Vol. IV. No. 73. 



THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS. 



21 



COTTON INDUSTRY. 



Sea Island Cotton Seed. 



The following i.s an extract from a letter from 

 Mr. Carter Key, of Anguilla, to Dr. Watts on the 

 subject of the Sea Island cotton seed imported b}' the 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture : — 



With reference to what has been .said about the Elvers' 

 seed being mixed, it might interest you to hear that now 

 my cotton is in full bloom I have not been able to di.soovor 

 a single mixed variety in the fields planted with Iliver.s' seed. 

 ft is also notable all over the island that this cotton is more 

 vigorous than the local variety, and where it has been 

 properly planted with ample room, the boiling is much 

 heavier. 



Profits of Cotton Growing in Barbados. 



The following is an abstract of a statement of 

 expenditure and receipts in connexion with the 

 cultivation of cotton upon 22 acres on an estate in 

 Barbados : — 



The land was planted in cotton and corn. The 

 expenditure on planting and cultivating the two crops, 

 including digging cane holes, weeding, supplying, etc., was 

 $6.3-7-l- ; the cost of reaping the corn (2.54 bushels) picking, 

 ginning and baling the cotton was $456-20, making a 

 total of !|521-94. 



The receipts were : .sale of 0,925 11). of lint, netting 

 $1,957-21 ;'esthnated sale of 162 It)., at Is. id. per It)., 

 $45-36 ; value of seed cru.shed, $266-07 ; value of corn, 

 $203-20, bringing the total receipts to $2,471. 



The profits from the 22 acres were therefore $1,949-90. 



Sea Island Cotton Market. 



The following is extracted from the latest report, 

 dated January 7, 1905, received from Messrs. H. W. 

 Frost & Co., of Charleston and Savannah, in regard to 

 the state of the Sea Island cotton market in the 

 United States.-— 



There has been a moderate demand for odd bags, 

 classing fully fine at 24c. to 25c. ; extra fine at 27c. resulting 

 in the above sales. Some small crop lots were also disposed 

 of, and the Robt. Bee crop was sold for France at 31e. 



Factors are generally refusing to sell under a basis of 

 fully fine at 25c., and some smaller lots are held higher. 



The Planters Crop lots are seeking sale, and with orders 

 in hand we can buy at some concessions. 



We quote : Fine to fully fine, 24c. to 25c. ; fully fine to 

 extra fine, 26e. to 27c. ; extra fine crop lots, 28c. to 30c. ; 

 extra-extra fine crop lots, 40c. to 55c. 



In their report for December 31, 1904, Messrs. 

 Frost state in regard to the present Sea Island crop : — 



The Ginner's Report, issued by the United States 

 Bureau to-day makes the quantity ginned to December 13 to 

 be 85,728 bales. This was larger than was expected by the 

 trade genei-ally and will cause crop estimates to be increased 

 to 95,000 bales. 



West Indies. 



A sixty-page supplement to the Manchester 

 Guardian of December 31, 1904, which contains 

 a review of the year's trade, agriculture, and finance, 

 devotes about two-thirds of its space to the cotton 

 industi-y. Dealing with the subject of cotton cultiva- 

 tion in the Empire, the hallowing reference is made to 

 the West Indies : — 



It is almost an irony of fate that England should again 

 turn for cotton to the West Indies, once her principal 

 source of sujiply. It is not generally known that in the 

 early years of the nineteenth century we obtained 40,000 

 bales, or about half our total requirements, from our West 

 Indian possessions. It was not until 1802 that our imports 

 from the United States for the first time exceeded those 

 from the West Indies. In 1902 our total imports of cotton 

 from our old sources of supply had dwindled down to less 

 than 1,000 bales. 



Luckily the West Indian Department of Agriculture 

 was under the supervision of a practical agriculturist with 

 a scientific training. Sir Daniel Morris, with his assistant, 

 Dr. Francis Watts, took up the cause of cotton growing with 

 the greatest zeal, and the efforts of these two gentlemen were 

 largely assisted by the enthusiasm of Sir Gerald Strickland, 

 the Governor of the Leeward Islands. 



Sir Daniel Morris paid a special visit to the United 

 States to study the conditions of cotton cultivation in 

 Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. This was followed 

 by the publication of two most useful pamphlets — 'Sea 

 Island Cotton in the United States and the West Indies' 

 and 'A.B.C. of Cotton Cultivation.' Lectures were given in 

 various islands with instructions to the planters what to do 

 and when to do it. There is no doubt that cotton growing 

 would to-day be in a very much more advanced stage in 

 other parts of the British Empire if we had a few more 

 officials of the stamp of Sir Daniel ilorris and Dr. Francis 

 Watts. In no other part of the Empire has cotton growing 

 advanced so rapidly or so nearly ajiproached a commercial 

 basis. Acting on Sir Daniel Morris' advice, the Council 

 [of the British Cotton-growing Association] decided to send 

 out a representative to complete all the necessary arrange- 

 ments for buying, financing, and ginning. Mr. Lomas Oliver, 

 a member of the Council and an exi)ert spinner of the very 

 finest counts of cotton, very kindly placed his services at the 

 dispcsal of the Council, and went out to the West Indies last 

 October. One of the principal objects of his visit was to 

 point out to the planters the quality of cotton they should 

 aim at producing, and to draw attention to faults in last 

 year's crop with a view to their elimination in the future. 



By this means the planter and the spinner will be 

 brought into the closest touch, the planter will be able to 

 obtain the best possible price, and the Association will have 

 established a sound business which will in future years be 

 remunerative to themselves and of advantage to both 

 producer and consumer. Fortunately it has been proved 

 beyond all possible doubt that the West India Islands can 

 grow Sea Island cotton of the best quality, and that the 

 planter can make money out of it. There are some who 

 think that cotton may in some islands take the place of sugar. 

 If it does come to a question of competition, the conditions 

 are so much more favourable in the West Indies that the 

 planters there can produce Sea Island cotton more economi- 

 cally than can be done in the United States. 



This is a marvellous result to have obtained in so short 

 a time, and if the Association had attained no other result 

 than this, they would have fully justified its existence. 



