288 



for the month, stating that he had forwarded one of the hand 

 gins to Mr. Levy, Brown's Town. Part of it had been found 

 broken and had been returned and sent to the Engineering Depart- 

 ment of the Railway to be repaired. This had been done and it 

 had been sent back to Brown's Town. 



There was another hand gin still on hand for which application 

 had been made by Dr. Pringle who had grown experimental plots 

 on most of his properties. 



He had sold the cotton from the Prison Farm and from the Pedro 

 Plains to the Hon. T. H. Sharp at 5d. and 6d. a lb. respectively 

 amounting to £3 lis. and £3 2s. 4d., Mr. Fursdon had reported 

 that a considerable quantity of Egyptian cotton seed from the 

 Prison Farm cotton was available and the Secretary asked that it 

 might be sent to him to distribute among Branch Societies ; this 

 was agreed to. 



He had received from the experimental plot at Shortwood a first 

 lot of 512 lbs. Sea Island Cotton which had been sent to the 

 ginnery at Hartlands, and there was still about a third of the crop 

 to be picked , he expected to dispose of the lint at 6d. to gd. a lb. 

 and the seed from 2d. to 3d. a lb. 



He had not yet received reports of the final results of the experi- 

 mental plots. 



' During the month he had visited cotton cultivations at Eltham, 

 Angels, Inverness and Colbeck and found that there had been no 

 great difficulty in the picking of the cotton, that the girls and boys 

 employed increased the amount picked from 10 to 15 lbs. the first 

 day up to 50 lbs. at the end of the first week. 



The Secretary read a letter from Mr. Fursdon giving his ex- 

 perience in relative results of the growing of Sea Island and 

 Egyptian cotton. 



The following reports from the Chemist were submitted : — 



(a) Draft stock for cane mills — Asking that a pair of steers 



for crushing the experimental plots of canes at the 

 Laboratory, be bought at a cost of £25 from Mr. S. 

 Soutar and stating that they would also come in useful 

 for ploughing at Hope. This was approved of. 



(b) Agricultural education at Government Laboratory. 



(c) Agricultural education at Barbados. 

 These were directed to be circulated. 



Reports trom the Director of Public Gardens were submitted as 

 follows : — 



(a) Hope Experiment Station. 



(b) Reports on programmes of the Instructors. 



(c) Report on the results of 16 experimental plots of sweet 



potatoes. 

 These were directed to be circulated. 

 The meeting then adjourned. 



[Issued 2iid December, 1904.] 



