Vol. IV. No. 81. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



151 



staple was produced a few years ago, neglect to replenish 

 with fresh seed has resulted in cotton of weak and irregular 

 staple, which has been almost unsaleable. 



Deteriorated seed cannot jnoduee strong staple. In view 

 of the above facts, and the further fact that strong-staple 

 Sea Island cotton is superior to any other kind of cotton and 

 will always be saleable, whereas weak-staple Sea Islands 

 are not so valuable and can be replaced by other cottons, the 

 necessity for using the best seed must be apparent to every 

 one. 



Selecting and Disinfecting Seed. 



Mr. \V. N. Sands, the Agricultural Superintendent 

 at St. Vincent, reports as follows on the progress of the 

 work in connexion with selecting and disinfecting 

 cotton seed : — ■ 



The quantity .so far received and selected for local 

 growers totals 10,1GG lb., about 4,000 ft), of which have been 

 treated with corrosive sublimate and carbon bisulphide and 

 delivered to the owners. 



For e.'cport I have purchased, so far, 2,500 tt). of 

 unselected seed, and the work of selection is being proceeded 

 with. At the factory I have between thirty and forty 

 women employed under strict supervision, and they are 

 being paid at the rate of 1:0c. per 100 ft), of selected seed. 

 I find that a woman working well can .select about 30 It), 

 per day, but the average would be much less. 



So far, showery weather has retarded the operation of 

 disinfection, but in fine weather we can treat upwards of 

 1,000 lb. of seed daily. 



Cotton Exports fron"; the West Indies. 



The following is a statement (furnished by the 

 Customs Dejmrtment in each case) showing the amount 

 and estimated value of Sea Island cotton exported 

 from the various West Indian Colonies during the 

 quarter ended March 31, 190.5 : — 



1 including 1 bag ; - bags ; ■' including 33 bags. 



In reference to the estimated values of the cotton 

 e.xported from the several colonies given above, it should 

 be pointed out that the cotton has been valued for statistical 

 purposes at Is. per lb., whereas a large proportion of that 

 shipped from St. Vincent has been sold at I'd., and similarly 

 cotton from Barbados has fetched 161(7. per tti. 



Rivers' Sea Island Seed. 



The experiments undertaken to ascertain the effect 

 on the lint, if any, of the fuzziness of some of the seed 

 obtained last year by the Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture from South Carolina, were fully described 

 on pp. 106-7 of this volume of the Agricidtand News. 



The following is an extract from a letter addressed 

 to the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture by 

 Mr. E. Lomas Oliver. Mr. Oliver, it may be mentioned, 

 has recently examined samples of ginned and unginned 

 cotton grown from the fuzzy seeds in Antigua and 

 Barbados : — 



These cottons are manifestly pure Sea Island and equal 

 to the other cotton grown in these islands. There is not the 

 faintest trace of anything of an Upland character. If any 

 one, not having any knowledge of i>ulling cotton, doubts 

 this report, you can convince hijn by showing him the cotton 

 in the seed. You will yourself, no doubt, have observed 

 that the seeds in the seed-cotton grown from fuzzy seed are 

 not fuzzy. If the fuzzy seeds were of Upland origin the 

 seeds would be fuzzy, but they are not. To my mind this 

 settles the matter once and for all that the seed you obtained 

 last year was pure Sea Island seed, and should give confi- 

 dence in j'our Department's seed for the coming season. 



The 



RAINFALL RETURNS. 



Leeward Islands. 



following information in regard to rainfall is 

 taken from the Annwd Repuri on the Leeward Islands 

 for 1903-4 :— 



The average rainfall on sixty -eight stations in Antigua 

 was 43-68 inche.s, as against 58-80 in the previous year. 

 The rainfall was 2-65 inches below the average rainfall for 

 the past thirty years. 



No returns of the rainfall in St. Kitt's have been 

 furnished this year.* The United States Weather Bureau, 

 from which source this information was obtained last year, 

 only kept its otfice open from July 9, to November 15, 190.3, 

 viz., during tlie hurricane season. 



In Dominica the rainfall is abundant ; at two stations, 

 Melville Hall and Morne Park, the rainfall recorded was 

 251-56 inches in each case. 



In jSlontsorrat, the greatest rainfall was recorded at 

 Olveston Botanic Station, where the rainfall measured 70-57 

 inches. 



Atmospheric Nitrogen. It has been computed 



by scientists that there exist over every acre of the surface 

 of the globe 70,000,000 fi). of nitrogen in a free state, which, 

 it may bo interesting to note, is worth at to-day's cost of this 

 constitutent in nitrate of .soda about £360,000 per acre. 

 It has long been the dream of scientists to extract a supply 

 of this valuable material from the atmosphere. It is there 

 in abundance, to be had free, without money, and without 

 price, just for the taking, but the problem is how to take it. 

 This problem seems, however, at last to have been solved. 

 {Af/riniltuml World.) 



* Returns of tlie rainfall on six estates in St. Kitt's were 

 published in the last issue of the AijricuUvnd Neus (p. 14.3). 

 [Ed. A.N.] 



