134 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



April 29, 19n. 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



Messrs. Wolstenholme and Holland, of Liverpool, 

 write as follows, under date April 10, with reference 

 to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cocton :^ 



Since our last report, there has been a complete absence 

 of demand for Sea Island growths, and all values are purely 

 nominal. The fine spinning trade is in a worse condition 

 than it has been for some years past. Spinners would be 

 quite willing to purchase, if there were any demand for the 

 finer classes of yarn. Meanwhile, they are using up their old 

 stocks bought last season. 



Holders in America are continually reducing their prices, 

 without effecting sales of the better sorts. Best Floridas are 

 offering at lild., and Fully Fine Islands at l-5fd., without 

 business ensuing, and factors in Charleston are very dispirited. 



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

 Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the vieek 

 ending April 8, is as follows: — 



The sales this week consisted of .several planters' crop 

 lots, at prices ranging from -360. to 45c., for export, and there 

 is some further inquiry. Otherwise the market is very quiet, 

 •with apparently no demand for the odd bags classing Fully 

 Fine and below. The factors are becoming more concerned 

 over the situation, and are disposed to make some concession 

 to sell, especially so if they can sell quantity. 



Therefore, with w-ders in hand, we think we can buy on 

 the following basis, viz.: — 



Extra Fine 30c. to 32c. = 16fd to 18rf. c.i.f. & 5 per cent. 



Fully Fine 28c. =15|d. „ „ 



Fine 27c. = 15c?. „ „ 



Off Grades 23c. to 25c. = 13d. to 14d „ „ 



THE COTTON MARKET AND COTTON- 

 PLANTING. 



It is a matter of <xjmmon knowledge that the reports on 

 cotton in the Liverpool market, furnished fortnightly by 

 Messrs. Wolstenholme and Holland, have shown that an 

 indifferent demand for Sea Island cotton has existed since the 

 middle of January in this year; it is also known that similar 

 conditions have obtained for the past few months in the Sea 

 Island markets of the United States. At the present time, 

 in the West Indies, the cotton planter lias had already to 

 decide the maximum area that he will plant in cotton during 

 the coming season, and he will have soon to ascertain defin- 

 itely, how much of this area he will actually use for cotton- 

 growing. In making this decision, several matters will have 



to receive careful consideration, but none of these will prob- 

 ably have more influence in assisting him to arrive at 

 a conclusion than that relating to the prices which he is likely 

 to receive for the cotton that will come into his possession at 

 the end of the season. 



Keports from the Sea Island cotton-producing areas of 

 the United States show that suggestions for taking step.s to 

 regulate the position have already been made. According to 

 the Savannah Morning Nevjs for March 14, 1911, a meeting 

 of Sea Island cotton growers was held in Savannah on 

 March 9, and a committee was appointed for the purpose of 

 considering the present circumstances of cotton production and 

 sale, in order that, recommendations may be made which 

 would enable growers to cope with the situation. This 

 committee, after drawing attention to the dull state of the 

 market for the ninety days preceding the making of its 

 report, compares the stock of cotton on hand, at Savannah 

 and Charleston, on March 10. 1911, with that for the same 

 date in previous years: the figure.s, in bales, are as follows: 

 1911, 26,135; 1910, 8,082; 1909, 13,035; 1908, 11,516. It is 

 thus seen that the amount of cotton on liand, at tliis period 

 of the present season, is far greater than any of the quanti- 

 ties at the same time in the three preceding years. The 

 connuilteu slates that the unfavourable condition is aggravat- 

 ed by the existence of an estimated stock of 20,000 bales in 

 the interior, and there is the additional untoward circum- 

 stance of the prevalence of a rumour to the effect that there 

 will be a material increase in the area planted in Sea Island 

 cotton, in the coming season. The recommendation is there- 

 fore made that a resolution that the area of .Sea Island cotton 

 in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, shall be reduced by 

 50 per cent., which was passed at the general meeting of 

 March 9, shall be carried into effect; and the further sugges- 

 tion is made that the area no longer employed fnr cotton- 

 growing shall be used for the production of peas and ground 

 nuts, and for the raising of pigs. 



Whether this resolution will be actually carried into effect 

 is another matter, and it behoves the We.st Indian cotton 

 grower to consider the question in relation to his own circum- 

 stances. He may at oncedismi.ss the idea of effecting a drastic 

 reduction of area in the croj), similar to that suggested in 

 the United State.*. The great disparity of area for cotton- 

 growing, in the two cases, is sufficient to show this; for, 

 whereas more than 100,000 bales of about 400 lb. can be 

 obtained from that in the United States, the area in the 

 AVest Indies has never produced Sea Island cotton amounting 

 to even as much as 8,000 bales of a similar .size. The matter 

 may be illustrated in another way by saying that if tlie West 

 Indies halved its production, it would only be ecpuvalent to 

 reducing that of the United States Sea Island area by about 

 4 per cent. — a reduction that would have virtually no effect 



