292 



WILD AND CULTIVATED COTTONS 



A definite 

 position. 



Wages 

 Paid. 



Unpro- 

 fitable in 

 Egypt. 



Gallini. 



Charara. 



Q-S5d. per Ib ; West Indian Sea Island good medium 18^. per Ib ; 

 medium fine 19^. per Ib ; fine 2ld. per Ib. Prices paid Id. to 24(7. 



These indications of the present position of cotton-growing in the 

 West Indies when contrasted with the fact exhibited above, viz. that 

 so recently as 1904 Sir Daniel Morris and Mr. Bovell were only 

 advocating the desirability of strenuous efforts being made to organise 

 a systematic attempt at Sea Island cotton cultivation in these 

 islands. Moreover when it is recollected that the world's supply of 

 this particular staple has not hitherto much exceeded 50,000 bales, 

 it will be seen that the West Indies have assumed a distinct and 

 definite position in the traffic. Mr. E. Lomas Oliver, commenting on 

 Sir. Daniel's lecture, observed that while the value of the cotton sent 

 from the West Indies in 1906 came only to ^63,000, he would like to 

 add that the amount of money thus paid for the cotton was only a 

 small portion of the finished article. That 63,000 worth of raw 

 cotton, without any exaggeration, must have amounted to the pay- 

 ment of at least a quarter of a million in wages in this country. It 

 was no small thing to say that out of the total supply of 14,000 bags 

 of Sea Island cotton, in the short space of four years, 4,000 were now 

 coming from British dominions. It was an enormous stride to have 

 taken. 



Sea Island in Egypt. In the account given above regarding 

 Egyptian cottons (under G. peruvianum, pp. 219, 222-3) mention is 

 made of the efforts put forth to acclimatise this plant in Egypt. The 

 true Sea Island stock seems to have rapidly degenerated, and more- 

 over, even with continuous importations of fresh seed it was found 

 unprofitable. But as a result of these endeavours certain special 

 races of Egyptian cottons came into existence that undoubtedly 

 possess a strain of G. barbadense, var. maritima, or in some cases 

 what might rather be called G. vitifolium. These are often spoken of 

 as the long-staple Egyptians, such as the gallini, jannovitch, &c. 



Mr. W. Lawrence Balls, of the Khedivial Agricultural Society, 

 Cairo, has recently furnished me with a specimen of a long-staple 

 Egyptian cotton, n. 89b, which he speaks of as having flowers lemon 

 yellow with small purple spots and a very long staple. It is known 

 as charara. This I identify as a special race of G. barbadense coming 

 near to var. maritima. It has been crossed, so Mr. Balls informs me, 

 with the moqui cotton, n. 209-3, the result being the production of an 

 early-maturity long-staple cotton. This cross is thus extremely 

 interesting, since it is between what is called a naked-seeded plant 



