SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
obtaining a report from the Commonwealth Trade Commissioner in America, 
who sent an officer to Washington to discuss the whole question with officers of 
the United States of America Bureau of Plant Industry. 
15. The information obtained by that officer may be summarized as follows:— 
(a ) Mechanical Devices—The only use made in America of mechanical 
pickers is for gathering what is known as “bolly” cotton and “snap” 
cotton. Bolly cotton is a term applied to the pods which, through certain 
conditions, do not reach maturity. Snap cotton occurs when the plants have 
been left in the fields too long, and the fibre has become brittle. Rather 
than allow cotton of this type to run to waste it is picked by machinery. 
Cotton pickers for ordinary healthy crops are not in use in the United States 
of America. : 
(b) Types of Cotton.—There are some 200 different varieties of cotton. 
Many districts in America have their parallel as regards soil and climate in 
Australia, and in these districts in the United States of America many 
varieties of cotton are grown profitably. Under similar conditions the same 
types could probably be cultivated successfully in many parts of “Australia. 
COTTON AT NORTH COAST, QUEENSLAND. 
The experts to the Bureau of Plant Industry agree absolutely that the only way 
to approach the matter is by experimentation. Before the cotton-growing in- 
dustry can be successfully established in Australia, experiments will have to be 
made exactly in the same way as has been done with wheat growing and wool 
production. 
When new districts are being opened up in America, different varieties are 
treated to ascertain which gives He best results. The experts of the Bureau 
strongly advise that a selection of the best American varieties should be 
planted, and tested under various conditions in Australia. They thought 
that parts of Australia outside Queensland should produce good results 
where the temperatures are lower and the rainfall heavier than in Queens- 
land. In America, cotton grows best with a rainfall at the right period of 
from 20 to 30 inches, followed by warm weather. 
(c) Labour Conditions-—The question of coloured labour has no direct. 
bearing on American cotton production. There are many districts in which 
They 
