COITON. lS<) 



Staple, a scam toliagc ami upright trees, which are all p(.»im> in 

 its favotir. hut whether it is going to he superior to some of the 

 old-estahlished varieties we are tiot yet ready to state. 



All (^f the ahove varieties are annuals, and should he re- 

 >o\vn every seast)n. I have heard of a few instances where 

 farmers have ratooned (pruned or cut back) their cotton trees 

 and left them o\er for the second season with good results, 

 judging from their reports. When this is done the second crop 

 of cotti>n usually yields a shorter and inferior lint. A perennial 

 variety by the name of Caravonica has been tried in man\ parts 

 of the Union, but the results have beeti vcr} disapjx-)inting, 

 especially in the interior. Our records show that a few farmers 

 ha\-e l)ecn successful with it, particularly in humid coastal areas. 

 Mr. [,offler, of Ztiluland, is reported to have obtained good re- 

 sults with this variety. 



Docs Cotton hiipovcrish the Soil-'—in theory, cotton could 

 be grown continuously on the same soil, provided the stalks and 

 seed are returned to the soil, as the lint is almo.st a pure hydro- 

 carbon. In practice, we ustially burn the .stalks to prevent 

 insects from harl)ouring in them during the winter, and the 

 ^eeds seldom find their way back to the same land; therefore 

 a rotation of croj)s is advisable, as it keeps the soil in a better 

 physical and chemical condition. Cotton is the least exhaustive 

 of soil fertility of most commercial crops grown in South .\frica; 

 for example, cotton requires in fertilising elements approximately 

 two-thirds as much as wheat, one-third as much as tobacco, and 

 a quarter as much as mealies. 



In a series of fertiliser and rotation experiments we foimd 

 that phosphates gave better re.sults than either nitrogen or 

 ]K)tash. but a complete fertiliser gave far better restilts than tho.se 

 obtained from the application of any one of the three elements. 

 .Similar results were obtained from tobacco, mealies, forage and 

 legumes, which indicated that the soils were deficient in phos- 

 ])hates. 



Ciiiiiiiiu/ and Seed Crushing Plants.- — ( linning facilities have 

 been greatly improxed during the last two or three years. There 

 are two ginning plants operating in Rustenlnirg that are capable 

 of ginning ten times the amoimt of the total ])roduction of the 

 Union ; in addition, there are several snialler i)lants operating in 

 <liflerent parts of the country. 



When the industry has made further progress, there will, 

 no doubt, be a seed-crushing i)lant established to work up the 

 seed into b}-products. At the present moment certain hrms 

 have the question under consideration. Such a mill will be a 

 great assistance to the cotton industry, as it will establish a fur- 

 ther source of revenue. 



Last vear there were a])i)roximately 400,000 gallons of 

 o)tton-seed oil, valued at £4(S,ooo, sold in South Africa. Half 

 • if this (]uantit\- wa^ sold as sahid oi! and half as crude manufac- 



