Vol. IV. No. 79. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



119 



add, it will continue to take the deepest possible interest in 

 the indiisti-}-. All that is now required is careful organiza- 

 tion on the part of the planters, and a determination to 

 regard cotton growing not merely as a temporary expedient 

 but as an industry calculated to be of the greatest possible 

 benefit to this colony. On lands too light, or in localities 

 where the rainfall is not suitable fur growing sugar, cotton, 

 as an annual crop, would yield returns, possibly exceeding 

 those fron. sugar. 1 am not yet convinced that all the 

 leading planters in this island have fully studied the 

 .subject of cotton growing, or are prepared to deal with it 

 entirely on its merits. The high price now ruling for 

 sugar may, to some degree, justify such action, but 

 if we take the average price for, say, 1 ton of sugar and 

 100 gallons of molasses at Barbados during the last ten 

 years at £10 2s. 4-id. and accept this as the probable price 

 for the next ten years, I believe that under such circum- 

 stances, cotton, as an annual crop, occupying the land only 

 for seven or eight months, would, in some districts, be found 

 to pay betterthan sugar. 



In any case, in view of the possibilities that are offered 

 in connexion with the cotton and banana industries, the 

 planters of Barbados cannot any longer complain that there 

 is nothing to which they can turn their attention for 

 a livelihood, except the cultivation of the sugar-cane. The 

 cotton industry, equally with the cane industry, employs 

 a large amount of labour, but no expensive buildings 

 and machinery are required for preparing cotton for 

 the market : while the waste jiroduct in the form of 

 cotton seed may be utilized for the extraction of cotton 

 seed oil, and for affording a valuable food for stock and, 

 eventually, for fertilizing the land. In conclusion, I would 

 mention that, as already announced, the Imperial Dei)art- 

 ment of Agriculture is jirepared, in order to safeguard the 

 prospec'ts of the cotton industry, to take charge of all the 

 best seed produced in this i.sland and to have it carefully 

 hand-picked and disinfected, and supplied to the planters 

 at cost price calculated at the rate of -5c. {ild.) per lb. 

 It is strongly urged that no cotton seed be planted this 

 year until it has been carefullj- disinfected. It is also 

 strongly recommended that there should be no general 

 and indiscriminate interchange of untreated cotton seed 

 between the several colonies as by such means there would be 

 a wide-spread distribution of cotton diseases which would 

 seriously injure the industry. The Department has no wish 

 to interfere with private enterprise, but under the special 

 circumstances which have arisen (owing to no fresh seed 

 being available from the Sea Islands) it is important that 

 the distribution of seed for planting purposes should be 

 placed in the hands of a central authority having no 

 pecuniary interests in the matter, and provided with 

 a necessary staff and appliances for carrying on the work 

 .solely in the interests of those concerned. 



J[r. H. E. Thorne said his experience as a cotton grower 

 had taught him that the land must be thoroughly cultivated 

 and properly manured. The present sliort crop was, no doulit, 

 largely due to the drought, but probably also to want of 

 cultivation. He urged most strongly on planters that they 

 should go in for cotton cultivation on as large a scale as they 

 possibly could, as the results were better than from cane 

 cultivation. He had every hope that the industry would 

 continue to grow and that its further development would be 

 of permanent benefit to the colony. 



Jlr. H. A. Pilgrim, another large cotton grower, said he 

 agreed with Sir Daniel Morris that cotton reqtiired the land 

 to be cultivated as for cane. He had obtained excellent 

 results from 12 acres on his own property in St. Oeorge'Sj 



and he attributed these to good cultivation and the judicious 

 application of farmyard manures, phosphates, and potash. 

 Farmyard manure alone gave large bushes with a small 

 return in lint. He recommended a moderate amount of 

 farmyard manure with a judicious addition of phosphates and 

 potash. 



A cordial vote of thanks to Sir Daniel ^Morris, brought 

 a very interesting Conference to a close. 



TRADE IN ORANGE AND CITRON PEELS. 



A report by Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S., on the 

 trade in England in orange and citron peels was 

 published on p. 93 of this volume of the Agrieultund 

 News. In connexion therewith the following extract 

 from a letter addressed to the Imperial Commissioner 

 of Agriculture by Messrs. Sparks, White & Co., dated 

 London, March 23, 190.5, is likely to be of interest: — 



We have examined the sample of bitter orange peel from 

 Anguilla you sent us : it is very similar to peel which is 

 shipped from the island of St. Kitt's, and what is known in 

 the trade as ' .Jacmel's' peels ; although the sample you sent 

 us is better than many of the shipments we have seen from 

 that island. The consumption of this class of peel is 

 a declining one, and it is worth about IJ. or 2d. per lb. here. 



There is a class of peel, however, which is exported from 

 the island of St. Kitt's, and which, we believe, is really the 

 peel from a hybrid orange, and which is principally used by 

 distillers or liqueur makers for the manufacture of the 

 so-called Curaijoa licjueur, but the consumption is a declining 

 one. If your planters could produce a peel from the 

 thoroughly ripe, red, bitter fruit it wouhl fetch a better jjrice, 

 not only in the condition of ' ijuarters ' peel, that is, a quarter 

 of the whole peel of the fruit, but also in the form of what is 

 known as the machine-cut peel. 



We import large quantities of bitter orange peel in the 

 quarters condition from Spain, Sicily, and Italy, and have sent 

 you under separate cover a sample of that [larticular peel, and 

 we shall be pleased to receive counter .samples to match it with 

 direct offers. We have also sent you sample of machine-cut 

 dried bitterpeel of which we im[)ort large quantities, principally 

 from North Africa, coming to us via ilalta, and for this we 

 shall be pleased to receive a counter sample to match, with 

 ofiFers. Then again we purchase what is known as hand-cut, 

 dried ribbons from the bitter oranges, which is principally 

 produced in the South of France and in Sicily, and, if you 

 like, we would send you samples of that peel as well. 



We are rather afraid, from the letters which we have 

 received from Mr. J. R. Jackson, that j'ou may think that 

 these peels are used for producing what is known in the 

 confectionary trade as candied peels, but they are not. 

 Candied peels are made in one of two ways, viz., either from 

 the fresh fruit or from the peel which has been boiled in 

 brine and shipped to this country in that liquid, principally 

 from Sicily, and it entirely dei>ends upon price which is used. 



What is known as citron peel in the candied condition 

 is, we believe, a fruit of a hybrid and closely allied to the 

 shaddock fruit, or what is known as Citrus decuniana, which 

 is shipped to this country in brine from, princij^ally, the 

 Adriatic, but as well as that there is the Citrus medica, 

 which is also shipped to this country in brine from Calabria. 



We think that your growers would get better prices for 

 their peel if they took it from the ripe, red fruit and not 

 from the immature : the demand for the immature peel. such, 

 as you sent us, is small and not an increasing one. 



