Vol. V. No. 109. 



THE AGKICULTUKAL NEWS. 



19& 



COTTON AS AN OPENING FOR SMALL 

 CAPITALISTS. 



The West India GomrniUee Circular, for May 16, 

 has the following note on the cotton 'industry as an 

 opening for .small capitalists : — 



Cotton planting takes place in the Leeward Islands 

 from about .June to August, and in a short time planters in 

 Antigua, Nevis, and Montserrat will be getting their land 

 ready, so that it is doubtful if any contemplating to go out 

 to the West Indies to embark upon cotton cultivation could 

 be in time for the 1907 crop. In view, however, of the 

 many inquiries which reach us as to the ctir and ii^iomodo 

 of cotton cultivation, we may usefully quote some notes 

 on the subject with which Dr. Francis Watts has kindly 

 furnished us. 



There are, he says, openings for young men, of capi- 

 tal ranging from £.500 to £1,000, who wish to take 

 up cotton growing. They could probably find land in 

 Antigua, Nevis, or Montserrat. Two or three settlers of 

 this class have already arrived. The proper course to adopt 

 would be to leave for the colony some time between October 

 and November. The embrj'o planter would then see the 

 cotton crop in progress of growing and reaping. He could 

 inspect the land in several islands and carefully select what 

 suits him best and arrange as to the price without liaving 

 his hand forced by pressure of time. A little e.xperience of 

 the work, especially if he could attach himself to some 

 cotton plantation, would be useful. It is a difticult matter 

 to assess the value of cotton land, for much of it has been 

 out of cultivation for some time and has ceased to have 

 a definite value. Naturally, owing to the success of the 

 Sea Island cotton industry, prices are rising and should 

 increase still further during the next few years, so that the 

 sooner intending cotton growers make up their minds the 

 better. Land at present fetches from £2 to £5 per acre, or it 

 can be rented at from lO.t. to £1 per annum, according to cir- 

 cumstances. There are many hundreds of acres of land suitable 

 in Antigua now unoccupied, and there is also some quantity in 

 Nevis, but it is being taken up. In Montserrat there is 

 a limited amount, while in St. Kitt's there is little or none 

 available, all being taken up with estates' cultivation. 



NEW COTTON FACTORY AT BARBADOS. 



The following appeared in the Barbados Aduueate, 

 of June 20 :— 



The Cotton Company are making extensive preparations 

 for coping with the big boom in the industry which next .season 

 is likely to witne.ss. They have just increased their capital 

 by issuing additional .shares, all of which have been already 

 taken up, and their recently acquired i)remises at Friendly 

 Hall are being speedily prepared to meet the forthcoming 

 crop. The building on the Pier Head, which at jn-esent does 

 service as a cotton factory, is to be dispensed with at the end 

 of the present season and will be replaced by a structure 

 better adapted for the purpose, the foundation stone of wliich 

 was laid at Friendly Hall on Monday afternoon last. The 

 new building will be 100 feet in length by 26 feet in breadth, 

 and will consist of three storeys. The top floor will be 

 fitted up for the reception of the seed-cotton, whence it v»'ill 

 be let down to the second floor, where the ginning will 

 take place. In addition to the six gins now in use at 

 the old factory, the Company have eighteen other gins on 

 order, and these will all be erected in two rows of twelve 

 each in this part of the building. The old engine now in 

 use at the Pier Head will be dispensed with, and a larger one 



capable of working the twenty-four gins substituted. The 

 factory will be fitted with a large hydraulic baling press 

 and other up-to-date appliances for handling the cotton. The 

 cotton seed, after having been separated from the lint, will be 

 received on the third floor. The Company are in possession of 

 a disintegrator for converting the seed into meal, but it is not 

 proposed to carry out any extensive operations of this kind 

 for the present. Later on, the building at the Pier Head 

 will be removed to Friendly Hall and used as a store room. 

 The forthcoming cotton crop bids fair to be an unusually 

 large one. The estimate made by the linperial De[iartment 

 of Agriculture was that the area to be planted this year 

 would be about .5,000 acres, but there is every indication 

 that this estimate will be exceeded. Hundreds of pounds of 

 seed are daily being delivered by Mr. P>ovell, even some 

 of the most strenuous op[)onents of the industry having 

 been brought to take a different view in con.sequence of 

 the steady decline in the sugar market and the remunerative 

 prices obtained by growers of cotton during the past 

 few years. The Company hope to have the new factory 

 ready to meet the next reaping season, which begins in 

 November. They estimate that, with the ec^uipment provided, 

 it will be possible to dispose of a crop of .5,000 acres- 

 in about three months. One gin is ordinarily capable 

 of dealing with 2,800 lb. of seed-cotton a day, turning 

 out 600 lb. of lint, which is baled and got ready for shipment 

 as soon as it is ginned. In view of the steady advance which 

 the industry seems to be making, the Company will probably 

 soon find it necessary to increase the capacity of the factory 

 in order to cope with the increased demands likely to be 

 made on it. The site of the factory, it may be noted in con- 

 clusion, is hardly less central than the old one, and is much 

 more convenient in every respect for the purpose for which 

 it is intended. 



THE GINGER MARKET. 



The Joiirnid uf the Jamaica Agricidturat 

 Society, for May, has the following note on the ginger 

 market : — 



After long depression in the price of ginger, the markets 

 became almost entirely empty, and accordingly this year 

 there has been a great demand for it, and the price has 

 risen to something like what it was ten years ago. The 

 crop here is not a large one, for not only was there less- 

 planted out than usual, but the yield has not been much. 

 It seems therefore that the keen demand is likely to continue. 

 So prices go up and down in response to the law of supply 

 and demand. When there is a large supply the best of 

 everything is always in demand. 



Inoculation for Leguminous Crops. Reporting 



in the Journal of the Royal A(jricultural Society of England 

 (Vol. 66) on experiments with inoculating materials for 

 leguminous crops. Dr. .1. Augustus Voelcker concludes, as 

 the outcome of the year's experience, that, 'as regards the 

 ordinary leguminous crops that the English farmer would 

 grow, there has been nothing brought out to show that the 

 inoculating materials, now distributed, are likely to be any 

 more successful, practically, than they were when originally 

 introduced nearly twenty years ago.' The experiments were 

 carried out at the Society's station at Woburn with (1) 

 German preparations sent direct from Dr. Hiltner, of Munich, 

 and (2) the American preparations received from Dr. G. 

 Moore, of the U. S. Dei)artment of Agriculture. The former 

 comprised materials for peas, beans, tares, and red clover ;; 

 the latter for melilotus and soy bean only. 



