Vol. IX. No. 22.3. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



3.59 



sary advice and assistance, it has been decided: — 



(1) To send out an expert, whose advice will be available 

 for all farmers in the district. 



(2) To open an experimental farm for testing different 

 varieties of cotton, rotation of crops, fertilizers, etc., 

 which would also be a training farm for both 

 Europeans and natives. 



(3) To establish a ginnery with an etficient hydraulic 

 pres.s, available for all farmers in the district. 



It is proposed to commence work with a plantation of 

 about 200 acres for the first season, which could afterwards 

 be extended, and by the close of the second sea.son sufficient 

 data should have been acquired to prove whether cotton 

 cultivation can be made a commercial success. 



The cotton produced in Rhodesia is of a, very desirable 

 quality, and has generally realized about 2(1. per B). upon the 

 price of middling American. It has hardly been possible, as 

 yet, to form a reliable o[>inion as to the cost of production, 

 which can only lie arrived at by taking the average yield per 

 acre over a number of j'ears. 



COTTON IN NYASALAND. 



The Annual Report on tlw Ayrifidtural and 

 Forcstri/ DejJartinent, Xyasaland Protectoi-ate, fur 

 1909-10, gives the t'oliowing infuiiiiaticin as to the state 

 of the cotton indiistrv ilnring that time: — 



The cotton industry of Xya.saland is divided into two 

 sections: (1) The European industry; (2) The native 

 industry. 



European acreage has increased from G,037 Ia3t year to 

 8,975 for the year under review, and the crop at present 

 being harvested covers over 12,000 acres. It will lie seen 

 from the aliove figures that solid progress is being made, and 

 I am happy to report that the quality leaves nothing to be 

 desired. Xyasaland has olitained the record price of Is. 2W. 

 per Iti. for Xyasaland upland. The brokers, reporting on the 

 upland crop of 1909, consider it to be the finest cotton ever 

 grown from U|iland seed, cither in America or elsewhere. 

 Xyasaland upland is now thoroughly acclimatized, and doing 

 very well at different levels, from 1,000 to 3,000 feet, which 

 is a remarkably wide range for a single variety. On the lower 

 levels the growing season is longer, and the yield generally 

 lieavier, but the quality is inferior to highland grown, being 

 less silky. 



Lustre, silkiness and length of staple seem to be inherent 

 characters of the highland soil.s, and all classes of cotton 

 rajiidly acquire these characters, after being grown for 

 a few years in the country. A most gratifying feature is the 

 increasing yield per acre, and several estates which produced 

 100 It), of lint a few years ago are now averaging as high as 

 16.5 lb., some gardens yielding over 2 cwt. per acre. 



The European Egyptian crop of the Lower River was 

 ii partial failure, due to the ravages of bacterial blight, an 

 American disease, which has been the cause of considerable 

 loss for several years. During last season I conducted careful 

 investigations (Bulletin Xo. 2 of 1910) regarding this disease 

 on River-grown Egyptian, and arrived at the following 

 conclusions: — 



1. The disease is most severe in low lying portions of 

 estates at or below the level of high river. 



2. From wet lands it spreads to better drained soils. 



3. Late sown cotton is less liable to attack. 



4. Xyasaland upland is practically disease-resistant, even 

 when grown in wet situations. 



Putting this information into practice, owners of planta- 

 tions on the river were advised only to plant Xyasaland 

 upland in low-lying portions of their estates, and to plant 

 Egyptian where soil aeration and drainage left nothing to be 

 desired. The advice was acted on, and in one district this 

 year there are nearly 1,000 acres of healthy Xyasaland 

 upland in place of the same area of dead and dying Egyptian. 

 The European Egyptiati crop, although small, was sold at 

 prices which compared favourably with Egyptian-grown; and 

 now the problem of blight has lieen .solved, I tru.st that the 

 quality of the crop will improve in future, as there is a con- 

 sideralile shortage in this class of cotton on the market. 



The extension of a native cotton industry is of necessity 

 a .slow process, but I have little hesitation in saying that in 

 a few years the export of native cotton will be the largest 

 export of the Protectorate. 



The future prosperity of Nyasaland as an agricultural 

 country depends principally on the development of her 

 native agriculture, and no crop is more suitable than cot- 

 ton for this purpose. Government has done everything 

 possible with the means at its disposal to foster this industry, 

 and I am ])lea.sed to report that the money spent has lieeu 

 well expended. Since the introduction of native cotton cultiva- 

 tion in Xyasaland by (ioverninent it has steadily progres.sed, 

 and the crop for the year under review amounted to 220 tons, 

 an increase of 130 tons on the previous year. The crop now 

 approaching maturity is fav'iurable, and as the distriliution 

 of seed is practically double that of last year, it is anticipated 

 there will be as large an additional increase as in the past 

 season. The quality of the native-grown Xyasaland upland 

 has always been as good as, if not better than, European- 

 grown, but the Egyptian crop was very disappointing in 

 the past, lieing largely composed of mixed staple. Last 

 season, a marked improvement has been brought aliout by 

 teaching the natives how to grade, and a large quantity of the 

 Port Herald native crop obtained Is. Id. per lb., one of the 

 highest prices obtained for Egyptian-grown in the Protecto- 

 rate. This is simply a case in point to show the necessity 

 of enlarging the staff of agricultural inspectors to supervi.se 

 the native crop. The greatest difficulty encountered is U> 

 induce natives to thin their cotton to twj plants at most; 

 they always wish to leave six to ten plants at one place as 

 with maize, thinking the larger number of plants will give 

 the heavier yield. One of the great drawbacks to the native 

 cotton industry is the distance between some of the cotton 

 fields and the ginneries, but I am pleased to report that the 

 British Cotton Growing .\ssociation is establishing a gin- 

 nery at Port Herald, in the largest native cotton centre of the 

 Protectorate, and trust that they may be encouraged to erect 

 another near Lake Xyasa, to gin the cotton produced on the 

 lake. 



Barium in United States Soils.— It appears that 



barium is a widely disseminated element and is pre.sent in 

 most soils throughout the United States, and in larger quan- 

 tities, as would be expected, in soils derived from masses 

 carrying barytic deposits, and in the soils derived from the 

 rocks of the Rocky Mountains. The soil moisture may be 

 expected to carry small amounts of barium. In all cases the 

 felspars of the igneous rocks from which the soil material has 

 been derived seem to be an original source of the barium of 

 .soils. (Bureau of Soils, United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, Bulletin Xo. 72.) 



