27 



careful and systematic manner. lam referring now to the plantations 

 owiiod by white planters v\-ho look after them personally and live on 

 them The cotton seerl is sown in April, the plant begins to fl )wer in 

 August, and picking takes jilace during the months of Sep! ember, 

 October and November. We were there in the middle of the crop 

 time, and saw the people gathering the cotton, saw them bringing it 

 in, spreading it out to dry, and saw it put through the gins We 

 examined the gins very carefully and satisfi^'d ourselves as to some of 

 the difficulties to be met with. 



Position of West Indies and Southern States. 



Taking all the circumstances connected with cotton cultivation in 

 the two plac s, I am of opinion the West Indies are better placed than 

 the southern States of America, We have our own difficulties, I 

 admit, and t'le severe lesson we have had this year with regard to 

 the caterpillar is sufficient to discourage the weak-hearted, but it should 

 not be sufficient to discourage those who are possessed of courage and 

 are prei3;ired to put their intelligence, energy and all available applian- 

 ces to work in keeping the plant as free from disease as possible. 

 We were told on every plantation we visited in the southern States 

 that so far as the caterpillar worm is concerned there is no need for 

 anxiety :ibout it. If taken in time it can be easily dealt with. 



Quality of Our Cotton. 



With regard to ihe cotton grown here, it has been shown from the 

 samples recently sent to England that it is quite as iiood as the aver- 

 age cotton grown in the southern States of America. As you are 

 aware, the price of Sea Island cotton is much higher now than it was 

 sometime ago; and we have been assured by the British Cotton 

 Orowe s' Ass ciation that if we can establish the cotton industry and 

 turn out cotton as good as the samples recently sent to England there 

 is no reason why we should not make a fair profit. I shall not discuss 

 the question of cultivation to-day. I hold in my hand a copy of the 

 Wed Indian Bulletin* which has just been posted to its readers, and 

 will be in their hand.s this evening This number is devoted entirely 

 to the cott n industry and contains all information available up to 

 September last. In it are fully discussed the origin and disribution 

 of Sea IsLmd cotton and its cultivation. Then there is an article by 

 Professor d' Albuquerque on the chemistry of cotton. There is also a 

 paper by Mr. Lewton-Braii on Fungoid diseases of cotton, and another 

 by 31 r. Ballou, with illustrations on insects attacking cotton in the 

 West Indies So that you have in the 90 pages of which the jour- 

 nal is comprised, all the information about cotton up to September 

 last. We promise you in aldition th it the results of our visit to 

 the United States will be published in a special number of the 

 Bulletin which will be out during the next two or three weeks. There- 

 fore, I can say that you are in possession of the fullest information it 

 is possible for us to give you on the subject. 



Picking Cotton. 



Cotton should not be picked until the bolls are fully open and the 

 boll-lobes slightly fluffy. In South Carolina cotton is usually picked 



* This can be purchased at the Educational Supply Co., Kingston, Jamaica. 

 Price Sixpence. 



