325 



States, where, it is stated, a stock was gradually matured 

 with an annual habit directly adapted to the climatic conditions 

 of a limited tract of country. This special stock, according 

 to Sir George Watt, embraces all the finest grades and most 

 valuable cottons of the world, and is in fact true Sea Island, 

 now known botanically as Gossypium barbadense var. mari- 

 tlma, Watt. 



The cultivation of long-stapled cotton was never completely 

 abandoned in the British West Indies, but was confined after 

 the American Civil War to a small production in the 

 Grenadines. The revival of fine Sea Island cotton growing, 

 however, dates from the year 1901, when small experimental 

 plantings were made in this and the following year from 

 seed obtained from the United States. The results were so 

 promising that Sir Daniel Morris, then Imperial Commissioner 

 of Agriculture for the West Indies, and Mr. J. R. Bovell, 

 Superintendent of Agriculture, Barbados, paid a special visit 

 to the Sea Island cotton districts of South Carolina and 

 Georgia in 1903. The valuable first-hand information which 

 these gentlemen obtained was of much value to West Indian 

 planters. Besides, during his visit Sir Daniel Morris obtained 

 a large supply of seed of the fine River's type, produced on the 

 seaboard of South Carolina. This variety is still largely 

 grown, as are also other fine varieties obtained through the 

 British Cotton Growing Association and others. In the year 

 1905 the American growers of the finest Sea Island cotton com- 

 bined to prohibit the exportation of seed, but this action had 

 little or no effect on the West Indian industry, for it was 

 proved by this time that with careful local selection and 

 cultivation the quality of the cotton could be maintained and in 

 many instances improved, with the result that to-day the finest 

 cotton in the world is produced in certain of the islands. 



The chief British islands exporting Sea Island cotton are 

 St. Vincent, St. Kitts, Barbados, and Montserrat, but the 

 industry is successfully carried on in several of the others. 

 St. Vincent, besides being the premier cotton-growing island, 

 also produces the most valuable cotton. In St. Kitts, how- 

 ever, where the soil and climatic conditions are somewhat 

 similar to those of St. Vincent, some exceptionally fine cotton 

 is grown. In the paper now submitted it is proposed to refer 

 more particularly to the St. Vincent industry, because: 



(a) The British Cotton Growing Association advises West 

 Indian planters to cultivate for fineness of lint in view of the 

 competition of certain Egyptian and American cottons with 

 some of the cotton produced in the West Indies, but not with 

 that of St. Vincent; 



(b) The methods adopted in the production of cotton in St. 



