70 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



March 4, 1911, 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



Messrs. Wolstenholme and Holland, of Liverpool, 

 write as follows, under date February 13, with reference 

 to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton : — 



Since our last report, about 30 bags of West Indian Sea 

 Island cotton have been sold At'20d. to 2\d. Buyers continue 

 absolutely indifferent, and we think it will be some time 

 before there is any demand for quantity. 



The pressure to sell American Sea Islands is .so great, 

 that we do not think English spinners will enter the market 

 for quantity, unless a concession of 2(1 per B) off current 

 rates be entertained. Spinners have stocks in hand from last 

 season's crops of both American and West Indian growths, 

 and cannot effect sales of yarn. 



The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on 

 Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week 

 ending February 11, is as follows: — 



The Factors, becoming more concerned at the absence of 

 demand, and realizing that they could not secure their asking 

 prices, decided to make some concession to meet the views 

 of buyers, resulting in sales of about 1,000 bales, on a basis 

 of Fully Fine 32c 



The buying has been for England, France and the 

 Northern mills. At this decline the Factors hope that the 

 demand will become general, admitting of their selling more 

 freely. 



The supply of E,^tra Fine is small, and it is probable 

 that the stock of this grade will soon be disposed of. 



The larger portion of the stock consists of the lower 

 grades, tinged and off cotton. 



We quote viz: — 



Extra Fine Islands at 33c. = lii^d. c.i.f. & 5 per cent. 

 Fully Fine „ 32c. = 17Jrf. „ „ „ „ 



Fine „ 30c. = 16Jrf. „ „ 



COTTON-GROWING IN ALGERIA. 



Great efforts are being made by the Algerian ( Mjvern- 

 ment to encourage the planting of cotton. In 1908, four 

 years after the first e.xperiments had been started, a crop 

 grown on irrigated land in the district of Orleansville was 

 sold at Havre at S'ld. per lb., representing a net profit to the 

 grower varying from £5 10s. to £12 10.<. per acre, whilst an 

 offer of did. to d'ld. for the .same consignment was subsequent 

 ly received from Ijiverpool; more recently a first shipment of 

 10,000 kilos. [22,000 lb I has realized Is. 211 to Is. 3i?. 

 per H). at Livcnpool. The crops gathered on the.se lands have 

 Taried from 1,200 to 2.0,000 kilos, of raw cotton, yielding 



from 380 to 800 kilos, of ginned cotton per hectare [330 to 

 700 iti. per acre] which, at the prices last quoted, with the 

 addition of by-products at market prices, would produce 

 a gross return of from 1,100 U< 3,000 fr. per hectare [£22 to 

 £48 per acrej; the cost of cultivation, in the case of the grow- 

 er whii shipped the above consignment, was 557 fr. per hec- 

 tare [£9 per acre]; in .some instances it is more, but it has 

 never reached 1,000 fr [£16 per acre], so that it is estimated 

 that the net profit on cotton-growing on these lands amounts 

 to between 850 and 2,000 fr. per hectare, or approximately 

 from £14 to £32 per acre. This calculation is based on 

 abnormally high prices, liut with ordinary prices the yield 

 would still be very large. Experiments, which have been 

 continuously successful, have also been conducted on lands 

 impossible of irrigation; at Phiiippeville, 17 acres under 

 Mississippi and 11 acres under Egyptian Alitafifihave yielded 

 154 cwt. and 85 cwt. of raw cotton, respectively, whilst at 

 Bona 130 cwt. and 133 cwt. of these respective varieties have 

 been obtained from two plots of ground each containing about 

 15 acre.s, giving nn estimated net profit of £11 an acre. In 

 comparison with the.se figures, it is pointed out that in the 

 United States of America the average net profit to the cotton 

 grower, calculated over a period of twenty years, is between 

 £1 18s. Gd. and £2 i3s. Gd. per acre, whilst in Egypt it has 

 been shown not to exceed £1 15s. On the above ground.s, 

 local agriculturists have been strongly urged to plant their 

 ground with cotton, and several hundred additional acres 

 are now in course of cultivation. (The Board of Trade Jour- 

 7pd, December], 1910, p. 441.) 



Cotton Manufacture in India.— Sixty years ago, 

 the first cotton spinning and weaving mill was projected 

 in India. Ten years later the number had increased to 

 twelve, containing .338,000 spindles. According to the 

 Bombay Millowners' Association returns to June 30 last, 

 there were 243 mills, with 20 others in course of erection. 

 The number of spindles had risen, in round numbers, to 

 (1,200,000, and the looms to 82,700; the hands employed had 

 increased to 234,000, and the cotton consumed to about 

 2,000,000 bales. The capital in the industry exceeds 

 £12,000,000. 



For the year ending .March 1910, the product of the 

 Indian cotton mills was C27,3(!4,000 lb. of j-arn and 

 228,723,000 lb., or 9fi2,4fi3,000 yards, of woven cloths. 

 There were exported 227,400,000 lb. of yarn and 94,100,000 

 yards of cloth. In eleven years, the production of cloths 

 had increased 133 per cent, bj' weight and 193 per cent, 

 by length. But imports of piece-goods increased 03 per 

 cent, nearly all coming from the L'nited Kingdom. (The Textile 

 Mercury. January 28, 1911.) 



