390 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



December 15, 1917. 



COTTON. 



SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET. 



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

 Sea Island cotton in the Soutlieiu States, for the week 

 ending November o, 1917, is as follows: — 



ISLANDS. There was an active demand this week, 

 taking all offerings, resulting in sales of 494 bales, the buying 

 being on account of the Northern Mills, and the market 

 closed very firm, with an advance of Ic. being paid to secure 

 such offerings as the Factors were willing to sell. This 

 advance was caused by the active and advancing market in 

 Savannah. 



We quote, viz: — 



Fine to Fully Fine 72c. to 73c. = 74c. to 75c, c.i.f. 



GEORGIAS AND FLORIDAS. The market opened quiet, 

 bat very firmly held, but towards the middle of the week 

 there sprung up a very active demand from one buyer, taking 

 all the offerings which Factors had authority to sell, and 

 such lots as exporters and interior buyers were willing to 

 dispose of on a basis of i|uotations. Consequently the 

 market closed very firm, being swept of all offerings. We 

 are unable to say whether this buying was to fill orders 

 from mills or on speculation account Some of the purchases 

 were made on a basis of average Extra Choice, and others 

 were on a basis of Extra Choice to Fancy at the following 

 quotations: — 



Extra Choice to Fancy 73c. = 75c. c.i.f. 

 Average Extra Choice 73c. — 75c. ,, 



The exports from Savannah for the week were, to 

 Northern Mills 277 bales. Southern Mills 51 bales, and 

 from .Jacksonville to Northern Mills "•'!•") bales. 



BRITISH COTTON GROWING ASSO- 

 CIATION. 



Tho one hundred and sixty fifth meeting of the Council 

 of the British Cotton Growing .\ssociation was held at the 

 Offices, 15 Cross Street, Manchester, on Tuesday the Gch 

 ultimo. In the absrnco of the President (The ftt. Hon. the 

 Earl of Derby, K.G.) Mr. 1. Arthur Hutton occupied the 

 Ch«ir. 



WEST AFRICA. During the past month, the Association 

 have had advice of the shipment of several hundred tons of 

 cotton seed from Nigeria, and it is ho|)ed that the bulk of 

 the seed which they have in stock in West Africa will be 

 shipped before the new season's cotton crop begins to 

 tome in. 



The purchases of cotton in Lagos to October 31, amount 

 to 7,768 bales, as compared with 9,257 bales for the same 

 period of last year, and (5,050 bales for 1915. The pur- 

 chases in Northern Nigeria to .September 30 amounted to 

 3,795 bales, as compared with 10,510 bales for the same 

 period of 1916, and 60^1 bales for 1915. 



A very interesting leport has been received from one of 

 the Association's agents, dealing with his tour through the 

 Sokoto Province of Northern Nigeria; the report is most 

 promising and proves that there is plenty of room in 

 Northern Nigeria for further expansion, and that previous 

 reports as to the possibilities in Northern Nigeria have by 

 no means been exaggerated. 



NYASALAND. The difficulties in shipping from Nyasa- 

 land have been considerable, and the Association have still 

 about 500 bales of cotton unshipped from lastyeai's pur- 

 chases. It is hoped that the bulk of this cotton will be 

 shipped at an early date, as the Ministry of Shipping have 

 arranged for a special allocation of 500 tons of space to be 

 reserved for the monthly shipment of Nyasaland produce 

 from Beira or Durban when the tonnage is in actual excess 

 of the priority cargo arranged for each given month. 



uoASDA It was mentioned that a large quantity of 

 last year's Uganda cotton crop had recently been received in 

 Liverpool, and that the cotton was of very good quality, and 

 would be extremely useful to Lancashire Spinners in view 

 of the present shortage of long stapled cotton. 



It was mentioned that the Association had approached 

 the Board of Trade calling attention to the fact that owing 

 to the difficulty of covering purchases of cotton in 'Futures', 

 and the serious shipping outlook, it might be impossible to 

 buy next season's cotton crop in Africa, and proposing that 

 the Government should either help the Association to buy 

 the cotton, or take it over themselves in Africa, as it would 

 be a most serious matter if the natives were unable to find 

 a market for their crop. No definite reply has yet been 

 received, but it is hoped that the Government will take the 

 matter in hand. 



EGYPT AND THE .siJDAX. Souie important information 

 has recently been received with regard to the possibilities of 

 increasing the production of cotton in Egjpt and the Sudan. 



In Egypt the drainage and irrigation schemes should 

 in course of time add another 800,000 bales of 500 Db. each 

 to the Egyptian cotton crop, and in the Sudan the dam and 

 canalisation schemes should produce, within a period of, 

 say, twenty five years, something like 440,000 bales of 500 lb. 

 each. It is extremely satisfactory to know that there is 

 every reason to anticipate an increase of about Ij million 

 bales from Egypt and the Sudan, \vith possibilities in the 

 future of a further increase, if large storage works are 

 constructed on the upper waters of the Blue Nile. 



With regard to the scheme for irrigating the Gezira 

 Plain, a telegram was rf'ad from the Board of Trade, statirg 

 that Sir Albert Stanley is hopeful of arranging with the 

 Treasury for an advanci', to enable the preliminary works in 

 connexion with the scheme to be proceeded with. 



DESIRABLE FRUIT TREES. 



The West Indian islands aie the home of exotic plants. 

 Almost every economic agricultural product from these 

 islands is derived from trees or plants introduced into them 

 from the eastern or western continents since their discovery by 

 Columbus. In the early days of their colonization, piternal 

 governments or individual enthusiasts introduced into these 

 islands plants which have since become of the greitest 

 importance, such as l]tn sugar-cane, the coconut, the lime, 

 and the cacao tree, not to mention such other trees as the 

 breadfruit, the mango, the orange, or the tamarind. West 

 Indians of the present day can hardly picture these islands 

 without the plants mentioned above, and yet they are but 

 a few of the exotics which have flourished, and now enter 

 into the everyday life of the West Indies. 



In more recent years there has occurred the successful 

 acclimatization in Grenada ot the nutmeg tree, the eultiv.v 

 tion of which seems to have enabled that i.sland to enter 

 upon a new life after the decay of the sugar industry there, 

 and before the successful development of the cacao cultivation. 

 In many of the islands, however, especially the drier ones, 

 there does not seem to be any importation of new plants 

 specially suited to their conditions, though wonderful 



