Vol. XV. No. 366. 



THE AGKICJLJLTUUAL NEWS. 



151 



mercial supplie.s are deiived, and that tho methods described 

 by the experiment station workers in their remarks to this 

 C'onference to-day are satisfactory in prineiple, and are such 

 as are to be recommended to be t'olUnved in practice for 

 the present." 



The Resolution was agreed to unanimously. 

 The President then raised the point as to why one 

 strain of cotton produces lint of varying quality in different 

 districts at different times. Specific reference was made to 

 the case of M ontserrat. The President suggested that one 

 reason why M ontserrat had not produced a cotton which had 

 brought so high a price, was on account of the character of 

 the soil in that island, which was less uniform than that in 

 St. Kitts aud St. Vincent, and that the soil of Montserrat was 

 not so deep as that of the other two islands. Keference was 

 also made to climatic changes in regard to Montserrat and 

 St. Vincent. Soil conditions are more readily affected by 

 fluctuations in weather in Montserrat than the soil conditions 

 in St Vincent and St. Kitts. 



In regard to Montserrat, Mr. Hobson said that cotton of 

 the Heaton 9 type grown on the leeward side of the island 

 in 1913-14 obtained a slightly higher price than that grown 

 on the windward side, and yet more care was exercised to keep 

 the seed pure on the windward side. Assuming the rainfall 

 was equally distributed, it would point to some fluctuation 

 in the characters of the cotton itself. 



An interesting point was then raised in connexion with 

 the acclimatization in one island of a pure type of .seed 

 produced in another. Mr. Robson had grown Douglas seed 

 in Montiserrat for two years, and in the second year the 

 St. Kitts seed compared favourably with Heaton 9. Hence 

 it would seem that it might pay JMontserrat to use a type of 

 seed that had been produced in St. Kitts. 



The discussion then turned to the effect of crossing of 

 type upon lint length. N'r. S. C. Harland (St. A'incent) gave 

 a brief account of Balls' thei^ry of lint length and unit 

 characters. It appears that lilgyptian cotton, which is com- 

 paratively short stapled, has a lint length associated with 

 fewer unit characters than ordinary Sea Island. Similarly 

 ordinary Sea Island has fewer unit characters than 

 'superfine'. If two types of cotton are crossed having 

 a different number of unit characters for lint length, 

 respectively, there will be found in the second gener- 

 ation a series of permutations and combinations of these 

 unit characters of length, some resulting in short fibres, 

 others in long It was Mr. Harland's idea that the number 

 of short fibre plants that may be found at times amongst the 

 St. Vincent superfine type of to day, was due to the fact that 

 the superfine was crossed with the ordinary and produced 

 other cotton with a lower number of- lint factors in the 

 second generation If crossing continues there may result 

 still further reduction, and if carried on long enough, this 

 crossing of plants with different lint lengths might conceiv- 

 ably even result in the production of individual plants pro- 

 ducing naked seed. Mr. Harland had observed a plant 

 having a boll with seed posse.ssing no lint whatever. 



Mr. Harland then called attention to the danger of 

 retrogade mutation in the maintenance of pure strains. In 

 certain experiments in St. Vincent a new rogue had arisen 

 due to mutation, which had proved to be a most undesirable 

 type. In connexion with these remarks, particularly those 

 concerning mutations, the President called attention to the 

 necessity for purity of type being maintained in the Experi- 

 ment Stations, so that if anything went wrong with the 

 commercial supply, the experiment station workers would 

 always be in the position of having a ))ure ty])e of seed avail- 

 able. The afternoon session closed with a short discussion 



started by 1 )r. Tempany as to the ])0ssibility of mutations 

 occurring in pure strains in the absence of hybridization. 

 This led to the President's calling attention to the important 

 fact that when we talk about a pure strain we are talking 

 about a strain pure only in regard to a limited number of 

 characters, in the case of the cotton plant, in those characters 

 of commercial significance. Theoretically only is it possible 

 to have a strain of cotton perfectly pure in every respect. 

 When we talk of uniformity we are talking about three or 

 four characters that have caught our attention commercially. 

 In general parlance, a pure strain of cotton is a cottoQ 

 which is pure only as regards general habit and certain 

 characters of the lint. 



SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET. 



Messrs. Wolstenholme and Holland, of Liverpool, 

 write as follows, under date April I, I9I6, with 

 reference to the sales of West Indian Sea Island 

 cotton: — 



Since our last report about l'OO bales of West Indian 

 Sea Island cotton have been sold, chiefly St. Vincent at 18d, 

 with a few bales at 21tf., and Montserrat and Antigua 15(i. 

 and 1 6c?. 



Prices are firm, but we understand the demand for Sea 

 Island yarns is rather limited, as they go to supply luxuries. 



The Report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., 

 on Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for 

 the week ending April 8, 1916, is as follows: — 



ISLANDS. The crop having been all disposed of, there 

 being left no unsold stoik either here or on plantation, 

 the market is closed for this season. 



The following quotations are only nominal: — 



We quote, viz.: 



Extra Fine 3Ic. = 20-^rf. c.i.f. tt 5 per cent- 



Fully Fine 30c. = 20d. 



Fine 29c. = 191^. 



Fine off in class 28c. = 19c?. 



)» ») J) JT 



>> )J )T »> 



IT )» »I )) 



FLOEIDAS AND ceorki.ilS. The market remains firm, 

 with only very limited offerings on the general market. The 

 unsold portion of the crop is largely in the hands of a few 

 parties, having been previously bought by them in expectation 

 of a better market later on. Now and then the Factors put 

 out for sale certain lots, adn.itting of our buying at quotations. 



We quote, viz.: 



Fancy 



Extra Choice 

 Choice 



3)c. = 32|c., landed. 

 30c. = 31^c., 

 29c. = 30|c., „ 



The exports from Savannah for the week were, to 

 Northern Mills .50 bales. Southern Mills 130 bales, and from 

 Jacksonville to Northern Mills 407 bales. 



This report also shows that the total exports of 

 Sea Island cotton from the United States to Liverpool 

 and Manchester up to April 8, were 658 and 443 

 bales, respectively. 



