence that in spite of the drought that has V)een experi- 

 enced, these cotton liushes are likely to produce crops 

 estimated to yield at least 1,200 It), of seed-cotton per acre, 

 and as this cotton has been sold at prices varying from 18c. 

 to 20c. per lb. in the American markets, it will be seen that 

 the Cauto cotton is a plant of nmch promise for lands that 

 are now producing nothing but shrub. 



'The specimens sent [to Kew] agree in most of their techni- 

 cal characters with Gofsi/piiini brasiliense, Macf., from which 

 they ditl'er, however, in the seeds being free from one another. 

 In view of the statement that C 'auto cotton is wild or semi- 

 wild in south-eastern Cuba, it may possibly represent the 

 wild stock of //. /irasiliensf. and lining regard to its close 

 agreement with that species, apart from the free seeds, it lias 

 been provisionally named (ioffi/pimn hru.-iliense, var. apof- 

 permum, Sprague (var. nov. ), as it seems tlesirable to have 

 a definite name for such an important econonuc plant. At 

 the .same time tlie |)ossibility of its being a hybrid of 

 G. irasiliciite witli scmie other species cannot be entirely 

 excluded. 



'The study of its behaviour under cultivation may 

 perhaps throw light on this point.' 



DOMIXICA: REl'ORT OxV THE A tiRWULTVRA L 

 DEPARTMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDING MARCH 



SI, lUll 



In issuing this report certain improvements in the form 

 have this year been introduced; namely, single headings 

 inimediately under the number of each page, and a taljle of 

 contents on the first page. This should facilitate reference 

 considerably. 



The general maimer in which the infrjrmation is pre- 

 sented is similar to that adopted in previous j-ears, with the 

 exception that the work in connexion with the cacao phjts 

 and the newly established lime cultivation plots is pufjlished 

 as an appendix: in this section, also, is lirought together 

 information on agricultural education in Dominica. 



Revii.'wing the pulilication fruni tht- l^eginning, the first 

 section on work in the gardens and observations i>n plants con- 

 tains many facts of local interest, especially that concerning the 

 identification of a leguminous tree which is common aloiii; the 

 banks of the Indian River at Portsmouth, and whidi pruves to 

 be fterocarpui ofUdnulu, Jaccpiin. A note is given on the 

 trees that have flowered in the garden for the first time last 

 j'ear, and a list of interesting plants added to the collection 

 during the same period. The next section, referring to the 

 work done in the nurseries, describes the experiments with 

 budded oranges, and shows, as regards plant distribution, that 

 although the numljer sent out was not ijuite so large as for 

 the previous year, nearlj' 60,000 plants were distributed 

 diu'ing the year under review, most of w'hich were lime plants 

 for estalilishing plantations in various j):u-ts of the island. In 

 the portion of this section dealing with plant importation, 

 reference is made to Aleuritea F>rdi', the wood oil tree of 

 China, an<l it is considered probal)le that this tree will not be 

 found to thrive well in Dominica. Mention is also made of 

 a newly imported Sapucaia nut, and the Shea Ijutter tree, 

 attempts to raise plants of which have not in the past proved 

 successful in I^ominica but concerning which some success has 

 now to be recorded. It is noted further that Hedychiiud, 

 coronariiitii, a source of material for paper making, oecurn 

 connnonly in Duminica, and that ibuing the year a single 

 specimen of the (lutta percha tree was received from Kew. 



The plot experiments at the Botanic and Experi- 

 ment Station are dealt with in the next section, which 

 contains amongst other matters the results of the 

 tapping of Castilloa elasfica up to date, and an interest- 

 ing note concerning an investigation into the grasses of 

 Domiiuca. Up to the present time forty-one species of 

 Dondnica grasses have been identified as a result of the 

 work of ^Ir. A. S. Hitchcock, Systematic Agrostologist of 

 the Uiuted States De])artnient nf Agricidture, and the .Assist- 

 ant CuraHn' in Dominica, who collected the sjjecimens. The 

 main portion of the section under review deals with the 

 budding of cacfto. The Curator's views on this snl)ject would 

 seem to be well worth careful considci-ation by planters and 

 others interested in the establishment of cacao estates. The 

 n(!cessity for research as regards .selection of budding material 

 is pointed out, and ' the general advantages of budding 



