127 



BRAZILIAN COFFEE LEGISLATION. 



The "Times" says : — In our Fiiuvwiiil ami Commercial Supplement 

 for February 19 we published a letter from our Rio de Janeiro 

 correspondent describing the new law which empowers the Execu- 

 tive to regulate the trade in coffee, in agreement with the govern- 

 ments of the coffee States of the republic. On Monday Reuter re- 

 ceived a telegram from Rio de Janeiro to the effect that the Presi- 

 dents of the States of Rio de Janeiro, Minas Geraes, and St. Paulo 

 have signed an agreement with regard to the pricing of coffee, 

 and stipulating for a minimum price on the home markets of 55f. 

 to 65f. (gold) per sack of 60 kilogrammes of No. 7 grade coffee. 

 " The contracting parties also agree to take measures of a na- 

 ture to prevent the export of the inferior qualities of coffee, to 

 push advertising in Europe, and to reduce the acreage under culti- 

 vation. They finally authorize the State of St. Paulo to raise 

 a loan of £15,000,000." 



SEA ISLAND COTTON SEED FOR 1896. 



Hon. Sir D. Morris to Director of Public Gardens, Jamaica. 



Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West Indies, 



Barbados, March 31, 1906. 

 Sir, 



I have the honour to enclose, for your information, copies 

 of an extract from the "Agricuhural News" containing a state- 

 ment of the arrangements proposed to be adopted by this Depart- 

 ment for supplying specially selected and disinfected Sea Island 

 cotton seed during the coming planting season. 



2. I also enclose a copy of an announcement which I have recom- 

 mended to appear in the Official Gazette and of a "Notice" in regard 

 to the conditions under which selected seed will be shipped by 

 this Department. 



3. It is desirable, in order to maintain the high quality of the 

 West Indian product that, as far as possible, only the specially 

 selected d^nd disinfected st^A supplied by the Department should be 

 planted in these colonies. I trust you will do all you can to 

 encourage and advise planters in this direction. Recent prices 

 ranging from I7d. to 20d. per pound prove that by a systematic 

 selection of seed West Indian cotton is steadily attaining a higher 

 standard of quality than the average cotton produced in the Sea 

 Islands. During the last few weeks applications for West Indian 

 seed on a large scale have been received from Florida, Cuba, and 

 Porto Rico. 



I have the honour to be. 



Sir, 

 Your most obedient servant, 



D. Morris, 



Commissioner of Agriculture for the West Indies. 



