86 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



March 17, 190G. 



PROGRESS OF WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



The following reiiiiirks on the progress of the 

 cotton industry in the West Indies are taken from the 

 Textile Mercin-i/ for Febnuuy 17, hist: — 



At a meetiii!:; of the We.st India Committee of the 

 Briti.sh Cotton-growing As.sociation, held in Manchester on 

 Friday of last week, letters were read from Sir Daniel Morris, 

 stating that the gold and silver medals presented by 

 Sir Alfred L. .Jones for the best cotton grown in the various 

 islands were much appreciated, and that there ■would 

 be' keen competition for them. It was reported that the new 

 crQp was coming forward rapidly; and, taking the islands as 

 a ihhole, there would be a much larger crop than last year, and 

 that the cotton was selling at good prices. 



', Extracts read from the West India Committee Circular 

 showed that in Antigua the crop was turning out much 

 better than was expected, considering the small rainfall. In 

 Nevis, cotton was claiming universal attention, and there was 

 no doubt it had come to stay. The crop this year should be 

 somewhere about 1,000 bales of 200 &. each, which even at 

 1,9. per ft. would represent an output of £10,000. Had the 

 weather been favourable in the first in.stance, the crop would 

 have been nearly double. In St. Kitt's, cotton picking was 

 making good progress, and the yield was likely to be large. At 

 St. Vincent, the prospects were even better than on the 

 occasion of the last report. St. Vincent commanded the 

 highest price for Sea Island over all comers. The Curator 

 of the Botanic Station, Bahamas, acknowledged the receipt 

 of the £100 granted by the association as prizes for planters. 



SEA ISLAND COTTON. 



The Cotton Trmh Journal for February 10, 1900, 

 states that the Sea Island cotton market for the week ending 

 February 9, closed fii-m at an advance, with the demand 

 better than it Las been for some time past. The low and 

 medium grades were especially wanted, with highs somewhat 

 neglected in the trading, though they were wanted as well as 

 the others. 



The week was an interesting one from many stand- 

 points. At Valdosta the growers held a convention, and 

 decided upon a cut of 2.5 per cent, in the acreage. It is 

 pretty certain that a good reduction will be made in the 

 coming Sea Island acreage, as compared with last year. The 

 fact, that in much of the Sea Island territory either Upland 

 or long cotton may be grown, makes it ea.sy for planters to 

 make a change. They are thoroughly dissatisfied with the 

 prices paid them during the past season, and intend to try 

 a more jtrofitablo tack with another stajile. The week's 

 sales of 4, .343 bales took a considerable part of the local stock. 



SEED SELECTION. 



A Barbados cotton planter, who has carefully examined 

 and com[iared the lint from different plants, has found that 

 some produce much better cotton than others, and he 

 believes that it is necessary to get the seed for cultivation 

 from such plants. 



This is the princiiile on which scientific seed selection is 

 based, and that to which the |n-esent excellence of Sea Island 

 cotton is due. The Imperial Department of Agriculture has 

 advocated such a system of seed selection, and during the 

 season now coming to a close, plants have been selected on 

 a number of estates in Barbados. The seed from the best 

 plant on each estate will be sown in plots from which further 

 selection will be made next season, while, from the remainder 

 of the selected seed, will be produced that for planting the 

 general crop of the following season. 



In an editorial in the Agricxlturnl xVeics for December 

 2.'i, 190.5, the process of .seed selection was dealt with, and 

 an explanation given of the cjualities that would be taken 

 into account in determining whether the seed from any plant 

 was good enough to be sown for further selection in the 

 following year. 



COTTON IN ST. VINCENT. 



The Agricultural Superintendent, writing under 

 date of March 'i, makes the following statements with 

 regard to cotton in St. Vincent : — 



To date, 96,5-54 lb. of lint have been ginned at the 

 central cotton factory, and with the seed-cotton on hand 

 there, this total will be increased to over 100,000 lb. early 

 next week. 



Sup[ilies of seed-cotton are now coming forward very 

 slowly, but there is still a good quantity on the estates, which 

 is being sorted as rapidly as possible. 



The account sales have been received for the first ship- 

 ment of 5 bales of Musticjue cotton, and they show that the 

 whole shipment was sold at the rate of Is. 5(Z. per B). This 

 is verj' satisfactory. 



Propoi tion of Lint to Seed. The low proportion 



of lint to seed in the seed-cotton reaped during the fir.st part 

 of this season, appears to have been fairly general throughout 

 the West Indies. In some instances, the proportion fell as 

 low as 23 per cent., the normal being 28 to 30 per cent, of 

 lint to seed. This fall of 5 B). of lint in every 100 tt). 

 of seed-cotton is considerable. It is encouraging to note that 

 the proportion has now changed, and, as the end of the first 

 picking approaches, it comes nearer the normal, as high as 

 29 '9 per cent, of lint having been recently reported in 

 St. '\'ineent. (See A(jrii:ultural JVews, Vol. V, p. 71.) 



