kVG. 1, 1903.] Supphment to the " Tropical AgricuUurxsf." 
cotton and putting it into large pockets in their 
aprons. "When they go to the end of the rows 
they emptied the cotton into bags or baskets. 
These were again emptied and the cotton taken, 
after drying, into the ginning house. In some 
cases, dependent on the climate, it is necessary to 
give the cotton an extra drying before it is put 
through the gins. 
As regards the quality of cotton growing here 
specimens are before you, and you will be able to 
judge for yourselves. The Sea Island cotton, 
which is a native of the West Indies, is of con- 
siderable value, owing to the length'and silkiness 
of the fibre. 
YIELD AND COST. 
According to a Texas Station Bulletin, No. 26 
of March, 1893, the average yield on seven farms 
was 392 lb. of lint, the average selling price 8c. 
per lb., the expenses per acre fl6"96 and the pro- 
fit $14'60, The cost for ginning, packing etc., 
being paid for by the value of the seed. 
Again in Texas in 1892 the average cost of 
growing cotton on 12 farms was |22*62 per acre, 
the lint was 415 lb., the price of lint was 9*6 c. per 
pound, and the average net profit per acre $15*77. 
No charge for management was made with the 
exception of one farm. It is stated that ' the pro- 
fit was large — larger perhaps than any profit from 
any staple cultivated ou so extensive a scale.' 
In these colonies the coet of producing cotton 
should be less than in the United States. The 
estate system of cultivation for sugar-cane would 
exactly suit cotton, and'if the lighter soils, not so 
remunerative for sugar, were planted in cotton 
the results might be of distinct advantage to the 
planting community. There would, also, be 
added, in some of these colonies, an important 
auxiliary industry to those already existing. 
BY-PR0DUCT6. 
The by-products of cotton comprise four separate 
articles, namely, (1) linters, (2) oil, (3) meal, and 
(4) hulls. If you obtain a return pf 1,200 lb. 
Sea island cotton per acre you will have 400 lb. of 
lint and 800 lb, of seed. The proportion is exactly 
1 to 2 by weight. If you examine the seed of the 
cotton you will find that the outside of it is 
covered with a crust or husk. If you break this 
you come to a whitish Eubstauco, called the kernel. 
In factories dealing with cotton ssed they first of 
all remove the fine linters on the outside of the 
seed. Next, they decorticate the seed and remove 
the hull ; that is the hard crust on the outside. 
That was at one time thrown • away ; now it is 
ground into a kind of bran) which is found useful 
for feeding animals. The kernel contains a large 
proportion of oil. A ton of seed contains about 
50 gallons, but at present they can only extract 
about 45 gallons of this oil. When they have 
extracted the oil, they have left a cake or meal, 
also valuable for feeding purposes. 
With regard to the percentages of the various 
patts of the entire seed, the meal will be 34 per 
cent, the oil will be 20 per cent, the linters will 
be 35 per cent, and the hulls 10 per cent. A 
more deflnita idea will be obtained if we calculate 
the amount of each which would be obtained from 
the average yield of an acre of cotton. This we 
will take as 900 lb. of seed cotton, yielding 
300 lb. of lint and 600 lb. of seed. 
On this basis we should obtain ("besides 300 lb. 
of commercial lint) from one acre : — 
Meal 205 lb. 
Oil 120 lb. or about 15 gallons 
Hulls 215 lb. 
Linters. ...60 lb. 
SAMPLES OP COTTON. 
There are exhibited to-day samples of cotton 
grown in Barbados that very clearly show the 
suitability of the soil and climate for cotton culti- 
vation. There are 24 estates on which experiment 
plots are now established. These cover about 16 
acres. The specimens before you have been kindly 
contributed by Mr. Alistair Cameron from Kent 
plantation. They show healthy, vigorous growth 
and the lint is silky and of good length. There 
are a few acres growing also at Sandy Lane and 
elsewhere under the care of Mr. H. E. Thome. A 
sample of cotton received from Trinidad belongs 
to the sort known as 'Kidney' cotton. In this 
the seeds are massed together in the centre of the 
lint. This is typical of some Brazilian and Peru- 
vian cottons, but is not likely to be the best for 
theAVest Indies. It cannot be cleaned by roller 
gins and the staple is short and somewhat coarse. 
GENEEAL ITEMS. 
Still a new process of extracting Eamie fibre is 
referred to in the Journal d' Agriculture Tropicals. 
It is stated on very good authority that the 
inventor has sold his process to an Anglo-Chinese 
Company at Shanghai, and that his company is 
sending a very white and silky fibre to Europe. The 
process, it is stated, does not require the use of any 
acid, and further that English capitalists are 
about to furnish a very large sum for establishing 
a big factory in Shanghai, 
A practical man suggests, to make sweet pota- 
toes produce tubers, twisting up the vines in a 
heap on the top of the roots. 
To keep white ants from attacking trees, place 
a small q uantity of white arsenic round the tree, 
not touching the tree; or saturate pieces of soft 
wood with Stroet's White ant mixture and bury 
close to the tree. 
People are already beginning to confuse grape, 
grape fruit, ^nd grape nut. The first needs no 
e^cplanation, the second is a variety of pumelo 
which grows in clusters (and may be seen on Mr» 
F, Beven's estate in Veyangoda), while the third 
is a malted form of wheat. The second gets its 
name from the clusters which suggest a bunch of 
grapes, the third from the fact that grape sugar is 
developed in the process of malting. 
It has been found at the Alabama Experi- 
mental Station, U.S.A., that the most satisfactory 
method of preserving the composite milk samples 
for testing, consists in the addition of half a tea- 
spoonful of formalin to each pint of milk. This 
