A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



Vol. IV. No. 85 



BARBADOS, JULY 15, 1905. 



Price Id. 



Formation of a Cotton Growers' 

 Company at Barbados. 



LARGELY attended meeting of cotton 

 growers was held at Barbados on Friday, 

 July 7, for the purpose of considei-ing the 

 advisability of forming a linjited liability company 



to take over the Central Cotton Factory and carry on 

 operations on co-operative lines. 



The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture placed 

 the facts at some length before the meeting. He 

 recapitulated the history' of the establishment of the 

 cotton industry in Barbados and pointed out that the 

 quality of the cotton, the yield, and the returns, which 

 were being derived from its cultivation, were sufficient- 

 ly promising to justify the planters in carrying on the 

 industry. In fact, the cotton industry at Barbados 

 might now be regarded as established on most promis- 

 ing lines. As a consequence they had arrived at 

 a stage when it was desirable for the cotton growers 

 to take into consideration whether they could not 

 adopt action with the view of taking over the central 

 cotton litctory and working it in the interest of the 

 cotton growers of the island. 



The fectory, so fixv, had been worked by a com- 

 mittee appointed by the Agricultural Society in 

 co-operation with the Imperial Department of Agri- 

 culture. It was first opened in July 1903, when only 

 one gin was available. Six months later the number 

 had increased to si.-c. A baling press was next added, 

 and soon after, a Christy & Norris disintegrator, for 

 reducing the cotton seed to meal. At the present 

 time, the ftxctory was as fully equipped as any Sea 

 Island cotton factory in any part of the world. 



The Cotton Committee had worked the factory for 

 nearly three years with the Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture, and it had been shown that the factory 

 was capable of doing excellent work, and that cotton 



