October, 1909. 



299 



Fibres. 



and value of the lint exported from Bar- 

 bados from 1902-8 :— 



Tear. 



1902- 3 



1903- 4 



1904- 5 

 1906-6 



1906- 7 



1907- 8 



as 



2 



5« 



16 

 800 

 1,647 



2,000 

 5,010 



6,935 1,337,000 



5,550 

 192,061 

 344,232 

 479,418 

 852,403 



13,460 

 472,510 

 846,882 

 1,179,468 

 2,042,840 

 3,3l7,12r 



£12,388 

 20.869 

 3'\863 

 72,326 



104,026* 



£318 

 13,443 

 22,759 

 32,996 

 76,876 

 7,404* 111,429* 



£1,055 

 1,890 

 2,633 

 4,660 



♦Estimated. 



There is one matter in connection with 

 the cotton industry in Barbados, which 

 although receiving some attention at the 

 hands of a few of the groweis, has 

 yet to be taken up by the majority 

 of them, and that is the question of 

 seed selection. This question is, as I 

 said last year, of vital importance to the 

 cotton growers in the West Indies, and 

 unless growers regularly and system- 

 atically select seed for planting from the 

 healthiest and best plants, the quality 

 and yield will rapidly deteriorate. In 

 1906, the Imperial Department of Agri- 

 culture, through Mr. Thomas Thornton, 

 Travelling Inspector in connection with 

 Cotton Investigations, carried out seed 

 selection on seven estates. On the seven 

 estates, 264 plants were selected, and of 

 these, only 14 were finally judged to be 

 entirely satisfactory. For the season 

 1906-7, seed selection has been carried 

 out on ten estates, and 224 plants were 

 selected in the field. Of these 26 were 

 ultimately selected. It is with pleasure 

 that I now report that cotton picked 

 from plants grown from the seed selected 

 in 1905-6 is excellent in every respect.* 



Until the planters in the West Indies 

 recognize the great importance to the 

 industry of careful seed selection, it will 

 be impossible for the industry to make 

 the advance it otherwise would. 



Before closing my paper I should like 

 to say a few words touching the loss the 

 cotton industry in Barbados is sustain- 

 ing through the departure from the 

 island of Mr. Thornton. This gentle- 

 man, who has decided to withdraw from 

 the Imperial Department to grow cotton 

 for himself in the island of Tobago, has 

 for the last three years been assisting 

 the planters in Barbados and in the 



* Seven bales of cotton from No. 303 ( West Indian 

 Bulletin, Vol. VII., p. 159) have been reported 

 jupon by Messrs. Wolstenholme and Holland as 

 ollows: — "It ia the most serviceable class of 

 cotton in the West Indies, and if it gives a better 

 yield per aore than the finer descriptions — as it 

 probably will — we think it is more suitable for 

 extensive cultivation." —Er>. W.I. B. 



other colonies with the cotton industry 

 and it is with much pleasure that I can 

 bear testimony to the high appreciation 

 in which his sercives are held by the 

 planters iu this island. From the 

 beginning, he has endeavoured in every 

 way possible to assist them and to 

 advance their interests, and I am sure 

 that I am only voicing . their feeling 

 when I say it is with much regret that 

 they have learnt of his intended de- 

 parture from the island. 



INDIAN COTTON SPINNING 

 WEAVING. 



AND 



(From the Indian Trade Journal, Vol. 

 XIII., No. 158, April 8, 1909.) 



In the Indian Trade Journal of April 

 12th, 1906 (page 55), we made an analytic 

 study of tho cotton spinning industry 

 from data which had for the first time 

 in history become available for statis= 

 tical purposes, the main object being to 

 show which have been the periods of 

 great success and depression in the cot- 

 ton spinning trade. In the year 1905- 

 1906, the cotton spinning industry did 

 fairly well ; the period of greatest acti- 

 vity beginning in the month of April, 

 1905. Since then things have not gone 

 so well with the industry. It has been 

 estimated, for instance, that the profits 

 for 1905, including commission, amounted 

 to 3 "4.7 crores ; in 1906 there was a drop 

 to 3*14 crores ; in 1907 profits had further 

 receded to T85 crores, while the estimate 

 for last year was only 125 crores, and in 

 some quarters this low figure is now re- 

 garded as much too high. Last year, of 

 course, this industry shared in the wave 

 of trade depression that passed over the 

 world's markets, and at the present mo- 

 ment it is believed that the stocks of 

 yarn held up in various parts of India is 

 very considerable. On the other hand, 

 the Indian harvest promises to be a 

 good one, and, as the purchasing power 

 of the people increases, the accumu- 

 lation of stocks should vanish. 



Following on the lines of the article 

 published in 1906, we find that the num- 

 ber of spindles in position in Indian 

 mills on the 31st March, 1908, which is the 

 date of the latest returns available, was 

 as follows :— 



British India 

 Native States 

 All India 



5,437,798 

 257,532 

 5,695,330 



These and other figures which follow 

 are contrasted with those of other years 

 in a statement published below. The 

 production of yarn in lbs. during the ten 



