182 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



JuNB 8, 1912. 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



Messrs. Wolstenholme and Holland, of Liver{ioi>K 

 write as follows, under date May 20, with reference 

 to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton : — 



Since our last report the sales of Sea Island cotton have 

 been confinecl to about 20 bales of St. Vincent at 22(?. to 

 22id 



Consumers who have supplied their immediate wants 

 are not eager buyers at the moment, but we thii'k the re- 

 mainder of the crop will all be wanted before the season is 

 out. 



The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., im 

 Sen Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week 

 ending May 18, is as follows: — 



There was some enquiry this week, and Factors conced- 

 ing to the views of buyers, it resulted in sales of several crop 

 lots and of odd bags brought over from last season, amount- 

 ing in all to about 200 bales, which will be officially reported 

 next week. A good proportion of the remaining stock, how- 

 ever, is still being held at higher prices, above the views of 

 buyers. 



We quote, viz: — 

 Extra Fine 30c. to 32c. = 17c?. to \8d. c.i.f., A -5 per cent. 

 Fully Fine 28c. to 29c. = 16d. to 16-W. „ „ „ „ 

 Fine 26c. =\bd. „ „ ,. „ 



Fine to Extra Fine,K g^ ^^ .-..^ ^ j^l^ ^^ ^^,^ 

 off in preparation J . « > > 



Oonsumption of Egyptian Cotton in the 

 United States. — In 1892-3 the mill-owner.s of the United 

 States used -12,475 bales of 7-50 ft. each. In the 'boom' year 

 of 1906 the consumption was 122,806 bales, the highest on 

 record. It fell off after that, but last year it reached 122,-52.5 

 bales. The total number of bales used in Great Britain is 

 from about 320,000 to 325,000 bales a year, or about one- 

 half of the total bales of Egyptian cotton spun annually 

 throughout the world. Taking one year with another, Ger- 

 many makes use of about the same quantitj- as the United 

 States. France's share is from 60,000 to 70,000 bales a year, 

 while Russia gets through 50,500 bales, Austria over 30,000, 

 Switzerland about 22,000; all other countries vary from about 

 220 bales, as in Belgium, to 16,000 or 17,000 bales, as in Italy. 

 England, therefore, is still a long way ahead of other coun- 

 tries in the spinning of Egyptian fibres. At the end of 1910 

 there were 12,508,873 spindles using this cotton, while Ger- 

 many had only 1,233.078 and France 1,390,147, as shown in 

 the returns of the International Cotton Spinners' Federa- 

 tion. (The Textile Mercury, April 6, 1912, p. 257.) 



Cotton-Growing in Jamaica. — The Secretary 

 submitted statiinent.s ot the results of the various >xperi- 

 menlal plots ^f cotton grown in Trelawny, St. Ann 

 and St. Elizabeth. Also the results of shipping the cotton 

 produced and other lots purchased at 3c/. per ft from 

 small growers in St. Elizabeth, ginned by Mr. Conrad 

 Watson, and marketed along with his own, but marked sepa- 

 ratily. The ctton fetched Is. 'id per ft. in London, and 

 freight, bi-ing now per ton measurement, worked out at \d. 

 per ft.; slill the result showed a net return of %d. per ft. on 

 the seed C'liton purchased at 3c? Latt-r, through Mr Watson's 

 re[)resentation, the Royal ilail Company reduced the freight 

 from 47s 6c?. to 17s. 6c?. per ton measurement, and gave 

 a refund, making the net return 1-lc?. per ft 



It was resolved to discontinue any further effort to en- 

 cour.ige cotton-growing in the dry sections at St. Ann and 

 Trelawny, as people had not responded in these districts, 

 but to concentrate effort on St. Elizabeth, Portland, Vere, 

 where fair crops had been got in spite of a series of very dry 

 seasons, and where the people were taking well to this crop. 

 From the money at credit to cotton account it was decided 

 to offer prizes of £2 and £1 on the best grown cultivations 

 of cotton of not les.i than half an acre in the districts of 

 St Elizabeth and Portland, Vere. (The Journal of the 

 Jnnaica Agricultural Society, March 1912.) 



Cotton Cultivation in Turkestan. — The Russian 

 Government has been assisting in many ways the growers of 

 Trans-Caspian cotton. It appears from official reports that, 

 in the autumn of 1910, the Agricultural Department organ- 

 ized the first cotton seed plantation in Turkestan. In 1911 

 one such station was working in the Xamangansk district of 

 the Ferghana Oblast, covering an area of 53 dessiatines 

 (about 143 acres). Here, three systems of cultivation were 

 applied; first, by machinery only, the seeds being sown in 

 rows, and the soil between the rows ploughed; secondly, by 

 using both machinery and hand labour for sowing, but work- 

 ing the soil between the rows; thirdly, by manual labour only, 

 the natives being employed. The best results, from the point 

 of view of an abundant crop, were achieved by relying entire- 

 ly on machinery, the results being 3,190 ft. per acre for 

 machinery, 2,058 ft. per acre for machinery and labour, and 

 1,823 ft. per acre for hand labour alone. .Nfanure was used 

 in the first instance only. Th« average crop of cotton ob- 

 tiined on the plantation amounted to 1,367 ft. per acre, but 

 a second crop of 200 ft. to 270 ft. is expected, so that the 

 average for the station for 1911 may be estimated at about 

 1. COO ft. (From the Journal ot' the Royal Society ot Arts, 

 April 26, 1912.) 



