Drugs and Medicinal Plaats. 



398 



[May, 1912. 



ing is strictly adhered to in the British 

 islands where cotton is grown. Of 

 course, labour is much cheaper there 

 than here, but we have seen an entire 

 crop handled very successfully in that 

 way by women and children. The last 

 step is ginning and baling. It goes 

 without saying that a grower could not 

 afford to plant five or ten acres of cotton 

 and buy a gin for that small amount. A 

 cotton gin and press cost considerable 

 money, and, by the way, there is not a 

 single gin in operation in Cuba to-day, 

 so that a small planter cannot have his 

 cotton ginned after he harvests his crop. 

 In ginning, the lint is separated from 

 the seed, and an average grade of Sea 

 Island cotton will give 25 to 29 lb. lint to 

 71 to 75 lb. seed from each 100 lb. brought 

 to the gin. The lint is pressed in bales 

 of 500 to 600 lb, each, and the seed can 

 all be used to good advantage here in 

 Cuba. As a matter of fact, much of the 

 oil is being used under the name of 

 butter, and nearly everyone who has 

 cows buys cotton-seed for feed. 



SEA ISLAND COTTON IN HAWAII. 



(From the Agricultural News, Vol. X., 

 No. 242, p. 246. Barbados, August 5th, 1911.) 



{Bulletin of the Bureau of Agricultural 

 Intelligence and of Plant Diseases. 

 2nd Year — Numbers 8, 9, 10, 

 August- September-October, 1911.) 

 One difficulty which has been ex- 

 perienced in growing Sea Island Cotton 



in Hawaii is that of excessive yield, 

 which results in a too prostrate form of 

 growth. 



In one locality on the windwaid side 

 of Oahu, where the rainfall is about 70 

 inches per year, 2 acres of Sea Island 

 cotton required about 5,000 props in 

 order to keep the branches from lying 

 upon the ground and causing the bolls 

 to rot. In this respect the Caravonica 

 cotton is superior tc Sea Island, since it 

 invariably has an upright habit of 

 growth. The difficulty experienced with 

 the prostrate habit of the Sea Island 

 can be appreciated from a consideration 

 of the fact that, in the 2 acre field just 

 mentioned and in another 1 acre field, on 

 the leeward side of Oahu, the average 

 number of bolls per plant was 700, and 

 on one tree 1,200 bolls were counted at 

 one time. This produces a weight under 

 which the slender branches of the Sea 

 Island cannot support themselves in an 

 upright position. 



An elaborate series of pruning ex- 

 periments is now being carried out with 

 the idea of learning a method by which 

 an upright growth can be induced in 

 the Sea Island cotton, at least for the 

 second and subsequent years of the 

 crop. Some promise is already held out 

 by these experiments. A strain of Sea 

 Island, secured from one of the best 

 plantations of James Island (S.C.) shows 

 a more upright habit of growth than any 

 other strain of Sea Island which has 

 thus far been secured. 



DRUGS AND MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



PRODUCTION AND USE OP COCA 

 LEAVES (ERYTHBOXYLON 

 COCA) AND COCA IN. 



La Quinzaine Coloniale, XV. Annee. N. 

 16, P. 20. Paris, 25 Aout, 1911, 

 and Bevue Scientifique, 49e Anne, 

 2e Sem., No. 10, P. 311. Paris, 

 11 Septembre, 1911. 



(Bulletin of the Bureau of Agricultural 

 Intelligence and of Plant- Diseases. 

 2nd Year — Numbers 8, 9, 10. 

 August-September-October, 1911), 



The Coca leaves are produced by 



Erythroxylun Coca, Lam., a shrub of the 

 family of the Linaceae, which grows in 

 the regions of the West Coast of South 

 America, especially in Peru and Bolivia. 

 Of late years, Coca plantations have 

 been made in Java and Ceylon, and 

 considerable supplies now reach Europe 

 from those countries, above all Java, 

 which is endeavouring to secure the 

 monopoly of the sale of this plant. 

 India, the United States and the Peder* 

 ated Malay States, where the cultivation 



