187 



pared and well fertilized. A suitable rotation with com, cowpeas, 

 peanuts, or other crops should be practiced in order to avoid the ex- 

 haustion of the soil produced by many successive cotton crops. Culti- 

 vation should be very frequent. In the Sea Islands the cotton is cul- 

 tivated on an average of once a week until August. Here the cotton 

 is grown on high beds and the soil drawn up around the plants in cul- 

 tivation. This method is not recommended for Georgia and Florida, 

 however, where the more economical method of level culture will pro- 

 bably pay best. 



" Particular care is necessary in picking and handling Sea-Island 

 Cotton in order to obtain the highest price. Sea Island Cotton requires 

 to be picked often — every week or ten days — to avoid staining by the 

 weather. All trash, bits of bolls, immature and diseased or yellow 

 locks must be picked out by hand The seed cotton should be spread 

 on an arbour or low roof and exposed to the sun for several hours to 

 dry before storing It must be ginned on a roller gin and be packed 

 carefully in bags without high pressure." 



CITRATE OF LIME AND CONCENTRATED LIME 



JUICE. 



By Hon. Francis Watts, F.I.C , F.C.S. Government Analytical and 

 Agricultural Chemist to the Leeward Islands.* 

 Since the article in the Jamaica Bulletin was written, I have had 

 opportunities of making further inquiries the result of which may fit- 

 tingly I e added. 



I find that in Dominica it is customary to carry the concentration 

 of lime juice to a higher degree than 64 oz. per gallon. Concentrated 

 juice from this island ranges in strength from 105 to 120 oz. p r gal- 

 lon, or even higher. That such a degree of concentration is attain- 

 able without considerable loss is due to the fact that juice of good 

 quality is used for concentration : on many estates in Dominica the 

 whole of the juice obtained is c ncentrated, w T hereas in some places the 

 finer qualities are exported as raw juice while the inferior ones alone 

 are concentrated. Tbese finer juices will contain a larger proportion 

 of acid in relation to the other soluble matters present, and therefore 

 when concentrated to a definite specific gravity w r ill contain more acid 

 than concentrated juice derived from raw juice of lower grade. 



Buyers point out some defec.s of West Indian concentrated juice; 

 one is the presence, at times, of considerable quantities of pulpy mat- 

 ter, seeds and otner impurities ; another defect lies in the presence in 

 some samples of noticeable quantities of iron 



Some buyers informel me that h y were of opinion better prices, 

 both for concentrated juice and for citrate, may be obtained if the 

 West Indian trade were better organized, t eir experience being that 

 small lots of concentrated juice appeared on the market at somewhat 

 irregular times, so that buyers were unable to be on the look out for, or 

 to depend on the arrival of West Indian supplies. These lots often ar- 



* An article on this subject by Mr. Watts appeared in the Bulletin of the Bo- 

 tanical Department, Jamaica, Vol. V. 1878 pp. 263-9. Mr. Watts read an ad- 

 dendum to this article at the Conference of 1901, which has been priuied in the 

 W. Indian Bulletin Vol. II. No. 4 pp. 315-318, and is reproduced here. 



