A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



Si 



Vol. XV. No. 374. 



BARBADOS, AUGUST 26, 1916. 



Price Id, 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Page. 



Cotton Seed Meal as a Manure. 



jOTTON seed meal, the residue left after the 

 )extractioii of the oil from cotton seed, finds 

 [employment as a manure in two ways: 

 indirectly, as the result of its ase as a feeding stuff 

 for cattle; and, to a le.ss extent, as amanurial substance 

 applied to the soil direct. 



In the West Indies, during the last year or two 

 much greater interest has been shown in this substance 

 as a manure, and its utilization in this direction ^is of 

 such great importance in the soil economy of certain 

 islands, that a consideration of the subject in its several 

 aspects should be of value. 



As regards the British West Indies, cotton seed 

 meal is manufactured in large quantities in Barbados, 

 St. Vincent, and St. Kitts, and to a lesser extent ia 

 most of the other islands where cotton is grown. Most) 

 of the Barbados seed is imported, chief!)- from the 

 neighbouring West Indian islands and from Central 

 America: the oil is extracted and either shipped or 

 sold loeall}', while the meal and cake are disposed of 

 almost entirely locally. Formerly, Barbados used to 

 take large quantities of seed from St. Vincent and 

 St. Kitts, but now that these islands possess their own 

 extraction plants, they mainly export only the oil, and 

 the residue remains for local con.^umption. The wisdom 

 of this practice is obvious, when one remembers that ifc 

 means that a large proportion of the plant food consti- 

 tuents taken by the cotton crop from the soil, eventually 

 finds its waj- back again. In fact, the economic importance 

 of the principle involved is so great that in the islands 

 referred to, the (Jovernments have given financial 

 assistance in support of it. Thus> in St. Vincent, an 

 Anderson oil expeller and e(|uipment have been estab- 

 lished by the Government at the central ginnery, at 

 a cost of over £.5,000; growers are paid, at present $8 

 per ton for their seed, and 1,700 tb. of meal is returned 

 to them free for each ton of seed purchased. In this 

 way the meal either indirectly or directly finds its way- 

 back to the land. 



