1 Juny, 1901.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 121 
profit of something like 15s. an acre more than you would get from maize, 
and in fact, from what I have heard of some of the sugar districts, where the 
average return of sugar is 5 tons of cane per acre, cotton would pay 
far better to grow than sugar-cane. There is no doubt about markets. There 
is an unlimited demand for it. America sends 1,800,000 bales of cotton 
annually to Japan. How ‘is it sent? It is grown in Louisiana, Florida, 
and other Southern States round the Gulf of Mexico. It is sent to New 
York by train, then across to San Francisco, and from thence to Japan. 
There is another reason why cotton should look up here, and that is because 
in the United States they are getting more and more cotton-mills. They are 
using up something like 7,00U,000 bales in the cotton-mills of the States, 
which formerly went to England. England has got to be supplied with 
cotton ; and if the States send their cotton to Japan and use it up in America, 
then some other country must produce it to supply the English market, 
and there is no better country in the world to do so than Queensland. The 
picking of cotton is not a bugbear at all. In the early days, when we grew 
cotton all over the West Moreton and Logan districts, the holidays of the State 
schools were made to fit in with the cotton harvest. Cotton-picking begins in 
May, and runs on for twelve weeks. Sugar-cane has to be cut straight off the 
reel, but there is no hurry about cotton-picking. Youdo not begin early in the 
morning when the dew is on the cotton, but wait till it is quite dry, say at 
about 10 o’clock. I have known a family with four children, and those four 
children at the beginning of the season earned 11s. a day, and in the thick of it 
£1a day. They were paid at the rate of 34d. perlb. It is no use trying to 
ow cotton on a big scale in Queensland, for you would be immediately con- 
Fronted with the labour question. If cotton is to succeed in this country it 
will be by the way sugar is succeeding now—that is, by small farmers putting 
in small areas, and working it by the help of their families or neighbours. 
Big estates of cotton are not to be dreamt of here. With regard to what Mr. 
Lee said about Sea Island cotton, I may say that it will not pay to grow that 
variety in Queensland, because it invariably runs to wood at the expense of 
the fibre, unless well pruned, and cotton will scarcely bear the expense of 
pruning. 
Mr. T. E. Courson (Rosewood) also spoke on the subject. 
Mr. E. Grimey: Iam very glad my paper has brought so many people 
up tospeak upon it. Mr. Lee has given us some information about the growth 
ot cotton, and I am pleased to find that such a good article was produced in 
those early days to which he refers. If it could be grown then, it could be 
grown now. Mr. Lee stated he got six bales of 300 lb. from 10 acres—that is 
to say, he got 180 lb. of Sea Island cotton per acre. 
Mr. Lex: I did not say the bales were 300 Ib. They were 200-lb. bales. 
Mr. Grimiry: Mr. Williams, who is a practical man, spoke a few words 
in favour of my scheme, and I was pleased to get the opinion of a man who 
knows so much on that subject. Mr. Corrie has already informed Mr. Davies that 
the Acclimatisation Society is importing a quantity of cotton seed from America 
and Egypt. Mr. Jones gave us a lot of information about the manufacturing 
of cotton which hardly comes within the province of my paper. Mr. Leth- 
bridge asks whether cotton would grow in the West. Ido not know personally, 
but Mr. Lethbridge has experience that it will. 1f it grows well in small 
quantities, it should do well in large. I know it grows well at Cooktown. 
ages stor Shelton, who saw some growing there, said it was a splendid 
sample. 
Major Boyp: Some beautiful cotton came down to Brisbane from Roma 
last week. 
THE WATER HYACINTH. 
Mr. L. G. Corrrz (Brisbane) proposed that the Committee of Resolutions 
be asked to frame a resolution relative to the water hyacinth. This was 
carried. 
