Vol. XV. No. 365. 



THE AGKKJULTLJKAL NEWS. 



1.35 



we understand by yield. On many estates where the actual 

 amount of lint reaped Ins been small, the cotton plants them- 

 selves have made every effort to produce, but the actual 

 securing of the lint has been interfered with by external 

 conditions. The cotton plant is extremely susceptible to 

 external conditions, and the only way of satisfactorily judging 

 the yielding capacity of the cotton jilant is by the niiniber of 

 flowers that are produced, each flower being a [lotential boll 

 of Hut. 



In summing up the discussion, the President stated that 

 it had been made quite clear that there was nothing in the 

 nature of the deterioration of the cotton plant as a whole to 

 account for the fluctuations in yield of lint per acre, or that 

 these were due to the general increasing eflfect of pests and 

 di.seases The jioint that had been made clear by the 

 di.-cussion was, that these fluctuations in yield were largel}' 

 due to fluctuations in climate: connected with this is the fact 

 that bad climatic conditions frequently accentuate the attacks 

 of pests and diseases. However, climate might be controlled 

 particulary by the use of \vind-breaks, the object being not 

 merely to resist the force of the wind but to increase the 

 humidity of the atmosphere. The President called attention 

 to the need of more detailed climatic observations in con- 

 nexion with the cultivation of cotton, and felt sure that the 

 collection of statistics of this kind would explain a large 

 number of fluctuations. 



The discussion the'i turi ed to the steps that have been 

 taken in each island to maintain and improve the quality of 

 the cotton produced • ■ 



At the request of the President, Mr. F R. Shepherd 

 (St. Kitts) read a statement as to what had been done in this 

 direction in that island Seed selection of cotton was started 

 in St. Kitts in 1904,and this had been continued with the result 

 that at the present time there were eight numbers repre- 

 senting types of pedigree strain. .\11 these were selected in 

 the field from the original Rivers' seed with the exception of 

 No. 342 S, which was selected from .seed imported from 

 P)arbados in 1906 and known as' Stirling, itself a lierivative 

 of Rivers's seed. 



Until about two years ago the method of selection 

 adopted in St. Kitts was not strictly the progeny row system. 

 That is to say, in each plot of ihe eight strain seed was taken 

 from more than one plant for future use. About two years 

 agC' this system of selecting from three or four plants was 

 discontmiied, and seed was taken from one plant in each plot 

 only. This seed gave what is known as the progeny row, and 

 this progeny row the next year supplied a plot from which 

 seed was obtained for estate jjlanting. 



Mr Shepherd drew attention to the purity and high 

 quality of No 342 S. for planting in the coming season there 

 would be a stock of about 2,000 tt). of seed. 



In regard to the position in Antigua, ilr T Jackson 

 and Dr H. A Tempany made several statements. Supple- 

 menting these with information c lat^ined in the Botanic 

 Station Reports of that island, it would seem that in the early 

 days of the industry seed was selected en masse from the best 

 fields on different estates. This seed was picked over by hand 

 and the clean non-tufted seeds were discarded. In 1911 it 

 appears that experiments with selected individual plants were 

 started at Skerretts. This work was later transferred to 

 Yetpons estate where the soil conditions are more suitable 

 for cotton. Yeptons has in recent years become the cotton 

 'seed farm' for a large portion of the island Apjiar- 

 ently a type, recorded as No. 7/1912 planted at Yeptons 

 gave rise to type No 312 of 1914, of which one plot was 

 planted in 1915 and 2 acres of the same in 1916. Thiis seed 



is available for planting the crop of 1917. Thus in the last 

 two or three years the progeny row system has been in 

 operation in Antigua. 



Mr. W. Robson (Montserrat) the^i read a statement as to 

 methods adopted to maintain and improve th > quality of 

 cotton in that island. For many years past the type of 

 cotton that had been largely grown and placed in the hands 

 of the planters by Mr. Piobson was what is known us Ileatou 9, 

 which could be traced back to an original individual plant. 

 Mr. Rob.son is now examining and selecting with a view to 

 producing an improved type. Mr. Robson included in his 

 stdtement various points concerning methods of selection, an 

 accou' tof which may be deferred until later. One interest- 

 ing statement made by .Mr. Robson was to the effect that 

 in a valuation of two tj'])es of cotton grown last season, 

 namely some from Heaton 9 and some arising from a St. Kitts 

 type of seed, the latter was more highly valued by the broker.'} 

 than Heaton 9. 



The President then requested Mr. Harland (St. Vincent) 

 to make a statement regarding methods of seed selection in 

 that island. Mr. Harland said that the Sea Island cotton 

 industry of St. Vincent was started on a commercial scale in 

 1904 with the planting of the Rivers' type only. This, on 

 account of the appearance of a large number of 'rogues' in 

 the field was recognized as not being a pure strain. It was 

 considered neces.sary to devise some means of maintaining 

 the quality of the cotton, with the result ihat a mechanical 

 method of seed selection was adopted. This had relation 

 principally to the discarding of clean non-tufted seed This 

 method, though an imperfect one from a breeder's standpoint, 

 was successful in its practical results up to 1914. 



Reference was then made by Mr. Harland to the 

 St. Vincent superfine cotton known as BH. This seed had 

 been sent out to planters in St. Vincent from Manchester, 

 and represented a special type of its own quite distinct from 

 the Rivers' or ordinary St. 'Vincent Sea Island cotton. 



Long before 1914 the attention of planters had been 

 called to the progeny row system of selection, and although 

 this was adopted on some estates, there was no continuity 

 of effort. In 1910-11 the local types were selected and 

 grown in plots at the Experiment Station. In the selection 

 of these types attention was principally directed to resistance 

 to disea.se, but the securing of a pure strain in this connex- 

 ion has not yet been realized. 



At the Botanic Station, however, in 1910, an interesting 

 plant was discovered in a ,)lot of BH cotton having the habit 

 of the one-stalk cotton as defined by O. F. Cooke, of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture. It is believed to 

 be a pure strain, and appears to be resistant to disease, and 

 early maturing. Seed from this original plant was obtained 

 by the progeny row system, and recently two trials of this 

 cotton have been made on estates in wet districts, and the 

 yield of seed-cotton has been far higher than that obtained 

 from other types of cotton under similar circumstances. 



Another individual plant selection has had regard to a. 

 type which has been specially .selected for disease resistance 

 and lint characters This has been very favourably reported 

 on by the brokers as superior to the ordinary St. Vincent, 

 and a considerable quantity of seed is now available for 

 planting purpo.ses on estates. For practical purposes, this 

 may be regarded as a superfine type. 



This account of the second day's proceedings will be 

 continued in the next issue of the Agricultural News. 



