312 COTTON 



is badly distributed, attacks are more severe in character 

 than in a favourable season. In St. Vincent, owing to 

 the high rainfall, more damage is done by " angular 

 spot " and " anthracnose " than in any other island. The 

 line of work that gives most promise of success in 

 minimizing the loss sustained annually by these diseases 

 is the breeding of plants resistant to them. A consider- 

 able amount of progress has already been made along 

 this line. 



There is no doubt that the Sea Island cotton plant, as 

 grown at the present time, is very susceptible to climatic 

 changes and to the attacks of pests and diseases, and it 

 should be mentioned that efforts are also being made 

 to raise hardier types by hybridization as well as by 

 selection. There are to be found in most of the islands 

 certain " native " perennial cottons which are, as a rule, 

 much more robust than the Sea Island, but which produce 

 inferior lint. Crosses between these and Sea Island are 

 being largely made, and it is hoped that the work will 

 meet with the success it deserves, and enable hybrids to 

 be fixed giving satisfactory yields of fine lint in places 

 where the Sea Island cotton industry is still in a very un- 

 certain condition, and especially in those islands where a 

 remunerative rotation crop with sugar-cane is so much to 

 be desired. 



The crop lots of the very fine staples produced in St. 

 Vincent sell at special prices. These during the past few 

 seasons have ranged from 2s. to 2s. Qd. per Ib. The best 

 lots of cotton of other growths have realized from is. 6d. 

 to is. i id. The prices obtained for the produce of other 

 islands, with the exception of St. Kitts, have always been 

 lower than those named under similar market conditions. 

 The finest St. Vincent and St. Kitts staples, besides being 

 exceptionally strong, fine, lustrous, and uniform, have 

 a length of 2 in. and over. The length of " ordinary 

 fine " West Indian ranges from if to 2 in. Fine 

 Egyptian cotton and some of the American grown Sea 

 Island, as stated before, compete with the lower grades 

 of West Indian Sea Island, and on this account the latter 

 are difficult to sell to-day at a paying price. It should 

 be mentioned that recently one of the finest crop lots of 



