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THi AQRICULTURAI. NEWS. 



Apbil 28, 1906. 



UTILIZATION OF COTTON SEED. 



It has been realized that to export cotton seed 

 from the West Indies is to make the worst possible use 

 of this commodity. All the cotton seed produced in 

 these islands should be dealt with in one or other of the 

 following ways :^ 



The seed may be crushed into a meal by a disintegrator, 

 as is done at Barbados, St. Vincent, Antigua, and Nevis, and 

 used for stock feeding, so that the resulting manure may be 

 put back into the land ; or, where an oil factory is in 

 <)[ieration, as at Barbados, arrangements might be made to 

 have the oil extracted from the seed, and the cake meal used 

 for feeding. 



The essential point is that the valuable fertilizing 

 portions of the seed should go back to the land, in order to 

 enable it to jiroduce future crops. 



As bearing on the questions whether it would be more 

 advantageous to feed the stock with the crushed seed (with 

 all the oil in it), or with the cake meal (after the oil is 

 removed), the following extract from a letter recently 

 received from the Acting-Director of Experiment Stations, 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture, may be of interest : — 



' It is generally conceded that cotton seed is more 

 valuable as a feeding stuff after the oil is expressed. This 

 material is used chiefly as a source of jirotein (nitrogenous 

 matter) and, of course, the i>roportion of this constituent is 

 higher after the removal of the oil. Furthermore, the large 

 amount of fat contained in the unextracted seed is not 

 needed in a ration, as there is usually no lack of nitrogen-free 

 constituents.' 



COTTON SEED AND COTTON SEED 

 CAKE. 



Messrs. II. E. Thorne & Son, Ltd., of the Barbados 

 Cotton Seed Oil Factory, have written a letter to 

 the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture with 

 respect to the purchase of cotton seed, and the 

 sale of cotton cake, from which the following is 

 taken : — 



We have to inform you that we have written to our 

 various corresjiondents throughout the West Indian Islands, to 

 inform them that, owing to the )>rice of cotton seed oil 

 Laving advanced, we are now paying 824'00 per ton for 

 cotton seed delivered here, and will sell the cake meal at 

 $21'00 per ton, f.o.b. Barbados. 



We wish to impress on growers the fact that we are 

 prepared to let them participate in the rise and fall of the 

 market, in the same way as if they shipped their seed to 

 England, where it would be sold according to the state of 

 the market for oil and cake. 



'OTEf 



SEASONABLE NOTES. 



Cotton growers are advised to comnience the preparation 

 of their land as early as possible, in anticipation of the next 

 planting season. If these operations are postponed until too 

 late, it will be impossible to do the work properly. In order 

 to obtain good returns, both as regards quality and quantity, 

 the planter must look u)ion cotton as one of the ini|Jortant 

 crops on the estate, in all matters of care and attention — in 

 the preparation of the land, the application of manures, 

 tillage of the growing crop, harvesting and jireparing for 

 shi]iment — and he should thoroughly believe that cotton will 

 repay in the returns any careful attention to these details. 



Cotton should be given a moderate amount of manure. 

 An excessive quantity does not give satisfactory results. It 

 stimulates the plants to jiroduce a maximum quantity of 

 wood, but only a minimum of lint. The amount of manure 

 which may be given to cotton is about half what is 

 usually given to canes. No time should be lost in turning in 

 pen manure and sheep manure, for, unless these have been in 

 the ground a considerable time before the seed is planted, a 

 large ipiantity of the food material will only liecome available 

 after the cro[p has been reaped, and will thus be lost. 



rinnters are advised to be particular about the drain- 

 age of heavy land, and of fields in which there is any 

 water standing. Too uuich moisture has a very injurious 

 effect on the quality of the lint. Steep hillsides are not at 

 all suitable for cotton, and if such are facing windward, 

 only very poor results can be exjiected. Land newly elearecl 

 from bush ought to give very good results. It is advisable, 

 however, that such land should be well tilled before planting 

 the seed. 



Wind-breaks will be found very useful on estates 

 exposed to the prevailing winds. Bows of Guinea corn 

 running across cotton fields at right angles to the direc- 

 tion of the prevailing winds furnish excellent protection 

 to the cotton. These wind-breaks should be planted early, 

 so as to afford iirotection to the cotton in its first stages. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH COTTON IN THE 

 TRANSVAAL. 



The 7'ransvaal AijricidtiLral Journul for January 1906 

 contains interesting accounts of ex|ierinients with cotton in 

 that colony. Mr. H. S. Altenroxei, manager of the Tzaneen 

 Exjierimental Farm, sunnnarizes the results of the trials so 

 far made, as follows: 'I believe that in the low country, on 

 medium good soil, the following yields ])er acre, in ordinary 

 seasons, can be reckoned on : — ' Upland varietie.s, .500 lb. ; 

 Egyfitian varietie.s, 450 It).; Sea Island, finest long staple, 3501b. 



' 1 consider that the cultivation of cotton in the lower 

 districts, with a dense native pojiulation, has a very good 

 future, and that in many other parts it might be made 

 a p.aying industry.' 



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