26 



last. I then gave as much information as I possibly could and 

 promised to give all the assistance in mj^ power In response a large 

 number of planters have taken up the cultivation of cotton and done 

 the very best they could under trying circumstances to maUe th«' 

 experiment a success When we had decided that the Sea Island 

 cotton was the particular variety .suitable for cultivation, I obtained 

 permission from the Secretary of State for the Colonies to pay a visit 

 to the Sea Island cotton districts of the southern United States, in 

 order to place the planters in as favourable a position as possible. The 

 Secretary of State for the Colonies also <iave permission for Mr. Bovell 

 to accompany me in order that he might obtain at first hand all pc'S- 

 sible information as regards the industry so as lo be able lo help local 

 cotton growers in any difficulties that they would have to contend with. 



Trip to the United States. 

 We left for the United States about the middle of September last. 

 We spent some time in New York making enquiries about molasse*, 

 and then we found our way to the Sea Islands. We were most kindly 

 received there by the planters who took us over their plantations a- d 

 ginning \ ouses, and gave us all possible information about the industry. 

 We were also accompanied by an officer of the United ^tates Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture who took u- over certain estates, and experiments 

 carried on by the departmt nt. I hope it is understood that I am not 

 going to speak about the general cotton belt of the southern States of 

 America but about 



SEA ISLAND COTTON 



The Sea I^land cotton is confined practically to three States, South 

 Carolina, Georgia and parts of Florida, That cotton was first obtained 

 from the West Indies, and was obtained by a Governor of South 

 Carolina, and has since been cultivated in that State and also in the 

 two other States I have mentioned with great success. Under the 

 stress of circumstances in the West Indies we are anxious to obtain 

 another indus'ry, and one industiy that we are trying to establish is 

 that of Sea Island cotton. In order to thoroughly understand the 

 circumstances of that industry we cannot have a better object-lesson 

 than what is done in the southern States of America. On the planta- 

 tions Mr. Bovell and I visited +here was not a very large area cultivated 

 bv any one planter. On only one of the plantations that we visi'ed 

 did we see as much as 100 acres under cotton at one time. That was 

 due in the first place to the difficulty experienced in getting labour. 

 In order to get labour, proprietors have to give a certain area, free of 

 rent, for so mav days' work on their pLmtations. Usually the labourer 

 obtains about " five acres of land for tvNO days' labour a week. If 

 additional labour is requied it has to be paid for at the rate of fifty 

 cents a day, and a certain number of persons are employed at a wage 

 of $10 per month and have rations found them. The conditions arc- 

 rather difficult for the planters owing to the indifferent character of 

 the labour ; it is expensive labour, and even at that is not quite satis- 

 factory. It may be said that the planters of the Sea Island cotton 

 districts have many difficulties to contend with that we have not in the 

 West Indies. As regards the characteristics of the plantations, we 

 visited seveial on James Island and found cultivation carried out in a 



