246 



TBB AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



AuousT 6, 1910. 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



Messrs. Wolstenholine and Holland, of Liverpool, 

 write as follows, under date July 18, with reference to 

 the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton : — 



A very limited business has been done in West Indian 

 Sea Island cotton since our last report, chiefly confined to 

 St. Vincent cotton from '20d. to 24^. 



Spinners are withholding from the market and prices 

 have a downward tendency. We hear, however, that the 

 American Sea I.sland crop is not doing so well, and if the 

 ■weather does not improve, spinners will enter themarketagain. 



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

 Sea Island cotton in tiie Southern States, for the week 

 ending July 2, is as follows: — 



Since our last report on .June 11, the market has 

 remained dull, with no demand. The stock in Factors' hands 

 is now reduced to .53 bales, consisting principally of Planters' 

 crop lots, held at .50c. to 55c. There is also still left on plan- 

 tation around Beaufort about 100 bales of Fully Fine. 



Although the .season has practically closed, yet it is 

 possible that some demand may spring up for the limited 

 supply left unsold, which may be required by the trade before 

 the next crop comes to market. 



INDIAN COTTON IN TBEl UNITED 



STATES. 



In the current volume of the Agricultural Nc^vs, 

 p. 200, a note appeared in relation to the recent impor- 

 tation of cotton into the Southern States, for use in the 

 mills. The report on which the information was based 

 is given in I)i[iloiiiatic and Consular Reports, No. 

 4,416, Annual Series, fi-om which the following e.\tract 

 relating to the matter is taken : — 



Owing to the unusually high prices prevailing in this 

 country for cotton during the later months of 1909, several 

 hundred bales of cotton were imported from India by several 

 of the Carolina cotton mills, to be used as an experiment in 

 combination with United States-grown cotton. This, it is 

 stated, is the first time in the history of the .southern mills 

 that Indian-grown cotton has been purchased. The orders 

 for the above-mentioned cotton were placed by the Townsend 

 Twine Mills and the Pelzer Cotton Mills, both of South Caro- 

 lina, and it is understood that other mills in the Piedmont 

 section of this State have done likewise. Indian cotton is nf 



a somewhat shorter staple than the domestic-grown Upland 

 cotton, but it is said t-i be equally white and smooth. The 

 Carolina mill owners are going to experiment with this Indian 

 cotton, and if it prove .sati^factory, as they .seem confident it 

 will, and present high prices for domestic cotton continue, it 

 is believed larger orders for the Indian article will soon be 

 I'laced. 



In the present instance, the Indian cotton was bought 

 f.o.b. at Xew York at llic. (h^d.) per lb.: the freight from 

 Xew York to the ( 'arolina mills wms 56c. (2s. Ad.) per 100 lb.; 

 the cotton therefore was laid down at the mills at a cost of 

 lljc. (oid.) per %., while prices for domestic cotton 

 of equally good grade for mill uses was quoted at 14^c. 

 C'^d.) at the mills at the time the Indian cotton was bought, 

 with little prospect of any earlj' decline. 



Although, as above stated, the importation of Indian- 

 grown cotton is new here, yet it is well known that the 

 Soiuhcru mills have for a long time imported and used cotton 

 fioiii Eg\pt, b(.c.^u.-i-, lor certain jiurpu.'es, it has been found 

 to answer as well as the American Sea Island cotton, and 

 can be obtained at less cost: but the importation of short 

 cotton by the Southern mills was practically unknown until 

 the last season. 



The fact that the cotton has been brought from India 

 into the very home of short staple cotton has excited com- 

 ment and interest in cotton-manufacturing circles, as it opens 

 a field for spe(nilation as to the effect such importations are 

 likely to have upon the cotton-growing industry in this and 

 other countries. The questions naturally arising are: whether 

 it will fuither stiihulate the production of Indian cotton, and 

 to what extent: and also whether it will increase present efforts 

 to find niher cotton-growing areas elsewhere. The solution 

 of the problem will, perhaps, depend largely on whether 

 present high values for shoit staple cotton are likely to be 

 maintained or not for the future, at least so far as Indian 

 imports of any considerable amount are concerned. 



In the Anniiiil Bcporf on the E.rperimt'iit'd Work of the 

 Surat Aiirirnlt^iral Station, India, for 1908-9, particulars of 

 manurial exi)eriments with cotton and other plants are given. 

 The trials have been carried on for four jears, the manures 

 being applied in the first three of these, on plots measuring 

 i';-acre in area. The lesults .showed, with regard to cotton, 

 that the yield may be very greatlj- increased by the use of 

 farmyard manuie and castor cake, as well as by means of 

 dressings of sodium nitrate and superphosphate There was 

 no profit from the increase, however, after allowance had been 

 made for the co^t of the manure, except in the case of farm- 

 yard manure, though castor cake, if cheaper, could be used 

 economically. 



