Vol. XV. No. 36^. 



THE AGKICULTUKAL NKWS. 



18.3 



of cotton stainers during very nearly all the planting 

 season. He endeavoured to di.'.cover what kept them 

 away from previous crops. In the district, trees known 

 as the Gamboge or Seaside Mahoe , were found serving 

 as sources of food supply to the stainer, and every 

 effort was made to destroy these plants. Another plant 

 on which the strainer lived in Montserrat was the 

 Hibiscus, known in Montserrat under the name of Twelve 

 o'clock. On thesf, Mr. Howes said, cotton stainers could 

 be found every day in the year. Mr. Howes had collected 

 strainers by means of a cotton seed bait trap, killing the 

 strainers afterwards in boiling water. The trap was set at 

 night. In the day time it is necessary to cover it over, as the 

 stainers do not like the sun. 



Mr- Sampson said that in Nevis the cotton stainer was 

 carried from year to year through ihe peasant proprietors 

 allowing their old cotton to stand over. He considered there 

 ouD-ht to be some legislation making the destruction of cotton 

 trees at the end of the season compulsory. In answer to 

 a question put by the President, ilr. Sampson said that old 

 cotton bushes could be found at the present time, that is to 

 say, outside the cotton season, with stainers upon them. 



Hon. J. S. Hollings (Nevis)) saifj that he did not 

 consider any Government was justified in making the des- 

 truction of cotton bii.-hes compulsory, provided (hey were 

 vialding to the p'anter a satisfactory crop. In order to 

 obtain good yields he depended upnn a lengthy picking 

 season or perhaps planting late. Mr. Holhr.gs hid 

 obtained success by the hand collection of stainers 



Mr. Harland (St. Vincent) said that most of the stained 

 cotton shipped from St. Vinceiit was due to internal boll 

 disease, and that the percentage of stained lint was increasing 

 from year to year. With regard to hand-picking of cotton 

 stainers, his personal experience was that in St. Vincent it 

 is not effective. For one reason, the amount of labour was 

 not adquate. Mr. Harland said that ho did not think it 

 was the number of stainers that mattered so much as the 

 extent to which they were charged with the disea.se. At the 

 present time in St. Vincent, it seemed that the new genera- 

 tion of stainers was not so virulent as the previous one. 

 He was extremly pessimistic about the value of hand-picking 

 as a measure of controlling internal boll disease. It was 

 true that hand-picking kept down the number of stainers, but 

 it did not lessen the amount of disease. Dr. Tempany 

 (Leeward Islands) referred to an epidemic of cotton stainers in 

 1913, and called attention to the fact tha;t the point had been 

 raised that stainers are kept under control by parasitic mites. 

 He expressed agreement that the most satisfactory way of 

 keeping down stainers was to have a close seasen for cotton, 

 and to destroy the wild plants on which the stainers feed. 



Mr. Shepherd (St. Kitts) asked whether it is possible 

 to have cotton stainers without the presence of boll rot 

 Mr. Shepherd had seen cotton stainers very prevalent in 

 St. Kitts, but had not come across the internal boll disease. 



Mr. Noweii, in repl}' to the questions that had been asked 

 in regard to the infection of bolls, said that he had received 

 bolls from Mr. Ilobson which had been pricked with a needle, 

 and althcugh there was a certain amount uf staining of the 

 lint around the puncture, this staining was, as far as he could 

 find out, purely mechanical, and not due to infestation wdth 

 any organism. Mr, Nowell called attention to the fact that 

 puncture by the setae of the stainer causes proliferation, 

 that is, a kind of warty growth on the inner wall of the boll. 

 Internal boll rot always starts from such a point. On the 

 other hand, these proliferations can be found without any 

 boll disease, showing that some stainers may carry the disease 

 and some may not. Mr. Nowell retciring to Mr. Shepherds 

 question, said it was of great interest that the disease was 



not bad enough to merit serious attention in St. Kitts. la 

 ilontserrat and in St. Vincent, the disease was very bad at 

 certain times and places, and yet in St. Kitts it was not 

 noticed. No explanation of this could be given at present. 

 The President then said that would close the discussion 

 for the present, so far as pests and di.seases of cotton were con- 

 cerned, and that the Conference would adjourn until 10 a.m. 

 the next morning, when questions relating to the Commerce 

 of Cotton would be brouglit for up consideration. 



THE BRITISH COTTON GROWING 

 ASSOCIATION. 



The One Hundred and Forty-Seventh Meeting of the 

 Council of the British Cotton Growing Association was held 

 at the Offices, 15 Cross Street, Manchester, on Tuesday, 

 May 2. In the absence of Lord Derby, the President, Mr. J, 

 Arthur Hutton occupied the Chair. 



WEST AFEICA. Thf pufchases of cotton in Lagos to 

 April 30 amounted to 6,648 bales, as compared with 1,880 

 bales for the corresponding period of last 3"ear, and 10,880 

 bales for 1911. In Northern Nigeria the purchases to April 

 '22 amounted to 9,287 bales, as compared with 282 bales 

 to the end of April last year, 331 bales to April 30, 

 1914, and 1,271 bales to April 30, 1913. 



In view of the consequent heavy demand on the ginning 

 capacity at Zaria, it was decided to immediately put in band 

 another ginnery at an estimated total cost of £25,000, in 

 order to be prepared for a larger production in 1918. Owing 

 to transit difficulties it was feared that there would be con- 

 siderable difficulty in shipping cotton frf>m West Africa to 

 Liverpool. 



UGANDA. There is considerable delay in tran.sporting 

 cotton from the interior of LTganda to ilombasa, owing to 

 the congestion on the Ciovernment railway, but there is 

 reason to believe that the railway will be in a position to 

 deal with this difficulty at an early date. 



NYASAL.iSD. With regard to th? proposed extension of 

 the Central Africa railway from Blantyre to the Lake, 

 a jjetition has been signed by the leading companies inter- 

 ested in the development of Nyasaland and North-Eastern 

 lihodesia, that the line should be extended along what 

 is known as the Central route, which would not only 

 pass ihrongii the most fertile and most cultivated 

 districts in the Protectorate, but would at the .same 

 time offer the most direct line to Lake Nj^asa, and would 

 afford the best possible outlet for the Lake traffic and 

 for North-Eastern Rhodesia. The planters in Xyasaland are 

 generally in favour of this route, and the Association have 

 decided to .-support the petition. By the other route which 

 has been advocated in some quarters, the railway would be 

 extended along the eastern side of Nyasaland, close to the 

 Portuguese border, and although it would be the cheapest 

 line to construct, it would pa.ss through comparatively poor 

 land from an agricultural point of view. 



GENERAL. Statement of sales of cotton made by the 

 Association during the month was submitted, showing that 

 1,328 bales had been .sold during April. 



It was reported that Mr. Horsley, the Association's 

 ^Manager in L'ganda. had recently forwarded 4 bales of 

 cotton, which were a part contribution by the natives of the 

 Eastern Province of Uganda to the Prince of Wales' Fund. 

 The contribution has been made through the Provincial 

 Commissioner, and the Association agreed to pay the rail 

 and ocean freight, in order that the full proceeds might go 

 to the Fund. The Association were anxious to secure the 

 highest possible price for this cotton, which was put up for 

 .sale by auction, and ultimately realized 25 guineas per bale, 

 giving a total sum of 100 guineas for the Fund. 



