374 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



November 23, 1912. 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



Messrs. Wolstenholme and Holland, of Liverpool, 

 write as follows, under date November 4, with reference 

 to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton : — 



Since our last report about 200 bales of West Indian 

 Sea Island cotton bave been sold, chiefly composed of the 

 lower qualities 121^. to Md., but also including a few extra 

 fine lots at 18i. to 20d. The medium qualities are neglected. 



We are hoping for an improved demand in lace yarns, 

 and if this occurs we hope that Sea Island cotton will be 

 more readily absorbed that has 'leen the case during the past 

 twelve months. 



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

 Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week 

 ending November 2, is as follows: — 



The market opened quiet with moderate demand, result- 

 ing in sales of -tO bales of the odd bags, from Fine to Extra 

 Fine, on a basis of our quotations and the crop lot 15 bales 

 Special at 30c. The buying of the odd bags was on account 

 of the northern mills, and the crop lot was for export. After 

 the close of this report there developed a good demand for 

 nearly all the offerings of odd bags off in preparation, result- 

 ing in the following sales, viz : — 



50 bales Extra Fine off in preparation, at 26c. 

 275 „ Fully Fine „ „ „ „ 24c. 



150 „ Fine „ „ „ „ 22c. 



This buying is presumed to be principally on speculation 

 account, the firmness of the Savannah market with limited 

 offerings and the advance paid in that market, it is thought 

 influenced the party to make the above purchase. 



We quote, viz.: — 



Extra Fine 

 Fully Fine 

 Fine 



29c. 

 26c. 



lUd. 



c.i.f., & 5 per cent. 



At a special meeting of the Executive Committee of the 

 British Cotton Growing Association, held on October 28 after 

 a visit of inspection to the Manchester Docks, the new 

 General Manager of the Uganda Government Railway, whom 

 the Committee had been asked to meet, referred to the very 

 great increase of traflic that is taking place on that railway 

 (largely because of cotton cultivation), and to the necessity for 

 the provision for further expansion. 



THE MECHANICAL HARVESTING OP 

 COTTON. 



It has been considered in the past, in connexion with 

 the mechanical harvesting of ditt'erent plant products, that 

 where the whole of the crop cannot be cut in the same way, 

 as in the case of sugar cane, or where only certain parts of 

 the plant are removed, as for cotton, any machine designed 

 for the purpose cannot be entirely automatic, but must ba 

 under control of a human brain which directs and modifies 

 its operations when necessary. Agreement with this opinioQ 

 has been expressed from time to time in the JonrnaL 

 d' Agriculture Tropicnle, but a later article in the issue of 

 that journal for Match 1912 indicates that it seems that this 

 opinion will no longer be able to be held in its entirety, 

 mainly owins; to the success of a machine for the purely 

 mechanical harvesting of cotton, that is known under the 

 name of the Campbell machine 



Although this and similar machines cannot be used for 

 harvesting Sea Island cotton, even probably from those 

 varieties in which the lint protrudes from the boll to a greater 

 extent than is usual, it will be well to give attention to soma 

 of the facts that are brought forward concerning the 

 ( 'ampbell machine, in the article just mentioned. 



As in the I.owry machine which was described in the 

 Jotiriial d' Agriculture Tropicale in 1906 (No. 60, p. 163), 

 in the Campbell apparatus preference is given to collecting 

 claws, over the pneumatic aspirators of some other machines; 

 but while the former machine was semi-automatic, the collect- 

 ing arms being directed by human agency, the Campbell 

 apparatus carries the claws on vertical drums which surround 

 the part from which the crop is to be momentarily collected 

 and travel lightly through the plants. The general appear- 

 ance of the machine is simple: it is a structure supported 

 on four wheels, and having a petrol engine of 30 h.p. above 

 it, which drives at the same time the hind wheels and the 

 collecting agencies. Between the front and hind wheels, on 

 each side of the apparatus, there are the two vertical drums 

 bearing the claws or collecting teeth. Behind, there are 

 endless chains, which carry the fibre collected from the ripe 

 bolls to bags suspended at the back of the machine. The 

 driver, sitting at the front of the machine, and above it, 

 steers it by means of a wheel, and has at command at the 

 same time all the agencies for regulating the motor and the 

 drums; in this way labour is reduced to a minimum. 



The wheels travel between the furrows, and the two 

 lateral parts of the machine form a kind of bridge which 

 encloses one row of plants; the drums attack these on the 

 outside, rolling each plant between them — if such a term 

 may be employed for an operation which is conducted with 

 great delicateness and without subjecting the plants to any 

 more than a grazing action that cannot do them any harm. 



