13 



mainly been of varieties grown in the Southern United States, and 

 although we have generally good results reported there is the remaining 

 doubt if the native grower has an adequate comprehension of the standard 

 crop requirements of cotton-growing countries. 



Varieties of Egyptian and Brazilian origin are all that seem heretofore 

 to have found any particular favor with native growers. The facility 

 with which the lint is stripped from the former varieties, the absence of 

 any gins, and the very primitive hand-linting substitutes probably have 

 much to do with the neglect, not to say discredit, of American varieties. 



Our own observations indicate that, in general, the tendency to early 

 and continuous flowering may be overcome by planting after the mid- 

 rainy season and by good tilth a vigorous growth may be promoted. 

 Then, with the check that the cooler and the dryer season brings and the 

 lay-by of cultivation promotes, the plant will develop the crop rather 

 than the individual inflorescence so essential to its economical harvesting. 

 We have had no reports indicating wilt or other diseases incident to the 

 cotton plant. 



Jute (Corchorus capsularis). The climatic conditions are evidently 

 unexcelled for the fullest development of this plant. 



Under the most discouraging environment it nevertheless developed a 

 sufficient growth to promise excellent returns if given reasonable cultural 

 assistance. 



The extended cultivation of jute should' be strongly encouraged in these 

 Islands. The world's market for cheap baggings and gunnies is practi- 

 cally unlimited, and as yet there has been no textile fiber grown that so 

 well subserves their manufacture as jute. The relative facility, as com- 

 pared with abaca, with which the fiber is prepared offers a larger induce- 

 ment to the general planter than does abaca. The export trade of British 

 India in this fiber, amounting to some $15,000,000 annually, could be 

 largely diverted to this Archipelago. 



MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTS. 



Coffees. Liberian and the Maragogype hybrids have both been 

 imported from Java and distributed to planters interested in the attempt 

 .to rehabilitate the coffee industry. The Bureau has also raised success- 

 fully many thousands of young plants destined for planting out under its 

 own direction. 



The most recent investigations into coffee enemies and diseases indicate 

 that these species enjoy no specific immunity from disease or insects, but 

 their greater vitality and vigor make them resistant in so far th'at they 

 are better able to sustain these attacks than the feebler growing Arabian 

 types. There has, so far as the writer can ascertain from inquiry and 

 personal investigation of the coffee-growing districts, never been the 

 faintest attempt made to grow the coffee plant other than as a sponta- 

 neous product, and there are reasonable grounds to believe that under the 



