Fibres. 



302 



[October. 1909, 



The cotton is planted in March and 

 April, at distances of 22 inches from plant 

 to plant, and 5 feet from row to row. 

 About the end of August the first pick- 

 ings begin, and the harvest coutiuues 

 until December. 



Much of the finest cotton grown in 

 the Sea Islands never enters the open 

 market at all, being sold privately to 

 French lace manufacturers at a high 

 price, 



The cotton grown on the Islands is 

 much superior to the Sea Island cotton 

 produced on the mainland. The inferi- 

 ority of the latter, which consists in 

 shorter staple and lack of lustre, is 

 partly due to the large amount of hy- 

 bridization which takes place with the 

 Upland cotton grown in the neighbour- 

 hood, and partly to the lack of humi- 

 dity in the atmosphere. On the main- 

 land the best cotton is said to be pro- 

 duced by a crop raised from island-grown 

 seed. 



Cotton growers iu the Sea Islauds are 

 firm believers in seed selection, which 

 they practise regularly. Mr. McCall 

 reports that each of the island planta- 

 tions visited by him had its own breed- 

 ing and selection plot, and there can be 

 little doubt that the high quality of 

 the cotton produced is to a large extent 

 the result of prolonged selection. Great 

 intelligence is exercised by the island 

 planters in growing and harvesting their 

 cotton. Manuring of the land is fre- 

 quently commenced as early as Nov- 

 ember, when if pen manure is available, 

 it is applied at the rate of 20 tons per 

 acre on the surface between the old 

 ridges. Otherwise, a dressing of cotton 

 seed, at the rate of about £-ton per acre 

 is given early in Peburary, when the 

 first ploughings are made. This seed is 

 covered by splitting the old ridges with 

 the plough, and the great bulk of it 

 undergoes decay. Any seeds which ger- 

 minate are destroyed by subsequent 

 ploughings. It is found that late appli- 

 cations, on a large scale, of slow-acting 

 organic manures interfere with germi- 

 nation of thi) cotton seed, and retard the 

 ripening of the crop. 



The tillage operations practised fre- 

 quently include two or three plough- 

 ings, of which the first is deep (12 

 inches when possible). Subsequent 

 ploughings are mure shallow. The fiist 

 ploughing provides conditions suitable 

 for deep rooting, and enables the plants 

 to be drought resistant. The shallow 

 cultivations, which follow, result in the 

 production of a fine surface tilth, which 

 is so necessary for germination and rapid 

 early growth during the weak stages 

 before the plant puts on the rough leaf. 



When the land is ready to be ridged 

 up for planting, a manure such as 600 lb. 

 of Peruvian guano, and 50 lb. of potas- 

 sium sulphate is applied per acre, and 

 after germination 50 lb. of nitrate of 

 soda is added. 



Cotton grown in the Sea Islands is 

 marketed in bags, 1\ feet long by 2£ feet 

 iu diameter, containing approximately 

 350 lb. of lint. This cotton is uot com- 

 pressed in bales, since many of the 

 planters consider the practice detri- 

 mental to the fibre. Practically all the 

 Islands' crop is sold at Charleston, and 

 forms 35 per cent, of the cotton market- 

 ed at that port. Sea Island cotton from 

 the mainland is principally marketed 

 and shipped from Savannah. 



PAPER AND PAPIER MACHE IN 

 BENGAL. 



(From the Indian Agriculturist, Vol. 

 XXXIV., No. 4, April, 1909.) 



The following is a summary of the 

 admirable monograph on the subject by 

 Mr. D. N. Mookerjee, M.A-, who was put 

 on special duty by the Bengal Govern- 

 ment for the work :— 



Paper consists of a compacted web or 

 felting of vegetable fibres usually, as 

 we know so well, in the form of a thin 

 flexible sheet. The fibres are reduced to 

 a pulp by grinding, beating, etc., and are 

 diluted with water in a vat. Pulp from 

 the vat is then dipped up in a mould 

 from which the water drains away 

 leaving a felted sheet which is then 

 pressed and dried. 



Papier Mache is made of paper-pulp 

 reduced to a paste and then boiled with 

 a solution of gum arabic or size to give 

 tenacity to the paste. Articles such as 

 trays, picture-frames, jars, boxes, etc., 

 are shaped by moulding, and then 

 ornamented aud varnished. Sometimes 

 instead of paste several sheets of paper 

 are glued together and given the required 

 shape. 



There is no papier mache industry in 

 Bengal. 



The chief difference between hand- 

 made and machine-made paper is that 

 while the former is made in separate 

 sheets of limited sizes, machine-made 

 paper, though limited in width, runs off 

 from the machine in long rolls frequently 

 more than a mile in length without a 

 break. Although the use of machines is 

 all but universal now in Europe and 

 America for ordinary papers, some of 

 the more costly description— drawing 

 paper, for instance— are still hand-made. 



