Vol. X. No. 241. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



231 



with the annual con.sumption in the factories of the 

 Republic, which amounts to about 2,-500 tons of ginned 

 cotton. This gives a total production of about 23,870 tons 

 of fibre, in 1909. 



The factories possess 1,725 spindles, represent a capi- 

 tal of £300,000 and pay wages annually to the amount 

 of £40,000; the annual value of the products from them 

 may be taken as £220,000. In the oil factories, the 

 extraction varies from 12 to 16 per cent. 



A study has been niadi! of four years' cotton production 

 over a definite area, and this has led to the conclusion that 

 the cost of growing a pound of Full liough Peruvian is .57c.; 

 this is very similar to the cost for upland cotton in the 

 United States. 



All [the facts given in the article, particularly those 

 which are afforded attention above, are employed to show 

 the expediency of a large extension of cotton cultiva- 

 tion in Peru. The proposal is supported liy the existence 

 of large areas of land that are available for the purpose, and 

 the fact that cotton grows well where sugar-cane and rice 

 do not flourish on account of the lack of water. Finally, as 

 in the case of the West Indies, the importance is recognized 

 of the adoption of intensive cultivation, and this is recom- 

 mended as an almost necessary circumstance wherever cotton 

 is grown in Peru. 



INDIA AND LONG-STAPLE COTTON. 



The foUowint;' was given in a report of the pro- 

 ceedings of the International Cotton Congres.s, held 

 recently at Barcelona, which appeared in jlir Textile 

 Mercu.ril for May 20, 1911:— 



Mr. Coventry (Officiating Inspector-General of Agricul- 

 ture, India) said that, on the whole, it suits India to produce 

 a short-staple cotton. He asserts that if we are to induce the 

 cultivator to change his present methods and produce long- 

 stajile cotton, we have to bear in mind two things — first, that • 

 the price for the long-staple cotton must not only be higher 

 than that for the short-staple, but it must be so high that it 

 will cover the lo.ss in yield which must inevitably occur in 

 changing from a .short to a long staple; and, secondly, we have 

 to recognize that the existing foreign trade and market would 

 have to be entirely shifted from Germany and Japan to 

 England, for there are no buyers of long-staple cotton in India 

 at i)resent. Neitljer the Government nor the Agricultural 

 Department can do either of these two things. It is I'or the 

 trade itself to move in the matter. 



AVhat, however, has been found the most serious obstacle 

 in the way of progress is that, there being no buyers of long- 

 staple cotton in India, the grower docs not get full value for 

 his produce, with the result that, though the price paid may 

 be higher than for the coarser, the net result is often 

 against the cultivator, owing to the lower yield. At the same 

 time, it is known that, if full value were paid for the longer 

 staple, or, in other words, if there were a market for long- 

 staple cotton in India, which there is not, the cultivator in 

 many cases would undoubtedly benefit more by growing it, 

 in spite of the lower yield. The only possible solution of this 

 difliculty is in the creation in India of a buying agency to buy, 

 gin, bale, and export long-staple cotton. Until this is done, 

 the valuable work of the Department must remain more or 

 less at a standstill. Perhaps the British Cotton Growing 

 Association may see their way to move i'l the matter. 



DOMINICA AND THE INTERNATIONAL 

 RUBBER EXHIBITION. 



The Permanent Exhibition Committee of Dominica, with 

 the large assistance of the Agricultural Officers in the island, 

 has forwarded a representative set of exhibits to the Inter- 

 national Rubber Exhibition in 1911. As will be seen from 

 the following description, the collection is far larger than 

 that prepared for the similar exhibition in 1908, when the 

 only exhibits sent were two small samples of rubber about 

 3 !b. in weight, which had been obtained from trees growing 

 in the Botanic Garde}i. According to a report forwarded to 

 the Permanent Exhibition Committee \>y Mr. J. Jones, Curator 

 of the Botanic Station, who is acting as Honorary Secretary 

 to that Committee, the weight of the present exhibit of 

 rubber is 64 ft)., of which the Botanical Garden has furnished 

 24 B) , the rest having been obtained from seven estates on 

 which experiments in rubber cultivation are being made. 



The details of the exhibits show that the estates which 

 have provided samples are: Stowe, Londonderry, Point 

 Mulatre, Governor, Concord, Hatton Garden, and Imperial 

 Road and River.>dale. These, together with the Botanic 

 Garden, have furnished five samples of Central American 

 rubber (Castilloa elastica), two of Para rubber [Hevea hrasili- 

 eiisis), six of Lagos rubber {Fimtumia elastica). and one of 

 Rambong (Assam) rubber {Ficus elastica). The Botanic 

 Garden has also provided diluted latex of all the.se rubber 

 trees, as well as that of Ficus Vogelii; also .seeds and awns 

 of Funtuiiiia elastica and F. africana, and mounted herbarium 

 specimens of Hevea hrasiliensis, Castilloa elastica, Fuiitiimia 

 elastica and Sajiiiim Jenmani. The share of the permanent 

 Exhibition Committee in the exhibit is fourteen photographs 

 of rubber trees, taken in Dominica. 



THE VALUE OF FIELD EXPERIMENTS. 



A short article of interest appears in the Field for 

 April 1, p. 642, which deals with some of the objections that 

 are urged against field experiments, particularly in relation to 

 trials of dififerent methods of manuring, on account of the 

 irregularity of the results from year to year. It is pointed out 

 that this very characteristic is connected with the uncertain 

 circumstances that prevail in the dififerent yer.i-s, particularly 

 in regard to rainfall. If it were possible i'or the plinler or 

 farmer to foretell the weather during the coming season, 

 many of his difficulties would disappear, and the work of 

 practical agriculture would be greatly .simplified. 



It is therefore unfair to argue that the irregularity of the 

 results of such experiments necessarily detracts from their 

 value. The existence of this very circumstance has been 

 actually most useful in many cases, in that it has aroused the 

 curiosity of the planter, and of those advising him, and has 

 thus brought about the desire to make further ex[ieriments, in 

 order to determine, if po.ssible, the causes of such irregularity. 



The article points out the usefulness of co-ordinating 

 and publishing together the results obtained over compara- 

 tively large areas, in order that a general guide to practice 

 may be aff'orded. It mentions the necessity, at the same 

 time, of giving attention to peculiarities of soil and climate 

 at each of the different centres of experiment, so that 

 such results may be interpreted in the light of the special 

 conditions. It is of interest to refer to the fact that work 

 of this kind is at present being done in parts of the West 

 Indies, particularly in relation to sugar-cane growing, where, 

 with the co-operation of planters, facts having a local value 

 are elucidated and reported separately, while the whole of 

 the investigation is considered in a broad way for the formula- 

 tion of results that are of general application. 



