150 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



Mat 6, 191G. 



COTTON CONFERENCE. 



SECOND DAY'S PROCEEDINGS. 

 (Concluded) 



In sumiiiaiiziDg Mr. Harland'.s remarks, the President 

 impressed upon the meeting the distinction between ordinary 

 and superfine cotton. They were two distinct types, and each 

 meets a special demand on tlie aiarket. 



The President urged that very great caution .should be 

 exercised in embarking on the cultivation of 'superfine' cctton, 

 for this i.s practically a ilistinct indu.stry fiotn the j;rowing of 

 'ordinary' Sea Lsland cotton. 



The above briefly summarizes the proceedings of the 

 morning session. In the afternoon a discussion on matters 

 relating to methods of seed Selection wa.s continued. In 

 answer to the question by the President, Mr. Shepherd made 

 a statement as to the amounts pf seed of diti'erent types he 

 had available for distribution to planters. 



The Hon. R. L. Warneford (Antigua) then asked per- 

 mission to read a Resolution which had been passed at 

 a meeting of cotton growers held in Antigua prior to the 

 Conference. The IJe.soIution was as follows: — 



'That it is desirable that the delegates from Antigua 

 to the forthcoming Cotton Conference should discuss with 

 the other delegates of the Conference, methods adopted for 

 securing a satisfactory supply of .seed for planting in each 

 island and that a definite line of procedure should be laid 

 down as to the best mode of ensuring the purity of .seed 

 supply ' 



The President in e.^pressing his .satisfaction that the 

 delegates of Antigua had a distinct mandate of that kind, 

 proceeded to outline the various considerations relating to 

 the subject of securing and ensuring purity of seed. He 

 referred to Mr BalL' conclusions in Egypt that crossing is 

 the one thing that breaks down types of cotton, and that every 

 effort should be directed to securing pure strains. .Mr. Piall.s' 

 wire cage method was then referred to, and the President 

 raised the question as to whether such appliances were 

 necessary in raising pure strains in the West Indian islands. 

 He pointed out that there was much less admixture of types 

 of cotton in the West Indies than there was in I'^gypt. He 

 also pointed out the dangers attendant on producing 

 a specialized type for general cultivation, since if a demand 

 aros(^ for cotton possessing other characters, it might be difficult 

 to supply it. Moreover, a specialized type of cotton would 

 supply merely a specialized market, and in that case the island 

 would be carrying, as regards cotton, all its eggs in one basket, 

 aS might be the case if superfine cotton alone were 

 cultivated. The question then arose as to how many types 

 should be grown at the E,Ypcrinioht Station in order to guard 

 against the danger of losing frrmi a district some characti'r.s 

 which might subse(|Uently prove to be desirable. The 

 Pre.sident asked Dr. Tempany if he had any ob.scrvations to 

 make in regard to the desirability of modifying the general 

 methods of se(!d .selection at present practised in the Jvceward 

 Islands, and also whether he considered there was need 

 of adoptii g the wire cage method. Dr. Tompany expressed 

 the view that at present he considered that n)ethods were 

 generally sati.'-tactory, and that he had not yet had the 

 opportunity of giving the wire cage method sufticient thought 

 to make any definite statement concerning the desirability 

 of adopting it in the Leeward Islands. 



Mr. W. Nowell (Imperial Department of Agriculture) 

 then put forward his opinions on the subject. He emphasized 

 the importance of knowing first of all whether the buyers of 



cotton are sufficiently satisfied with the types produced, or 

 whether they consider it desirable that more specialized types 

 .should be produced. If the spinners required a type of lint, 

 for instance, which did not fluctuate in length more than 

 a couple of millimetres, it would be necessary to produce 

 a very pure strain, and to do this might necessitate the adop- 

 tion of wire cages and other equipment leading to greater 

 precision. But until it was quite understood by the growers 

 what the spinners required, he considered that the present 

 methods were satisfactory. Mr. Nowell also emphasized the 

 danger of cultivating one pure strain to the exclusion of all 

 others: for in that 'ca.se it would be dependent upon a special 

 demand that might at any moment collapse. There was 

 also the consideration thvt if the exclusive strain was no 

 longer desirable and it was necessary to recover the charac- 

 ters that had been eliminated in the other strains, these 

 would have been lost and then the planter would be 

 committed to one particular type, and would be limited to 

 selection from that type in the future. 



A discussion then arose as to the relative merits of the 

 se-d produced at the Experiment Station in St. Kitts, and 

 that produced by Mr. A. O. Thurston for planting on his 

 properties. In the course of this interesting discussion it 

 was shown that while Mr. Thurston practised miss selection 

 in the production of his .seed for planting his original 

 material was Stirling seed, which was a pure strain produced 

 from a single ))lant of Rivers' seed on Stirling estate in 

 Barbados. The story of the origin of Stirling S was outlined 

 by Mr. Ballon t^Imperial Department of Agriculture), who 

 was on the original selection committee and actually selected 

 the plant from which the strain known as Stirling S 

 originated. 



The President pointed out that the common origin of 

 La Guerite and Douglas seed emphasizes the idea of selection 

 from one type of plant, and shows that purity of strain once 

 it has been procured can be maintained, provided the environ- 

 ment is a pure one. In other words, once the pure strain has 

 been obtained and can be protected from crossing with other 

 strains, mass selection is sufificient to maintain the general 

 standard without deterioration for a number of years. 



The President mentioned the recommendations that 

 reached him from time to time to obtain .seed for [tlant- 

 ing from particular marks of cotton po^se.ssing good char- 

 acters, but these characters were i)r()bably, in the most 

 cases, the result of good environment. The present dis- 

 cussion had shown that such change from one type to 

 another was not desirable, but that the object aimed at 

 should b(! the creation of a pure strain. One of the 

 most important points, it was stated, at this stage of the 

 Conference, was thdt tliere do exist in the various islands, 

 strains of cotton which are eminently satisfactory to the 

 spinners, and the aim of experiment station workers should 

 be rather to retain and continue to produce the.se strains 

 than to try to produce new types of cotton. St. Kitts was 

 prol)ably the island in which the strain of cotton was most 

 uniform. In St. Mncent there were dangers in that they 

 Wire cultivating two distinct types, so that UQUsual care 

 in seed selection is necessary there. The President suggested 

 to the meeting that he should request the Fine Spinners to 

 inform him in whiit respect they considered the present 

 types of cotton could be improved in order to meet with 

 their entire satisfaction. He then put the following Resolu- 

 tion before the meeting: 'That in the opinion of this 

 Conference, the purpose of obtaining a supply of pure seed 

 for planting purposes will be best attained by the method of 

 single |)lant .selection followed by cultivation in j)rogeny 

 rows from which seed plots are planted from which com- 



