Vol. IV. No. 78. 



THE AGPJCULTUEAL NEWS. 



101 



COTTON INDUSTRY. 



Prospects of the Crop. 



Fortnia;htly reports have been received from the 

 local officers of the Imperial Department of Agriculture 

 upon the prospects of the cotton industry as follows: — 



TOBAGO. 



By the number of application.'! for seed of Sea Island 

 cotton it is apparent that the cultivation will be extended 

 during the coming planting season. 



At the present time cotton is only £;rown in quantity at 

 one estate, viz., Golden Grove, and it is the short-staple 

 variety, !Mai'ie Galante, and is inferior to Sea Island cotton. 



Recently a visit was paid there and IS bales of 500 lb. 

 each were ready for shipment. 



B.\EBADOS. 



Since I last reported nearly all the first picking of the 

 cotton has been gathered, but I regi'et to say that owing to 

 the drought the yield has come much shorter than was 

 anticipated. Most of the cotton plants that have finished 

 bearing their first lot of cotton have been pruned and in some 

 instances the plants are flowering alread}-. Owing to the 

 drought, however, the bolls are not as large as they were last 

 year. 



Up to March 10 the Cotton Factory had ginned 

 3.53,716 lb. of seed-cotton yielding 98,.5.57 lb. of lint. Of 

 this lint 267 bales containing 93,442 lb. of lint have been 

 made and shipped, and the remaining lint, viz., 5,11.5 lb. is 

 at tlie Factory to be baled when sufficient is received for 

 each grower, it being found best to ship, as far as possible, 

 each grower's cotton lint by itself. 



Of the 24 bales shipped by the E.M.S. 'Orinoco' on 

 January 14, 14 sold at 16W. per lb., 6 at 16(/., and 4 at Ibd. 

 per lb., 3 of these 4 bales being ratoon cotton and one stained 

 cotton. This first consignment was reported upon by the 

 British Cotton-growing Association as 'leaving little to be 

 desired ' as regards its prejiaration, ginning, etc. 



With regard to the 35 bales shipped by the K.M.S. 

 ' Trent ' on January 28, I have been infoimed by the 

 Secretary of the British Cotton-growing Association that 

 34 have .sold at 16-i(f. per lb. He has not yet informed me 

 at what price the other bale, which was of ratoon cotton, has 

 been sold. 



Since I last reported the shipment of the 75 bales by 

 the S.S. 'Rosetti' I have .shipped 40 bales by the R.M.S. 

 ' Tagus ' on February 25, and 93 bales by the R.M.S. 'Atrato' 

 on March 11 last, and I also hope to make a further 

 shipment by next mail. 



ST. kitt's. 



There is little to report for this period, except that the 

 three ginneries are all doing good work and that shipments 

 of cotton are being made by every steamer. 



At Spooner's Factory an imi)rovement has been made in 

 feeding the cotton to the gins f)y means of 'shoots' which 

 bring the seed-cotton from the u^iper floor direct to the 

 feeding board. These gins are doing excellent work and 

 averaged 55 lb. lint each per hour over a period of six days. 



Account sales were received by last mail of cotton from 

 St. Kitt's at the rate of Is. Ud. (33c.) per lb. for well- 

 prepared cotton ; .some of the same lot that had not been 

 repicked before ginning only fetched Is. Id. (26c.) per lb. 

 nviking a difterence of 7c. per Hj. 



The quality and length of staple were highly spoken of. 



The news that the Department was unable to obtain 

 selected Rivers' cotton seed for planting next season has 

 caused much regret among the planters, who had sent in 

 recjuisitions for large quantities. Steps, however, are being 

 taken to secure the best seed from the growers who planted 

 only Rivers' seed last season, of which there is a sufficient 

 quantity to satisfy all demands. 



Disinfecting Cotton Seed. 



The most pressing cpiestion affecting the cotton 

 industry which now requires to be solved is the careful 

 selection and treatment of the cotton seed proposed 

 to be planted during the coming season. The value 

 of the next 3'ear's crop will largely depend on whether 

 the best and healthiest seed is selected or the planters 

 take any seed within their reach and rely on this to 

 produce cotton of the highest cpialit}'. 



As stated elsewhere, the Imperial Department 

 of Agriculture offers to supply selected West Indian 

 seed from plants that have produced cotton worth 

 I6hl. to 17d. per lb. and to have such seed carefully 

 disinfected beforehand. By such means the planters 

 will have a reasonable guarantee that they are sowing 

 the best seed available, and can look forward with some 

 degree of confidence to favourable returns. 



It is recommended that no cotton seed be planted 

 this year that has not been carefully disinfected. This 

 is in accordance with the best practice in other 

 countries and is the only means of maintaining the 

 present stock of plants in the West Indies in a healthy 

 condition. 



The following notes may be of interest as showing 

 the desirability of disinfecting cotton seed. 



Mr. L. Lewton-Brain, the Mycologist, writes : — 



One of the most important ways in which fungoid 

 diseases of plants spread from one locality to another is by 

 means of the spores of the fungi attached to the seeds of 

 their host plants. To meet this, the use of fungicidal steeps 

 is gradually becoming more general among agriculturist.?. 



Fungicidal steeps have been worked out mainly in 

 connexion with 'smut' of wheat, oats, and other cereals. 

 The spores of smut are carried on the seeds of their host 

 which is infected immediately after germination. To destroy 

 these spores different fungicides are widely used, among 

 them being formalin, copper sulphate, and hot \x'ater. For 

 potato 'scab,' again, the 'seed' tubers are steeped in formalin 

 or corrosive sublimate. ^Mention may also be made of the 

 succe.ssful treatment of cuttings with Bordeaux mixture for 

 preventing the pine-apple disease of sugar-cane. 



The steep used last year by the Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture for cotton seed was a 1 to 1,000 solution of 

 corrosive sublimate (mercuric chloride) ; this is about equiva- 

 lent to 1 Ki. of corrosive sublimate in 125 gallons (100 wine 

 gallons) of water. The seeds are soaked in this steep for an 

 hour, care being taken that they are thoroughlj' wetted. 

 They are then taken out of the solution and spread in a thin 

 layer to dry. When thoroughly dry the seeds can be put 

 into bags and kept for some time. It has been definitely 

 proved that this treatment has no injurious effect on germina- 

 tion : the seeds may be planted either immediately on being 

 taken from the steep, or, after thorough drying, at any time 

 for weeks afterwards. An account of the experiments on 

 this point will be found in the AgiicuUural JWw.?, Vol. Ill, 

 pp. 117 and 149. 



