42 
Usually, Sea Island cotton crops in the early part of the year, 
commencing when 1 2 months old, with older bushes the crop can 
he somewhat regulated by pruning and lopping, thus producing 
2ort “ flushes ” in the life of the plant. 1 would describe Sea 
Island cotton as furnishing a fair crop but have not figures of actual 
yield. 
rvLT O l> v 
2~tk January, 1904 
COTTON IN DUTCH BORNEO. 
A specimen of cotton grown in Borneo was recently submitted 
for examination to the Director of the Industrial and Commercial 
College at Enschede, Holland, who reported that it appeared to be 
uuafiii fineness and length of fibre to the finer qualities of Egyp- 
tian cotton. The length of the fibre was about ins,, and the 
sample was valued at 4s. per pound* It was suggest* d that the 
plant yielding this cotton should be experimentally cultivated in 
order to assertain the yield obtainable from it. 
Enquiries made by the Governor-General of Borneo elicited the 
following information, which was published in the “ Indische 
Mercuur,” October, 1901. 
The specimen of cotton is the product of a tree occasionally met 
with on the banks of the Barito River, and known to the natives 
as ‘ kapas-rampit.” When fully developed it attains a height of 
13 ft. and a circumference of from 15 to 16 ins. According to the 
natives it lives about seven or eight years. 
The tree does not occur in the wild state, but is occasionally 
cultivated as a curiosity by the natives. Formerly, when each native 
household wove its own cotton, the annual variety of cotton was 
frequently planted, but the product of this is inferior, the fihre be- 
ing much shorter than that of “ Kapas-rampit”, and its cultivation 
has, therefore, been abandoned. 
Although the “ Kapas-rampit M grows vigorously in several dis- 
tricts of Borneo, its systematic cultivation has not so far been at- 
tempted. No information could be obtained concerning the yield 
of cotton, but trees were noticed, which were covered with flowers 
or were quite white with the ripe pods. 
The flowers are of a yellowish-white colour ; the pods are cylindri- 
cal in shape, and trilocular, each division containing about eight 
seeds. 
It is possible that this species of Gossypium is not indigenous to 
Borneo, although it bears a native name, but may have been in- 
troduced by the early Dutch trading companies. 
The tree grows readily in an argillaceous soil containing a little 
sand, and is^not adversely affected by- excess of moisture, which is 
an important consideration in Borneo, where the climate is humid. 
* Possibly a misprint. The price is abnormal — Editor. 
