Vol. IV. No. 78. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



107 



It is interesting to note that the seed imported gave the 

 following results upon grading :^ 



Grade i. Quite free from fuzz. 5-0 per cent. 



„ ii. Nearly free from fuzz. 60'6 „ „ 



„ iii. Slight amount of fuzz. 2.3'2 „ „ 



„ iv. Partially covered with fuzz. 7"6 ,, ,, 



„ V. Completely covered with fuzz. ■2-2 „ „ 



Abortive seeds I'-t „ ,, 



100-0 



It is important to note that the seeds from all the five 

 plots consist largely of grade ii, that is, of seeds having 

 a slight amount of fuzz on one or both ends of the seed and 

 this may be taken as the typical character of Rivers' seed. 



Considering, first of all, grade v, sown upon plot v, that is, 

 with seed completely covered with fuzz, it is remarkable to 

 note that the product of this plot contains only 3'6 per cent, 

 of seed of the type sown and 73 per cent, of seed having only 

 a very small amount of fuzz. On the other hand, grade i, 

 sown upon plot i, has produced '2 per cent, of fuzzy seed 

 of grade v and 33'8 per cent, of seed without any trace of 

 fuzz : this is a percentage of fuzz-free seeil far greater than is 

 found in the product of any of the other grades. 



The intermediate grades require little comment, they 

 fall between grades, i and v, and the results speak for 

 themselves. The i-esults obtained on plot i, indicate that, 

 if circumstances warranted the effort, it would probably be 

 a matter of little difficulty to select Rivers' seed in such 

 a manner as to produce a clean black seed absolutely free 

 from fuzz. 



Subject to special expert opinion on the lint from the 

 five various plots, the following conclusions appear to be 

 readily arrived at : — 



That in the selection of Rivers' seed care has been taken 

 to select for the character of the lint; that small variations 

 in the character of the seed have received less attention, 

 hence the seed is to a certain extent variable in character ; 

 that the characters of the seed are not fixed, so that extreme 

 types, such as fuzzy seeds, on the one hand, and absolutely 

 clean seeds, on the other, both tend to produce average seed 

 of the Rivers' type, i.e., having a small amount of fuzz ; and, 

 finally, that the character of the lint is fixed and does not 

 vary with the variations in the character of the seed. 



As bearing out the foregoing, it may be of interest 

 to reproduce the following letter from Mr. W. A. Orton, 

 the Pathologist, U. S. Department of Agriculture, to 

 the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture, dated 

 Washington, February 28, 190-5 : — 



I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 

 February 17 relative to the equality of Sea Island cotton seed. 

 I have examined the fuzzy seeds enclosed which have been 

 selected from Rivers' Sea Island. This is not an indication 

 of any inferiority, but is, on the other hand, cpiite character- 

 istic of the Rivers' and some other varieties of Sea Island 

 cotton, which have naturally a small tuft at one end and 

 occasionally produce more fuzzy seeds without having been 

 crossed with other varieties. 



The Seabrook cotton, grown by Mr. F. P. Seabrook, of 

 James Island, S.C., one of the best and most productive 

 strains of Sea Island cotton, is especially noted for this fuzzy 

 character of its seeds, though there is no trace of anj' other 

 Upland characteristics in the plant, and the lint is of fine 

 quality. These fuzzy seeds are slightly objectionable from 

 the ginner's standpoint, as they do not fall through the 



grating as freely as the smooth, black seeds, and on this 

 account somewhat retard the process of ginning. On the 

 other hand, many Sea Island planters believe that this green 

 fuzz is correlated with greater productiveness and hardiness 

 of the plant than are possessed by seeds entirely destitute of 

 fuzz. 



Further evidence that the smooth, black seed is not 

 necessarily correlated with fine qualities of fibre is found in 

 the fact that several varieties of short-staple Upland cotton 

 have a perfectly smooth, black seed, and, second, in the point 

 that is well known to the workers in this Department who 

 have been hybridizing Upland and Sea Island cotton, that 

 among the resulting hybrids the plants with the longest and 

 finest lint have in a majority of cases a fuzzy seed, which 

 must be bred out by selection in order to produce a variety 

 capable of being ginned on the roller-gin. 



I may add that I am personally very familiar with 

 Mr. Rivers' fields, and that I have never seen a hybrid stalk 

 in them. 



MINOR INDUSTRIES AT NEVIS. 



The Agricultural Instructor at Nevis has recently 

 reported to the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture 

 on the progress of the eftbrts made to establish minor 

 industries in that island. From his report and the 

 letters of coiTespondents in reply to a circular letter 

 sent out by Mr. Rollings we gather the following 

 information : — 



The district immediately around Madden's has had 

 a serious and long-protracted drought, the rainfall at 

 Madden's having been only 31 inches, compared with 41 on 

 Round Hill, only about 3 miles oft'. The rainfall generally 

 has been about 15 inches below the average, which has 

 greatly reduced the cane crops for the present season, but 

 seems rather to have helped the cotton and to have kept it 

 free of various pests which the neighbouring island of 

 Montserrat, with a heavier rainfall, has had to combat. 



Hitherto, very few of the planters or peasants have 

 grown anything but sugar-cane and sweet potatos. Efforts 

 are now being made to grow cotton, on a large scale, and 

 cacao, limes, tangerines, onions, and other crops in a smaller 

 way. 



The onion crop has been a very good one. One planter 

 has about h acre. 



The cacao at iladden's has not yet reached the bearing 

 stage, but the trees are in a healthy and promising condition. 



A correspondent points out that there is apparently 

 a need of attention being paid to the sweet potato. The 

 quality of the produce is stated to be poor and liable to rot. 

 A trial might be made of some of the varieties that have 

 recently been experimented with in Barbados. 



Attempts to grow English potatos have not been 

 successful, the crop having suffered severely from pests. 



With regard to the efforts of the Imperial Department 

 of Agriculture to improve the breeds of poultry, one 

 correspondent writes : ' The breed of poultry is being 

 gradually improved and the introductions will, I think, in 

 time show good results.' Another says : ' Poultry, descendants 

 of the Agricultural Department's Buff Orpingtons, have 

 thriven well with me. This breed has become scattered all 

 over the island, and there is no mistake as to the improve- 

 ment of the breed of fowls in Nevis.' 



It is suggested that the peasants might keep bees and 

 plant sunflowers to help the bees ; but more care and 

 attention to the cultivation will be necessary. 



