Vol. XV. No. 3(J9. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



199 



would therefore hold the luoiuipul}-. The President went on 

 to point out other advantage.s that would accrue both to 

 the .spinners and tlie grower.s aa the outcome of an 

 alliance of the nature suggested, and in concluding, called 

 attention to the fact that he wa.s making this |)ropo.sal entirely 

 on his own authority and not in his official capacity as 

 Commissioner of Agriculture. He invited criticisms or 

 amendments or suggestions in regard to his proposal. 



Hon. J. S. HoUings (Nevis) thought that the President's 

 proposition an e.xtremely valuable one in itself, and ako as 

 regards the results that were likely to accrue from it. He 

 thought, however, it should not be forgotten that the Puitish 

 Cotton Growing Asseciation consists largely of Fine Spinners 

 and Doublers and, therefore, their views and dealings were 

 likely to be somewhat prejudiced in favour of ihe u.sers rather 

 than in favour of the growers. 



Hon. R. L Warneford (Antigua) thanked the President 

 for the sufgestion, and stated that he was firepared to fall 

 into line whether it applied to the present crop or the one 

 which was to follow. 



The President hastened to point out that he had laade 

 no stiggestion as to the machinery to be provided for taking 

 the steps to ascertain whether ihe Spinners and Doubler.s are 

 inclined to make such a bargain. What he wished to know 

 was whether the idea put forward .ippea'ed to the grower; 

 and, if it did, what steps should be taken to give effect to it. 

 He thought it would be best to defer any further discu.¥sion 

 until the next day, in order to allow delegates time to tliink 

 over the matter. 



Prices of C'ottox. 



The President made a few remarks in connexion with 

 this subject, which are briefly summarized below. After the 

 outbreak of the war there had been a good deal of 

 anxiety as to whether or not the Fine Spinners wnuld 

 be able to carry on their work. With the help of the 

 British Cotton Growing Association the Fine Spinners were 

 induced to agree to take the current season's crop, and 

 18rf. per lb. was offered for St. Ivitts ordinary cotton, while 

 it was agreed to give all other places lid. per ft). As i-oon 

 as this was announced, he made efforts to persuade the Fine 

 Spinners to drop geographical distinctions and to base prices 

 upon type. This the Fine Spini.ers agreed in principle to 

 do, although pointing out that geoijraphical and type 

 arrangements appeared to give practically identical results, 

 each island seeming to have its own particular characteristics. 

 In regard to the forthcoming cotton season, the President 

 said that the Chairman of the British Cotton Growing 

 Association did not advise, this year, another application for 

 a guaranteed price; he \vas strongly of opinion that planters 

 would do better by not binding themselves to minimum 

 prices. 



This concluded the discussion on the commerce of 

 cotton in reg^rd to the present session. The President 

 announced that the next subject which would engage atten- 

 tion was the cultivation and manuiing of cotton. 



Manorial E.ni^eki.ment.^ with Cotton. 



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

 (St. Kitts) read a paper on the results of manurial experi- 

 ments with cotton carried on at I^a Guerite in St. Kitts. 

 This indicated that the results of twelve years' experimenta- 

 tion showed, briefly, that under the conditions existing at 

 La Guerite, with a loose open soil, the application of 

 manures to the cotton plint di"-s not "exert the beneficial 

 influence that would de expected. 



After this paper had been read, J)r. 11. A. Tempany 

 (Leeward Islands) said that the manurial experiments con- 

 ducted at La Guerite for the f)ast twelve years constitute 



by far the most complete investigations of the manurial 

 requirements of cotton in the West Indies. He pointed out 

 that the general result of similar experiments conducted in 

 Montserrat, and in earlier years in Antigua, were the same: 

 the effect of withholding manures compared with their 

 liberal application is very small. He thought root range 

 might have something to do with the results obtained at La, 

 Guerite. 



Mr. S. C. Harland (St. Vincent) then made a few 

 remarks on manurial experiments commenced in that island 

 in the season l91"2-l.'i. The plots were J-acre in size, and 

 eight different series or combinations of manures were applied; 

 the plots were in triplicate — three no-manure, and three for 

 each combination, and in computing the results the average 

 of each three is taken. The experiments showed that when 

 cotton is grown on the same land for, say, three or four years, 

 an advantage is likely to be gained by the use of manure. 



]-)r. Tempany asked how far black boll disease was likely 

 to effect manurial experiments. 



Mr. S. C. Harland said that in St. Vincent, cotton aphis 

 seemed to interfere most with the plots under his control, 

 pirticularly the no-manure plots. The black boll disease is 

 also a very important interfering factor. 



Mr. W. Nowell (Imperial Department of Agriculture) 

 asked Mr Shepherd and Mr. Harland if they could furnish 

 any information as to the visible effect of manures upon the 

 habit and growth of the plants. 



Mr. Shepherd said the no-inanure plot this year in his 

 experiments was particularly noticeable for the sm*ll size of 

 the plants, but they averaged about forty bolls to the plaut. 

 The pen-manure plot gave bushy plants, which grew large and 

 flowered well. 



Mr. H. A. Ballou i Imperial Department of Agriculture) 

 called attention to the possibility of there being a parallel 

 between aphis on cotton and thrips on cacao. 



The President in summing up, .said the general tone of 

 the remarks appeared to be that while manures in a general 

 way do not seem to have produced increased yields where the. 

 soil is maintained in good condition, yet it is desirable to 

 apply organic manures for the miintenance of tilth 



(To he continued.) 



In a short binoraphy of the late John Wood, Director 

 of the Natal Herbiriura, the Kew Bulletin points out that it 

 was due to him that the Uba cane became established in 

 South Africa. It is .stated that the correct name of this 

 cane is unknown, the name 'Uba' represents the only letters 

 decipherable on the damaged label attached to this variety on 

 its arrival in the country. Mr. Medley Wood thought that 

 the plants were introduced by Governor Charles Mitchel on 

 his return from a visit to India in 1884-5. The cane is 

 now very generally cultivated in Natal (see Natal Aqriciiltural 

 .Journal, Vol. VIII, No. .3, 1905, p. •22.")). This word Uba may 

 be part of the name 'boubaya' applied to one of the Madagas- 

 car canes introduced to the Mauritius Botanic Garden by 

 Dr. J. V. Thomson in 1815. This name may have found its 

 way to India from Mauritius along with the canes .sent by 

 Captain Dick in 1827 to the Calcutta Botanic Gardens on 

 behalf of Captain Sleeman. From cuttings of the canes, 

 planted by Sleeman at .Jubbulpur, the cultivation of Mauritius 

 canes gradually became established in the Decean and had 

 reached Bombay in 1838. But if the presence of the word 

 Uba in Natal be due to the survival of the name 'boubaya' in 

 India, that name must now connote a cane unlike the one to 

 which it was originally applied. According to Thomson, 

 'boubaya' resembled an Otaheite cane. 



