18 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Jasuary L"), 1916. 



in 1915-16, even with an unixsually large balance 

 •carried forward from the 1914 crops, may not be 

 ■enough to meet the demand. Of course, as Professor 

 Todd points out, supply will always meet demand 

 at a price, because a high price will reduce the 

 ■demand to the dimensions of the supply. The question 

 is whether the consumer's demand will be sufficient to 

 •enable Lancashire to pay the high prices which 

 the Southern States will want to make them 

 ■extend their acreage. The .\merican cotton planter 

 ■of to-day is in a very independent position as regards 

 choice of crops, and what with high labour costs 

 and boll weevil, ho is not too anxious to grow 

 cotton at 10 or 12 cents. It is difficult to forecast 

 what the actual conditions of demand will be when 

 the war is over, but it is very probable that what is 

 lost in the demand for war materials will be more than 

 . made up by the rush to replace the exhausted stocks 

 -of all kinds of other fabrics, and that, for a time at 

 least, the demand will be above rather than below 

 the normal. But the longer the war lasts, the greater 

 will be the reduction of acreage. 



How this can be prevented, brings us back again 

 to Professor Todd's conclusions quoted at the com- 

 mencement of this article. Cotton growing must be 

 •Stimulated at once within the Empire. The greatest 

 possibilities, sa3"s Professor Todd, for immediate 

 incrcHses, lie in India, where great impiovements both 

 in quality and quantity have been made in recent 

 years.* Help and encouragement must also be con- 

 tinued in Egypt, and East and West Africa. 



In conclusion it may be of interest to consider Pro- 

 fessor Todds' views in their bearing on West Indian or 

 Sea Island cotton In volume our production is a neglig- 

 ible quantity, but we supply a very special market. After 

 the outbreak ot war, West Indian cotton growers, like 

 the planters of the Southern States and Egypt, 

 ■exhibited a strong inclination to reduce the acreage 

 •under cotton, especially in view of the increased demand 

 for sugar and other foodstuffs. But the British Cotton 

 •Orowing Association advised "otherwise, and luckily 

 this advice in most of the islands was largely followed. 

 It is true that great delay in the effecting of sales has 

 occurred, but, on the other hand, a review of the year's 

 market for Sea Island cotton shows a steady strength- 

 ening of prices and of demand. During the first half 

 of the year the demand no doubt was limited, but 14rf. 

 to I5d. for ordinary Sea Island cotton was obtained. 

 Advices for the past three » months indicate an 



*liif<>nii;ition on tlii.s )ioiiit may be obtained l)y refen-noc 

 ■4o Til': A^iicnUiind Jonrmd i>f 1 1 diet, Vol. X, Part 2, C-\i)ril 

 J.915). E).. 



extensive business in West Indian cotton, and 

 this circumstaiice. stiffened by the guarantee of 

 a minimum price by the Fine Spinners, shows that 

 Sea Island cotton is still indispensable. If it were 

 not for the inadequate freight facilities and heavy war 

 rates — most importaat points which Professor Todd 

 has not taken into consideration — the prospects before 

 cotton growers throughout the world would seem to 

 be extremely favourable. 



THE CONDITION OF THE AMERICAN 

 SEA ISLAND COTTON INDUSTRY. 



A paper, imponant to the West Indian cotton grower, 

 has been issued as Bulletin No. 146 of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, in which is described the economic 

 conditions in the Sea Island cotton industry of the United 

 States. The paper is based upon the results of an investi- 

 gation carried out on account of the condition of crisis that 

 existed in Carolina and Georgia in 1912-13. In making 

 the investigation care was taken to obtain information fiom 

 both spinners in America and producers, for, underlying 

 t-> a large extent the trouble with which the present paper 

 deals, was the strained relationship be:ween the .growers 

 and the buyers. 



It appears that the general unsatisfactory condition of 

 the American Sea Island trade has been due to under- 

 consumption railier than to over-production. By this is 

 meant ihat a large proportion of the crop is exported from 

 the United States, and therefore, not used in the American 

 mills. During recent years the importations of p]gyptian 

 cotton into the United States were practically uniform. In 

 1912-U3, however, the consumption of Egyptian fine staple 

 increased greatly, and it is concluded that not only the 

 entire falling otf in consumpiion of extra long staple, but the 

 incre-ise in consumption of Egyptian was at the expense of 

 Sea I.sland cotton. 



The causes of decrea-sed consumption were several. 

 The most important was the deadlock of 1912-13 when 

 growers refused to sell at the price offered them by the 

 buyers. The result was that the buyers turned to Egypt, 

 and supplied ilieir years need at prices and on terms more 

 satisfactory than those offered by the holders of Sea. I.'>land 

 cotton. But aside from any hitch in the usual methods of 

 buying and selling, Sea Island cotton was sooner or later 

 bound to meet Egyptian in competition. This applies more 

 especially to kjakellarides, of which the lint is not inferior in 

 many respects to medium Sea Island. The publication under 

 consideration mentions some of the reasons given by spinners 

 for preferring Sakellarides to Sea Island: these may be 

 stated briefly as follows: (a) it is manufactured with le.ss 

 waste; (b) it works better in the card room: (c) it makes 

 stronger yarn and stronger cloth: (d) better buying terms; 

 (e) the ditticulty of changing back to Sea Island cotton 

 when Sakellarides has found a use in any special line. 



To continue our enumeration of the causes of decreased 

 consumption of Sea Island cotton, another reason for the 

 lessened use. is that its quality in America is not so uniform 

 and good as it was formerly. The most serious cause of 

 deterioration in the interior regions has been the refusal of 

 the Carolina growers to sell planting seed to others. This 

 decision not to sell planting seed came about as the natural 

 result of a situation in which the American planters found 

 themselves. In 1902 the culture of Sea Island cotton was 



