35G 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



November 



1914. 



As regards prospects for 1915-16 crop, as the planting 

 time does not come on until about next ^lay, we had better 

 write you again nearer the time, as the situation may haye 

 entirely changed', by then. 



COTTON. 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



The report of Messr.s. Henry W. Frost & Co., on 

 Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week 

 ending October 3, is as follows: — 



The receipts of new crop cotton have been only .31 bales 

 so far, which have not been .sampled or offered for sale, tliere- 

 fore the market has not yet opened. 



It will proliably be a fortnight before the receipts are 

 large enough to induce the Factors to jiut out any cotton 

 for sale. 



During the fortnight ended October 13, 3.3 bales of 

 British West Indian cotton were importetl into the L'nited 

 Kingdom. Since last report a fair to good business ha.s been 

 done. Quotations generally are reduced W. per fti. ( West 

 India Committee Circular, October 20, 1911.) 



COTTON PROSPECTS IN ENGLAND. 



The Commissioner (jf Agriculture has received the 

 following letter from Mr. J. Arthur Hutton, (.'hairman 

 of the British Cotton Growing Association. This letter 

 is of interest at the j^resent time, as being a record of 

 the disposal of the .stock in the English market, and as 

 affording good advice for cotton planters in the West 

 Infiies in regard to the crop now being harvested; — 



Since I wrote you last, trade has gone distinctly worse, 

 and the continental demand, either for cotton, yarn or cloth, 

 has practically ceased. 



We have naturally felt a good deal of anxiety about the 

 stock of West Indian cotton. We had about 1,-500 bales in 

 stock when the war broke out, and our total sales in August 

 and September only amounted to 121 bales. It looked as if 

 we were going to have to hold cotton for a lojig time, a)id we 

 therefore felt, in the interests of the planters, that vye nuist 

 try and clear the stock before the new crop began to come in. 



I am more than pleased to be able to tell you that we 

 liave cleared out practically the whole of the stock. The 

 prices are, I am afraid, very low, but we have done the best 

 we could, and no one can do more than that. 



In order to effect a sale, we had to agree to accept a six 

 months' bill, and the interest on this will come to about X400. 

 "We do not propose to debit the planters with this amount; 

 but will bear the loss ourselves, in order to help them in their 

 loss. If we had insisted on cash payment in the present state 

 of finances, we should still be holding this cotton, and might 

 have to hold it for another year or two, for no one can tell 

 how long the war may last. 



I gather from your last letter that there is likely to be 

 a considerable sub.stitution of sugar for cotton next year, and 

 if this is the case I should strongly urge holding the new crop, 

 just coming along, for good prices. I am not altogether 

 sorry to hear of a possible reduction in acreage, as it wil 

 .strengthen our hands in holding up the new crop, but I hope 

 the planters wont go so far as to lose touch with cotton, for 

 there is bound to be a re-action and we shall again see 

 high prices, especially for the better qualities. 



MUTATION IN EGYPTIAN COTTON. 



The origin of the Egyptian type of cotton is obscure. 

 According to one theory, it is a product of hybridization 

 between a brown-linted tree cotton and American Sea Island, 

 both of these types having been cultivated in Egypt nearly 

 a century ago. Whether or not this be true, there can be no 

 question that the varieties now grown are of mixed ancestry, 

 a condition which some investigators regard as favourable to 

 mutation. 



Numerous varieties have appeared from time to time in 

 Egypt. The Ashmuni variety, now grown only in L^pper 

 Egypt, originated about 1850. This variety gave rise in 

 IkAt to the ;Mit Afiti, and from the latter the Abassi, 

 Yannovitch, Nubari, Sakellarides, and A.ssil varieties have 

 successively been developed. 



As grown in Arizona from imported seed, most of the 

 Egyptian varieties are readily distinguishable by the halnt of 

 the plants, and by the characters of the leaves, involucres and 

 bolls, as well as of the fibre. 



So far as the scanty evidence goes, each of these varie- 

 ties originated with a mutant, i.e., an individual plant which 

 showed an abrupt and definite change in the characters 

 expressed. This conclusion is supported by the more com- 

 plete data at hand regarding the history of the varieties which 

 have been developed in Arizona. 



The plant-breeding work in Arizona was begun twelve 

 years ago with imported seed of the Mit Afiti ^'ariety. Per- 

 sistent selection of the best plants caused some improvement 

 in earliness and productiveness in the quality of the fibre. Ijut 

 the progress was not very substantial prior to 1 908, in which 

 year two types very ditierent from the Mit Afifi were recog- 

 nized and isolated. One of these was the Yuma variety, now 

 commercially grown in Arizona. This form has continued 

 to express its distinctive characters with a high degree of 

 uniformity, notwithstanding the fact that the parent indivi- 

 dual and its immediate progeny were not protected against 

 cross-pollination. 



Two atlditional varieties, described in this paper under 

 he names 'Pima' anil 'Gila' have lately been developed 

 in Arizona. The Pima variety appeared as a single plant of 

 marked individuality in a field of Yuma cotton at Sacatou, 

 Arizona, in 1910. Its characters have been expressed in its 

 ])rogeny with great nniformity during the three subsequent 

 generations. This variety is easily distinguished from the 

 parent Yuma variety by its relative limblessness, and by the 

 correlated retention of the lowest fruiting l^ranches and bolls; 

 l)y the more uniformly developed leaves; by the shorter, 

 relatively wider, and nearly separate involucral bracts; by the 

 plumper and more abruptly and sharply pointed bolls, and by 

 the longer fibre. 



The Gila variety is derived from a single plant dis- 

 covered by Mr. E. W. Hudson in a field of the acclimatized 

 Mit Afifi stock grown at Sacaton, Arizona, in 1908. In its 

 external characters this type resembles the parent ilit Afifi 

 variety much more than the Yuma, but differs from the Jlit 

 Afifi in its earlier ripening, smaller vegetative branches, 

 greater productiveness, and longer fibre. Individuality of 

 the parent plant, together with the uniformity shown bj- its 

 progeny during the subsequent generations, indicates that 

 the Gila variety, like the Yuma and the Pima is of mutational 

 origin. 



Egyptian cotton exhibits, although in a minor degree. 



