102 



THE AGRICULTUEAL NEWS. 



April 7, 1917. 



COTTON EXPORTS FROM THE WEST 



INDIES. 



Tlie following shows the quantity and value of Sea 



Island cotton exported from the West Indies during the 

 quarter ended December -31, 1916: — 



C'olcny. Quantity, Value, 



a>. £. 



B.rUdos 21, 4U 1,606 



St. Vincent 2,880 192 



Antigua nil — 



Montserrat 1.38,400t 1:3,414 



St. Kitts 29 31& 1,832* 



Nevis 22,682 1,418 



Virgin Islands 8,117 609 



222,809 £19,071 



t 53 bales representing 20,034 lb. of lint of the 1914-1.5 



crop are included in these figures. 



* Value taken at Is. 3(^ , but for the most part this 



cotton sold at 3s. in England, and the lowest value should be 



2.«. 6d. per B). 



INDIA'S SUPPLY OF COTTON. 



On December 14, 191(J, Professor J. A. Todd read 

 a remarkably interesting paper on the worlds cotton 

 supply and India's share in it, before the Indian Sec- 

 tion of the Royal Society of Arts. In summing up 

 Professor Todd said:— 



India is the only country in the world from which there 



is any hope of obtaining an early if not iiuuiediate increase 



of a million bales per annum of new cotton, and there is 



every reason to believe that India could maintain such an 



increafe cumulatively till her present crop was at least 



doubled. As will be sten from Table D in the Appendix, 



the area under cotton is immense — over 2.5,000,000 acres 



in 1913 14, or two-thirds of the whole area, under cotton 



in America; though it may be noted in passing that, as will 



be seen from Table V,, the increase if the Indian crop has 



hardly kept pace with that of the American over the la.st 



thirty years. (^)uitc apart from any extension of this area, 



the crop could easily be increased by a gradual improvement 



of the yield per acre, which is the lowest in the world. 



only about 8-5 Bb. [ler acr>" against nearly 200 lb in America, 



and about 40i) It), in K.ypt. That such an increase would 



• pay handsomely d.i anything like present prices of 



cotton is beyond question, and it could be done without 



interfering at all seriously with India s c ssential supplies 



of other crop.=, especially food supplies. To effect such 



a change in the Indian crop is a. very big problem full 



of practi<al dirhculues, which however, are not utterly 



insuniiountable. It will take a good I'eal of time and 



money to make the change, hnt it wnuld take more money to 



get the same results in any oth^r part of the world, audit 



probably could not be none at all in the time anywhere else. 



It is not, however, merely a qncstion of growing an extra 



crop in certain par s of luA a. but of steadily and continuously 



improving the Indian crop a little all round, both in quantity 



and quality, by the adoption of better methods and the use 



of improved seed. That means constant and f-ustained effort 



on the part of every one concerned in agriculture in India, 



and a very much increased .staff backed by determined 



action on the part of the Indian Government in the direction 



of compelling reform of dishonest methods, and .showing an 



example itself on a commercial scale of how things could be 



and ought to be done. 



THE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENTS 



OF NIGERIA. 



The following information, abstracted from the reports of 

 the Directors of Agriculture, on the Agricultural Depart- 

 ments of Northern and Southern Nigeria, for the year 1915, 

 should prove of interest to readers of the Agricultural News. 



NORTHERN' I'RovixcES. In regard to the Northern Pro- 

 vinces, experiments started in I 913 at Maigana, with a view to 

 producing a type of cotton of better quality and higher yield 

 per acre than the existing indigenous plant, appear to have 

 given satisfactory results. Different varieties were put under 

 trial, and that known as Allen's long staple (which had been 

 acclimatized for three years in 1 'ganda and was propagated 

 for the first time in Nigeria in 1912) gave such satisfactory 

 results, that in 1914 about 2 tons of the seed were distributed 

 to local growers. The results were again distinctly good the 

 crop being purchased by the British Cotton Growing Associa- 

 tion at 1 hd. per lb. This proved so great an incentive to 

 further effort that in 1915 the whole available supply of seed 

 amounting to .some 7 tons, was readily taken up. Moreover, 

 the As.socialion found the staple of such high quality as to 

 warrant their paying \'ld. per Bi. for the 1915 crop. The 

 opinion is expressed that if this price can be maintained, the 

 future of cotton growing in the district is assured. 



In an appendix comprising a report including work 

 done at Maigana from March 1 1915. to February 29, 1916, 

 when the last of the crops had been harvested, it is stated 

 that the 'Aliens' and 'Nyasaland' varieties of cotton maintained 

 their average for yield, and their strength ajipeared to show 

 a general improvement on last year. 



SOUTHERN PROVINCES. Concerning the Southern Pro- 

 vinces, the report is naturally much more elaborate. It is stated 

 that the Cacao industry received most attention, the exports 

 of this commodity increasing from 99,000 cwt. valued at 

 £172,000 in 1914 to 182,000 cwt. valued at £314,000 in 

 19 1 5. In addition it is estimated that there were in Lagos 

 at the end of the year 40,000 cwt. awaiting shipment. Ihadan, 

 which is the largest producing ( entre, has increased the 

 output during the last five years from below 20,000 to over 

 50,000 cwt. 



.\ cacao planting competition was organized in the 

 t 'alabai J)ivision to encourage farmers to lay out their 

 farms in a proper manner. Prizes of £10, £7, and £3 were 

 to have been given in December 191(5, to the competitors 

 who established the four best farms of 250 cacao plants with 

 shade trees, in the manner advised in the Department's 

 leaflet on cacao cultivation. Advice regarding suitable sites 

 and othrr equitable assistance have been afforded by 

 agricultural otHcers. 



Sites for new model plots and nurseries were selected 

 at Ikot-Kkpenc. Warri, Benin, Sapele, Kwale and Abeokuta. 

 .Salisfaetory pi'ogress was made in establishing the plot and 

 nursery at all these places, with the exception of Warri, 

 when- sutticicnt labour could not be found to clear the site. 

 The model plot at Ijebu Ode was acquired for building 

 purposes, but a new site was selected, cleared, and shade 

 trees were established ready foi- the planting of cacao and 

 kola in 1916. At Oyo, plots of native and American 

 (Georgia) cotton were planted to dennmstrate the superior 

 i|uality of the latter type. Arrangements were made for ())'» 

 farmers to plant about .'300 acres of Ceorgia cotton in 1916. 

 More than 8,000 cacao, Para rubber, and coco-nut plants 

 were distributed from the nurseries. This, it is pointed out, 

 iloes not rejiresent the total distribution for several of the 

 caretakers are illiterate and were unable to keep records. 



