1.34 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



AvRih 30, 1910. 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



Messrs. Wolstenholme and Holland, of Liverpool, 

 write as follows, under date April 11, with reference 

 to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton : — 



Since our last report, a good business has been done in 

 West Indian Sea Island cotton, and the sales amount to 

 probably about 600 bags, including Montserrat and Xevis 

 18d. to 2\d., St. Kitts 19(/. to 21ifZ., Anguilla 20(7. to 21(1., 

 Barbuda 20d., St. Lucia 20i to 21 if/., St. Croix 20d. to 21'/., 

 Barbados 2ld. to 22f/., St. Vincent 22rZ. to 24c/., with a few 

 odd superior bags at 2.5c/. to 27'/., and Stains of various 

 qualities lie/, to 17'/. The high relative price obtained for 

 Stains is entirely owing to the advance in Egyptian. 



Egyptian cotton is .so dear that the demand for the lower 

 grades of Sea Lsland remains bri.sk, whereas the finer 

 qualitie.s, which are only used for special trades, are heavy of 

 sale this season. We expect that the West Indian crop will 

 be readily absorbed this season, as fast as it arrives. 



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

 Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week 

 ending April 2, is as follows: — 



There has been a limited demand this week, resulting 

 in sale of 94 bales, consisting of a crop lot, classing Extra 

 Fine, and such odd bags as remained in stock, classing Fine 

 to Extra Fine, the buying being for export. 



The unsold stock is now reduced to about 2-50 bales, 

 consisting very largely of Planters' Crop lots, held at 40c., 

 .50c. and 60c. 



There is also left on plantation, not yet ginned, about 

 100 bales, classing Fully Fine. 



COTTON IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES. 



In the JowrnaL d' Agriculture Tropicale, No. 104 

 (February 1910), an article appears by M. O. Labroy, 

 entitled La Culture du Coton aux Antilles Britan- 

 niques. This contains a good summary of the present 

 state of the cotton industry in the West Indies, and 

 parts of it have been extracted, as follows : — 



In the light of the fact that the Sea Lsland cotton, such 

 as is produced in James and Edisto Islands (South Carolina) 

 is generally considered to be the outcome of rigorous selection, 

 conducted among surroundings eminently favourable to its 

 cultivation, it is evident that it cannot be exploited in any 

 other region, unless there are indications that the climate and 

 soD are suitable to a reasonable degree, and unless it is the 

 object of thorough selection which will render it most fitted 

 to exist in its new environment, and will maintain the 

 length of the fibre, its uniformity, strength and fineness, as 

 well as the length of life and the resistance of the plant to 

 parasites and storms. 



The introduction of new types of cotton, against which 

 Dr. Francis \\'atts has signified his opinion, has been equally 

 criticised in other cotton-growing countries. il. Ganunie 

 (Aiiricultund Juiirnnl of India, April 1908) has finally shown 

 that the attempts made for eighty years in British India to 

 grow American, Egyptian and Bourbon cotton have failed, as 

 regards the greater number of varieties. Examples equally 

 convincing may be easily found in tropical Africa, and other 

 regions, and it is well known that the attempts to grow 

 Egyptian cotton in Arizona have been far from meeting with 

 success. The question arises as to whether it would be advis- 

 able to conduct experiments with these same cottons in 

 •Jamaica, in accordance with proposals that have been made 

 already. (IIV.^/ India Comiuifter Circular, May 11, 1909.) 



If it is decided, nevertheless, to effect the introduction of 

 seme variety showing great merit, it is necessary to give it 

 attention, and to practise selection in relation to it, for three 

 or four years before even its approximate value in the place 

 of its adoption can be decided. The crossing of cottons, 

 which might lead advantageously to the production of new 

 types, has not yet been the subject of precise observation in 

 the West Indies: experiments have been made, however, in 

 the crossing of Sea Island with the native cotton. The 

 greatest caution is required in the matter of the hybridization 

 of cottons of different species. O. F. Cook has shown (Bulletin 

 147, L^nited States Department of Agriculture, entitled 

 Suppressed and Intensified CharacUrs of Cotton. Hyhrids) 

 that the interest of such hybrids remains especially limited 

 to the first generation. 



It is, above all, as a secondaiy crop, especially to 

 succeed sugar-cane where fungus diseases have seriously 

 damaged it, that cotton appears to us to have a certain future 

 in the West Indies. 



DISTANCE FOR PLANTING COTTON. 



The following conclusions have been reached, as 

 the result of experiments that have been carried out at 

 the Surat (India) Agricultural Station with a view to 

 determining the best distance at which to plant cotton, 

 in the rows : — 



(1) The spacingof 18 inches between cotton plants is not 

 sufficient, for the yields of all the plots so spaced have fallen 

 considerably below those obtained from the plots spaced 

 at 24 inche.s, 30 inches and 32 inches apart, and there is 

 very little to choose between these last three spacings, all 

 giving about the same results in the present season. 



(2) The best results in the case of thinning have been 

 obtained with a 24-inch interval between consecutive plants. 

 The plots thinned to this distance have yielded at a rate of 

 nearly 40 &. of seed-cotton ])er acre more than those thinned 

 at 6 inches, 12 inches and 18 inches. This result was obtained 



