150 COTTON 



cubic feet to the ton weight, giving a density of 28 Ib. of 

 cotton for each cubic foot. We adopted a standard of 

 400 Ib. as being more easily handled than bales of heavier 

 weight, and the bales are much liked by spinners. I do not 

 think the Association have now much to learn about ginning 

 and baling cotton. 



The seed is conveyed to hoppers, where it is automati- 

 cally weighed as it is sacked, and each sack contains the 

 same weight. 



The motive power is usually obtained from two or three 

 gas engines of 100 h.p. each of the vertical type with four 

 cylinders each, which ensures a steady drive. The gas is 

 made from cotton-seed, so that power is obtained at a mini- 

 mum cost, for as a rule in out-of-the-way districts in the 

 centre of Africa cotton-seed has little value and coal and oil 

 are most expensive. Generally ample storage is provided at 

 each ginnery, for there is no doubt that cotton improves by 

 lying unginned for some little time after picking. Each 

 large ginnery is also protected against fire by automatic 

 sprinklers. 



I should also mention that the Association spare 

 no expense in providing good quarters for their staff, and 

 the bungalows are usually two storeys high, the living room 

 being on the first floor, which is a great advantage in a 

 tropical country. 



Amongst other experiments, the Association erected a 

 small plant at Ibadan to extract the oil from the seed, but, 

 judging from experience, unless there is a local market for 

 the cake and the oil it is more economical to send the seed 

 home and to sell it to the oil mills in this country. 



Before I leave West Africa, I must say a few words 

 about the results obtained. We have spent a good deal of 

 money, 'but we have acquired most valuable experience. 

 Speaking generally, as far as rate of progress is concerned 

 the results have been somewhat disappointing, and there is 

 no doubt that affairs do not march as rapidly in West Africa 

 as one could wish. Gambia was a failure, as the natives pre- 

 ferred their old industry of growing ground-nuts. In Sierra 

 Leone the rainfall was too heavy for cotton to be a success. 

 In the Gold Coast the quality was excellent, but apparently 

 cocoa was more suited to the climate. Work is still being 

 carried on there and also in the Northern Territories, but 

 the quantity of cotton produced is infinitesimal In most 

 parts of the Eastern Province of Nigeria the rainfall is far 

 too heavy for cotton, and had it not been for the excellent 

 quality of the Ishan cotton the best grown in British West 



