Pibres. 



[July, 1909. 



culture for the collection and collation 

 of information and the direction of 

 agriculture in our tropical possessions. 

 On the initiative of the Oldham Chamber 

 of Commerce, a resolution support- 

 ing the above was unanimously approv- 

 ed at a meeting of the Associated 

 Chambers of Commerce held in London 

 in March, 1908, 



The arrangement with the Govern- 

 ment as to the grants-in-aid from the 

 Local Governments in Africa expiies on 

 March 31st, 1910. Under this arrange- 

 ment the following annual grants are 

 made : — 



Southern Nigeria 

 Northern Nigeria .. 

 Gold Coast 

 British East Africa .. 



£5,000 

 1,000 

 1,500 

 1,000 



Total £8,500 



By the above arrangement it is 

 stipulated that the Association shall 

 contribute a like amount, and that the 

 total of £17,000 shall be annually spent 

 in experimental and instructional work. 

 The present state of the Association's 

 finances will prevent the continuance of 

 the existing arrangement, and the whole 

 question is now under discussion with 

 His Majesty's Government. It is hoped 

 that some satisfactory arrangement 

 may be come to wheieby the useful 

 work which the Association has carried 

 on during the last seven years will be in 

 no way curtailed, and by which the 

 co-operation, as between the Local 

 Administrations in the various colonies 

 concerned and the Association, will be 

 maintained. 



Report op Work in the Colonies. 



INDIA AND CEYLON. 



Messrs. Shaw, Wallace. & Co 'a experi- 

 ments with " Tree " and other cottons 

 have been continued during 1908, but the 

 results have not been satisfactory. 



Some progress has been made with 

 the cultivation of Egyptian cotton in 

 Sind, with the following results :— 



Yields. 



459 bales of 100 lbs, 

 700 „ 

 1,835 ,. 



1905 

 1906 

 19C7 

 1908 



Acres. 

 1,000 

 5,098 

 6,835 

 6,000 



It is understood that the arrange- 

 ments for marketing the crop are now 

 satisfactory, and the native growers are 

 receiving remunerative prices for their 

 cotton. 



Some experiments are being carried on 

 with acclimatised American seed in the 



Punjab. The 1907-8 crop was a failure, 

 but the present crop is doing well, and 

 not only are the growers obtaining 

 higher prices than for indigenous cotton, 

 but the yield of the American cotton is 

 also larger. 



An extension of cotton growing has 

 also taken place in Ceylon, and the 

 Association advanced £1,000 for the 

 erection of a ginning plant. Unfortun- 

 ately the firm to whom the machinery 

 was sent are unable to carry on the 

 work, and negotiations are in progress 

 with the Ceylou Government to secure 

 the working of the plant. A consider- 

 able amount of selected West Indian 

 Sea Island seed has been sent out by the 

 Association free of charge. 



A grant of £10,000 was made by the 

 Association for experimental pxirposes 

 to the Indian Government in 1905, and 

 £2,000 of this has been spent in variour 

 ways with useful results. As, however, 

 the demand for financial assistance from 

 other parts of the Empire were more 

 urgent, representations were accord- 

 ingly made to the Government request- 

 ing that the Association should be 

 relieved of further liability. The 

 Council are glad to report that the 

 Government of India have kindly 

 acceded to this request, 



COTTON GROWING. 



By Daniel Jones, 



(Prom the Queensland Agricultural 

 Journal, Vol. XXII., Part 3, 

 March, 1909.; 



Gathering and Preparation. 



Much misapprehension exists relative 

 to the method of picking cotton in our 

 State. 



Very much has been said of the great 

 necessity for care in this process to 

 avoid unduly gathering leaf and other 

 debris along with the fibre ; also on the 

 need for drying and separating stained 

 and immature fibre. 



Too much emphasis has all along been 

 laid on tiiese precautions, resulting in 

 valuable time being lost. 



That ordinary care must be observed, 

 in justice to the buyer, needs no reiter- 

 ation, nevertheless the trader's interests, 

 along with the producer's, are not 

 advanced by methods which in them- 

 selves are not called for, and in the end 

 serve to add largely to the cost of 

 production, 



