Oils and Fats. & 



the rivers in the interior the inhabitants 

 use the oil in their cooking operations. 

 They have some trouble as the shell is 

 very hard, but by placing the nut in a 

 depression in a hard block it is kept 

 from flying about when struck by the 

 hammer. If the nut is long dry the 

 kernel gets loose, but it usually requires 

 to be dug out with a knife. When such 

 land is cut for " the burn" the Cohune 

 leaves make a fine blaze and add not a 

 little to the success of the operation. 

 The stumps of those with trunks soon 

 rot out forming deep, round, and treach- 

 erous holes, and it is surprising how few 

 sprains and broken bones they account 

 for. The young palms are not killed by 

 the fire and continue to give the cleaners 

 trouble for some time. 



Now, however, decorticating machinery 

 has been invented which successfuly 



[April, I90 g 



deals with the nut, and before long the 

 destruction of this enormously valuable 

 nut of Honduras will be stayed. Fortu- 

 nately the forests are still more or less 

 intact except in situations convenient 

 for getting out Bananas, the bunches of 

 which while delicate are very heavy and 

 do not command a sufficient price in this 

 part of the world— a "pass" bunch of 

 eight hands being only worth 25 cents on 

 board the steamer if it succeeds in being 

 taken. 



Nothing can be more satisfactory than 

 the alternative about to be offered to the 

 poor planter of keeping his land tin- 

 wasted in the natural forest and let the 

 fruit monopolists go elsewhere and lay 

 waste fine land for a " Song." As a 

 lover of the forest nothing could be 

 more pleasing to me. 



FIBRES. 



COTTON CULTIVATION: 

 ITS EXTENSION IN CEYLON. 



By J. Stewart J. McCall, 

 Director of Agriculture, Nyamland. 



Prelude. 



The developing of new cotton fields 

 throughout the British world and the 

 broadening of the basis of supply is 

 the most important economic problem 

 of British tropical and sub-tropical agri- 

 culture. 



This imperial question and its solution 

 is the success or failure of the largest 

 export trade of the world, the very 

 backbone of British commerce. 



It has been estimated by Mr. Macara, 

 the great authority on cotton statistics, 

 that no less than 3,000,000 people at 

 home are directly dependent for their 

 livelihood on this industry, and, further, 

 that 10,000,000 of the inhabitants of 

 Great Britian are directly or indirctly 

 connected with cotton in trade- 



Everyone who is accquainted with 

 cotton knows that the industry is in a 

 very precarious condition, as the con- 

 sumption is increasing more rapidly 

 than the production. 



At the present day Great Britain, 

 with all her Colonies, is dependent on 

 America for 75 per cent, of her raw 

 cotton ; should the American crop fail, 

 the result would be fatal to the trade of 

 the world and spell starvation to 

 millions of people in Great Britain. 



America will have less cotton for 

 export than she has at present, as her 



con sumption of raw cotton is increasing 

 and likely to increase with her popula- 

 tion. 



Mr. J. Arthur Hutton, Chairman of 

 the British Cotton Growing Association, 

 addressing a deputation to the late 

 Prime Minister, Sir Henry Campbell 

 Bannerman, in May, 1906, said :— 



" Four hund red thousand bales (SCO lb 

 each) is the average increase in the 

 world's consumption every year. Lanca- 

 shire alone, in the last two years, has 

 added something like six million to 

 her spindles, which means an increase 

 in consumption of half a million bales, 

 apart from the increased demands in 

 other parts of the world." 



Considering that the average yield in 

 America is something under 200 lb. per 

 acre, it is obvious that Lancashire alone 

 requires for her increased consumption 

 of the last two years the cotton from 

 1,250,000 acres. 



When we add to Mr. Hutton's re- 

 marks the fact that the Cotton Weevil 

 {Anthonoinis grandis) is making it im- 

 possible to grow cotton in many districts 

 of Texas and Mississippi, and as the 

 pest is spreading with almost arithmeti- 

 cal accuracy at the rate of 50 miles 

 annually nurth and east, it is a matter 

 of time till the whole cotton belt of 

 America is infected and the yield re- 

 duced by at least 25 per cent. 



The writer having visited 3,000 miles 

 of the,Cotton States this summer, can 

 add his testimony to the list of those 

 who advocate the growing of cotton 

 in every suitable corner of the British 



