August, 1909.] 



117 



Fibres. 



the Barbados Co-operative Cotton 

 Factory, Ltd., which was registered 

 under the Companies' Act on August 1G, 

 1905. with a Capital of £800 divided 

 into 1,600 shares of 10s. each. 



On the formation of the Company, the 

 Government agreed to accept £600 first 

 debenture bonds at 5 per cent, redeem- 

 able in 21 years, for the £683 which they 

 had from time to time lent to the Com- 

 mittee, and the British Cotton-Grow- 

 ing Association agreed to accepb £150 

 for the six gins and the distintegrator 

 which they had lent. 



The Company worked the ginnery 

 taken over from the Committee for a 

 year, but the Directors found that it 

 would be wholly inadequate to deal with 

 the cotton that would be sent to them 

 the following season, and with the 

 increased amount that was certain to 

 be grown in the future. The Directors 

 therefore proposed to the shareholders 

 that the capital of the Company should 

 be increased so as to erect a very much 

 larger ginnery. This was agreed to on 

 March 20, 1905, and it was decided to 

 issue 16,000 shares at 10s. each. On this 

 number, however, only 10,521 were issued. 



The Directors bought the site where 

 the factory stands, ordered the neces- 

 sary machinery, and commenced work on 

 the new buildings on May 4, 1906. The 

 factory was opened on January 22, 1907. 



The working of the factory has been 

 highly satisfactory both to the cotton 

 growers who have had their cotton gin- 

 ned there, and to the shareholders who 

 have received good dividends. 



The factory is equipped with a double 

 expansion engine, a Stirling water tube 

 boiler, twenty-four gins, a hydraulic 

 baling press, and a seed disintegrator. 



It is hoped that in the near future oil- 

 extracting machinery will be. added. 



From small beginnings and through 

 many struggles, there has come into 

 existence the largest Sea Island cotton 

 ginnery in the world. 



The following table showing the 

 growth of the cotton industry in this 

 island is of interest as illustrating the 

 increased demand for ginning facilities 

 of which I have spoken in giving the 

 history of the cotton factory : — 

 Table Showing the Area Planted in Cot- 

 ton, the Yield, and the Estimated Value 

 of the Cotton Exported fkom Barbados 

 from 1902-7. 



Value 

 Value of Seed 



Year. Area Lint Seed of at £5 Total 

 planted. Pounds. Pounds, lint, per ton. Value. 



£ £ £ 



1902- 3 ... 16 6,550 13,450 .. .. 313 



1903- 4 ... 800 192,061 472,510 12.38S 1,055 13,443 



1904- 5 .. 1,647 344,232 846 882 20,869 1,890 22,759 



1905- 6 .. 2,000 479,418 1,179,468 30,363 2,633 32,990 



1906- 7 . . 5,000 853,408 2,042,840 72,326 4,660 76,876 



The factory has turned out the follow- 

 ing amounts of lint :— 

 Season. Pounds. 



1902- 3 ... 4,826 1 When uuder the 



1903- 4 ... 104,926 } direction of the 



1904- 5 ... 215,500 J Cotton Committee. 



1905- 6 ... 328,341 \ When owned by the 



1906- 7 ... 538,507 J Company. 



For the first three months of the 

 season 1907, 66,667 lbs. have been turned 

 out. The factory purchases seed-cotton 

 chiefly from small growers at a price 

 which is generally about one-fourth of 

 the price of lint on the day of purchase. 

 Cotton is ginned, baled, and shipped 

 for growers, and the money received 

 from England and paid to them at an 

 inclusive price of 3|c. per lb, of lint. 



The seed is either taken over from the 

 growers at £5 per ton or sent to Messrs 

 H. E. Thorne & Son's oil-extracting 

 works at their option. In the latter case 

 the growers are paid a price per ton of 

 seed regulated by the price of oil accord- 

 ing to a scale agreed upon between 

 Messrs. Thorne & Son and the Directors 

 of the factory. This, however, does not 

 fall below £5 per ton, and they have 

 returned to them 1,700 lbs. of cotton- 

 cake-meal for each toil of seed. 



The factory also sells selected and 

 hand-picked cotton seed at 3d. per lb, to 

 growers in this island and at a slightly 

 •higher price toothers- The seed from 

 the finest varieties is reserved for this 

 purpose. 



Advances are made to growers on the 

 cotton sent by them to be ginned, to the 

 extent of half the value of the lint at 

 a low rate of interest, and to the extent 

 of three-fourths of the price of lint at a 

 slightly higher rate. 



Paris green is ordered for growers who 

 wish to get it in large quantities, and a 

 stock of it is kept for those who buy in 

 small quantities. 



The Directors endeavour to do every- 

 thing in their power to help cotton 

 growers. 



A VALUABLE FIBRE PLANT: 

 (A S CLE PI A S SEMIL UNA TA . ) 



By Chas. A. White, f.r.h.s., &c, 



Uganda Protectorate ; late Forest Officer, 

 Coolgardie, W. A. 



(From Tropical Life, Vol. V., No. 4, 

 April, 1909.) 



When the Coolgardie goldfields were 

 first known, I was an employe in the 

 Melbourne Botanic Gardens, and having 

 been seriously attacked by the gold 

 fever was, with thousands ot others who 



