The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



every yoar. They have paid for the ruhber that 

 has not yet come down at the rate of prices 

 which existed twelve or eighteen months ago 

 in the shape of goods advanced, and when it 

 comes down they will be anything from £100 

 to JE200 a ton out of pocket. That means two 

 millions sterling lost. It is an exceedingly big 

 firm, with Agents in London, New York and 

 on the Continent of Europe. They send the 

 tappers up the river and take the rubber away 

 from Brazil in their own steamers. 



There are no signs of the rubber supply 

 giving out and as far as Mr. Wickham could 

 see the supply was practically inexhaustible. 

 About six or seven trees glow to the acre. 



Tho curing methods in Brazil are not 

 superior to ours. There is not much 

 to fear for the plantation industry. If the price 

 remains at 33. there is a fine profit for culti- 

 vated rubber whereas there is no margin of 

 profit on Brazilian rubber in that sum. The 

 price does not offer sufficient inducement to 

 the tappers to go up, when other remunerative 

 employment is available. 



There is not the slightest prospect of new 

 railways or roads being built in the rubber- 

 producing region. 



DEATH OF ME. WICKHAM. 



After a stay of about a fortnight in Ceylon 

 Mr. Wickham left for the Straits and the Malay 

 States on 25th April. News was received in 

 Ceylon a few days after that Mr. Wickham was 

 missing and the presumption is that he was 

 washed overboard and drowned. 



COIR MANUFACTURE EN JAVA. 



Planters in Java have so far met with only 

 ill success in manufacturing coir from the fibre 

 of the coconut, of which there are enormous 

 stocks in the island. Quite recently, a deter- 

 mined attempt was^made there to manufacture 

 rugs, carpets, mats, mattresses and brooms from 

 coconut fibres with up-to-date machinery from 

 Europe. | But the! machinery proved to be so 

 costly that the products could not be laid down 

 in Europe at a profit. Experts say that these 

 articles made in Europe are,; flimsy and cheap, 

 while those made in Java, though dear are more 

 durable, .owing <to the greater care taken in 

 their manufacture. — Straits Times, April '20. 



COTTON-GROWING IN CEYLON. 



In the third annual report of the British 

 Cotton Growing Association (just received) of 

 tho season endingDecember 31st, 1907, no special 

 reference is made to Ceylon under the section 

 devoted to " work in the Colonies," but we find 

 in the appendix a statement showing that a 

 certain amount of cotton exported from the 

 Colony has passed through the hands of the 

 Association during the past three years. 



INDIAN COTTON OF DIFFERENT 

 KINDS. 



Sir George Watt made an important state 

 ment in a discussion before the Society of Arts 

 not long ago. He said: — 



If scientists, and even practical growers, were 

 to advance the interests of Indian agriculture 

 they must not go on the assumption that cotton 

 was always cotton. It must be found out what 

 particular form of cotton was suitable to oach 

 locality. In the old experiments foreign cottons 

 were introduced wholesale with disastrous re- 

 sults. He trustud he might be permitted to say 

 that he differed from the Chairman with regard 

 to the meaning of what in India was called 

 vilaa tt cotton. It certainly was neither Ameri- 

 can nor one of the best cottons in India ; it was 

 the worst of all cottons. There was another 

 point to which ho should like to refer. The 

 author had 6tated in the paper: — " There are 

 bold men vvho assort that it is proved by 

 the Indian handloom weavers of Dacca that 

 Indian lint is capable today of weaving the 

 finest qualities of cloth— and this not from 

 a vanished species of tree cotton as an 

 exploded myth used to declare, but from the 

 ordinary coarse Boijgal staple — and that great 

 discoveries are possible in the region of electri- 

 city and humidity to adapt modern machinery 

 to the use of small staples.'' He (Sir George 

 Watt) thought that very possibly he was the sole 

 person who had been rash enough to make that 

 statement, and moreover, was egotistical 

 enough to adhere to it* Even, in spite of all 

 that had been said, he believed the natives of 

 India knew something about the cotton staple 

 which Manchester people were absolutely 

 ignorant of. From time immemorial the natives 

 had used a short staple ; in fact, failed to pro- 

 duce the same results with the American long 

 staples. It was not a matter of the past, it was a 

 matter of the present. At the Delhi Durbar he 

 had sold to a number of the visitors at the exhi- 

 bition hold in 1903 a number of pieces of Dacca 

 muslin, quite as fine as any of the old historical 

 samples that were to be found in museums. 

 These had been spun and woven from the 

 indigenous Dacca cotton, not cultivated years 

 before, but the product of that particular year. 

 He was thus inclined to think that the solution 

 of the cotton question of India was not merely 

 one of selecting a long staple, but a closer study 

 of existing stocks and conditions. He did not 

 think Manchester wanted a long staple only. 

 The bulk of the cotton spun in Manchester was 

 not long staples, but medium. A high-class 

 cotton was wanted, and he had little doubt this 

 could and would be attained in India, 



