July, 1909.] 



17 



Fibres. 



ing. The lint and seed are separated, 

 the seed dropping into sacks for trans- 

 port, the lint falling into the hydraulic 

 presses. Thus, scarcely a hand has 

 touched the fibre since the picker placed 

 the article in his bag. 



This is how the up-to-date Yankee 

 now handles his huge cotton crop and 

 makes a living under much greater 

 difficulties than the Queensland grower 

 has to contend against. 



American land is dearer than ours ; it 

 invariably must be fertilised with costly 

 manures ; the yield per acre does not, 

 on the average, come up to the Queens- 

 land yield ; insect troubles are greater ; 

 the quality of lint is not so good as ours. 



This is admitted by the British Cotton 

 Growers' Association, who have repeat- 

 edly stated our fibre to be worth Id. 

 per lb. over average American. 



If our motto now is as it once was : 

 " Advance Australia," it then becomes 

 the duty of all to recognise the poten- 

 tialities of this vocation. So far as our 

 limited plantings have shown during 

 the past few years, cotton has given 

 better returns to farmers than most 

 farm crops. 



Economy in handling as here outlined 

 will do much to popularise this pursuit 

 if the country is to become an agri- 

 cultural State. 



The outlook in this direction is nob 

 too promising ; with the heavy decline 

 reported in agriculture last year, total- 

 ling, as per report of Department of 

 Agriculture, 30,000 acres, it looks as 

 though this State is to be noted for 

 little else than its mineral, grazing, and 

 dairying activities. These, in them- 

 selves, are very important, but are not 

 the interests which best promote close 

 and permanent settlement, just as im- 

 portant ? A cotton planter with little 

 capital, under ordinary conditions, can 

 make sure of a good living on 30 acres of 

 crop, usually returning from £6 to £9 or 

 over per acre. He gets from one acre 

 quite as much as a dairyman does from 

 one cow, with much less risk and atten- 

 tion and deprivation of home comforts. 

 One point I wish to emphasise is this — 

 that the so-much-talked-of interference 

 with the children's education as the 

 sequence of cotton cultivation stands 

 without point. Most farm pxirsuits 

 engage the little ones, but I know none, 

 save sugar, which offers the same oppor- 

 tunity of satisfying the adult in point of 

 remuneration as this crop does. 



If the American can gather— and he 

 undoubtedly does gather— the amounts 

 credited to him, we need no juvenile or 

 cheap labour. An active adult trained 

 to the work, which is quickly acquired, 



o 



earning his 6s. or 7s. a day in a light, 

 healthy, open-air pursuit, should have 

 no ambition to seek the unhealthy, 

 cramped occupations of the factory. 



As a change of vocation for our male 

 and female factory operatives, this work 

 should be very popular, for not only 

 would the earning be superior to the 

 city vocation, but the cost of living 

 would be much cheaper, and the work 

 calling for little skill or strength, would 

 be within reach of many who, under 

 present conditions, are either or nearly 

 on the verge of becoming unemployable. 



The season's crop is now nearly ready 

 in some districts for gathering, and it 

 will be well for growers to study the 

 system outlined for the cheaper hand- 

 ling of the crop. Farmers in dry 

 weather can safely transfer such cotton 

 as is free from wet or dew and fully 

 ripe, direct from the picking bags to the 

 bale, which will be economy in handling 

 and economy of space and room. 



THE JUTE INDUSTRY. 



(Prom the Indian Trade Journal, 

 Vol. XIII., No. 159, April 15, 1909.) 



It would perhaps be difficult to dis- 

 cover a more striking record of indus- 

 trial progress than that which is 

 presented by the Indian Jute industry 

 in recent years, says a writer in the 

 Times Financial and Commercial Sup- 

 plement. The rapidity of the progress 

 can best be realized from a few figures 

 which show how the business of jute 

 manufacture has developed during the 

 last 28 years : - 



Y No. of Nominal 



Mills. Capital £. Employes Looms; Spindles, 



1879 80 22 2,246,000 27,510 4,950 70 800 



1889-90 26 2,600,000 59,500 7,700 156,900 



1899-1900 34 3,978,000 102,400 14,100 295,300 



1904 05 38 5,395,000 133,200 20,000 409 200 



1906 07 44 6,330,000 166,900 25,300 520^500 



1907-v8 50 7,019,000 187,800 27,200 562,300 



This table brings out the remarkable 

 fact that, while the number of mills 

 has increased by 127 per cent, and the 

 capital by 212 per cent., the looms and 

 spindles have increased by 450 and 694 

 per cent, respectively. Moreover, em- 

 ployment is now found for about seven 

 times as many persons as formerly. All 

 but three of the mills are located in 

 Calcutta or its vicinity, and all but two 

 are worked by joint-stock companies. 

 It is worth noting that a consideiable 

 change has occurred in the relative 

 amounts of sterling and rupee capital 

 invested in the industry, the former con- 

 stituting nearly two-thirds of the total 

 of nominal capital in 1879-80 and only 



