Vol. XV. No. 369 



THE AGRICULTURAL X£WS. 



207 



j; "i The death of trees where root disease was plainly present 

 -was easily accounted for, and the attacks of thrips on such 

 "trees while they are failing is easily understood. The other 

 condition, that in which the die-back occurs, is more obscure. 



These die-back trees range in size and age from small 

 newly pUnted supplies to large, fairly old, established trees. 

 We are informed that the older trees suffer repeated attacks of 

 thrips, each attack causing a fall of leaf, and each succeeding 

 •flush of leaf being smaller than the former, both in the number 

 of leaves and in their size. After two or three such attacks, 

 the tips die and are pruned back to live wood, this being 

 repeated after each later attack until pothing remains but 

 the main stem and short stubs of the principal branches. 

 Finally these remaining portions .succumb, the roots apparently 

 dying last of all. 



It is quite natural perhaps for the planter to argue that 

 this loss of vitality which results in the gradual death of the 

 tree is due to the repeated attacks of thrips and the conse- 

 quent loss of foliage, especially as the bark and wood of the 

 lower portions of branches, stem, and roots remain healthy 

 until the last. 



The outstanding features of this condition are these: 

 (a> the young trees do not grow, (b) the established trees 

 which suffer are near to trees in good health and often 

 quite contiguous to such trees. Taking the.se points 

 under consideration: (a) young cacao: trees in good health 

 should make quick recovery after planting out, and develop 

 at least one flush of new leaves before being attacked, 

 if their roots are all right, and they are planted in good 

 soil: (b) the trees suffering from die-back are in some 

 way, or from some cause, more susceptible to thrips and 

 Diplodia than their neighbours. It is inconceivable that 

 adjoining trees in equally good health should be attacked 

 in such different degrees of intensity by these pests, for thrips 

 . are always present even on healthy trees. Trees which were 

 pointed out to us as being free from thrips were found 

 to harbour these insects in some numbers, but on account 

 of the vigour of the tree the insects had not inciea.sed in 

 numbers, and had not perceptibly affected its condition. 

 This is the normal condition of a healthy cacao tree. Thrips 

 are always present but the tree does not suft'er, and no visible 

 «ffect from their feeding Is produced. When, however, the 

 conditions are such that the t ree becomes unhealthy or weak, 

 thrips seem at once to begin to make abnormal increase in 

 numbers, and the first dying back of tips is accompanied by 

 the appearance of Diplodia. 



(To be i-oiilinutd.) 



CONCERNING COTTON SEED AND ITS 

 PRODUCTS. 



The Report of the Chief of the Office of Markets and 

 Rural Organization, for the fiscal year ended .June 30, 1915, 

 recently issued by the United States _ Department of Agri- 

 culture, con' ains amongst other important matters, information 

 concerning the marketing of cotton seed and its products, 

 moisture determination and analysis, of cotton seed, advan- 

 tages to be derived from co-operative oil mills, uses of cotton- 

 seed products, and kindred matters. This shows what is being 

 done to make the best of the industry in the I'nited States, 

 and shou'd be of interest to those concerned with the cotton 

 industiy in the West Indies, as emphasizing the advantages 

 to be secured by co-operative action in any attempts to 

 further develop the industry in the.se islands. 



In legard to the marketing of cotton seed, studies and 

 investigations under this product, it is premised, are conducted 

 primarily to de! ermine the fa'-tors which influence or control 

 ihe prices paid for cotton seed and its products, the advan- 



tages to be secured by producers through marketing cotton 

 seed co-operatively or through co-operative cotton mills, and 

 the uses to which the cotton crop and its products are 

 devoted. The work was begun in October 19 U, and the 

 result, so far, may thus briefly be summarized. The geograph- 

 ical location of all cotton-seed oil mills in the United States 

 has been determined; e.xisting rules relating to the grading, 

 buying and selling of cotton seed and its products have been 

 compiled, compired, and studied with a view to working out 

 a uniform set of rules for grades and grading Copies of 

 State laws regarding the taxing, branding, guaranteeing, 

 sampling and inspection of cotton-seed products as foodstuffs, 

 as well as recent State legislation relating to the cotton-seed 

 industry have been collected. 



Through the co-operation of the chemists of several 

 cotton-seed oil mills, moisture determinations were secured 

 on 3,623 carloads of cotton setd marketed from the crop 

 year of 1914, and over 12,000 complete analyses of cotton 

 seed grown during that season from points of all parts of the 

 cotton belt have been collected. These analyses show the 

 percentage of meats, lint^ oil, ammonia, and moisture content, 

 in the seed. It is painted out for the benefit of those 

 interested in buying and selling cotton seed, that the 

 moisture content may be determined quickly, accurately 

 and cheaply at the cotton-seed oil mill, and that cotton seed 

 should be graded and stored on the moisture-content basis, as 

 this principally determiues its keeping qualities 



From investigations of the organiz.tion and operation of 

 co-operative oil mills, as also of a co-op<;raiive compre.ss com- 

 pany, and of a co-operative marketing association connected 

 with a co-operative oil mill, it has been found that certain 

 co-operative cotton-seed oil mills properly organized and 

 conducted, have netted the farmers about 2-5 per cent, more 

 for their seed than they could have obtained in the open 

 market. This is a point which .should appeal strongly to 

 cotton growers in the West Indie.s, especially in view of its 

 bearing to discussions at the Cotton Conference held recently 

 in St. Kitis. 



One hundred and twenty-four uses have been found for 

 cotton-.seed products an 1 by-products, and a chart has been 

 drafted showing their derivation. Besides the well-known 

 culinary purposes, the by- products of cotton-seed oil are used 

 e.Ktensively for soap and washing powders, and to some estent 

 for making such commodities as putty, candle.s, insu'ating 

 material, paint, composition roofins;, linoleum and artificial 

 leither. It his been found, too, that the process of manu- 

 facturing vegetable lard from hydrogenated cotton-seed oil 

 has been greatly improved and its market e.'ctended. Linters 

 and cotton-seed hull fibre are now being used to a great 

 extent in the p-eparation of cellulose, from which pyro.xylin 

 is manufactured. Pyroxylin is used in the manufacture of 

 celluloid, cellodion, varnishes, artificial silk, moving picture 

 films, etc. CoUulose is al.so made into giincotton or nitro- 

 cellulo.se, and in the high explosives. 



A note in the Rhodexiu Agiiraltural Joarnil for 

 February 1916, states that great strides have been made in 

 Rhodesia in the distribution of Napier's fodder, and it seems 

 likely that they will soon be but few farms in Southern 

 Rhodesia on which a considerable patch of this grass is not 

 found. There is a general concensus of opinion that in this 

 plant one has a fodder of great value, comparable in feeding 

 value to maize stalk roughage. Compared with sugar-cane 

 fodder it proves to be twice as rich in protein and equally 

 rich in carbohydrates. Napier's fodder is al.so known as 

 Elephant grass, of which the scientific name is Pennisetuiiu 

 purpureum. 



