The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-14 00:00:00

Cotton Supply Association.

At the usual meeting of the executive committee,
held on Tuesday, September 12, a letter was read
from the Tahiti Cotton and Coffee Planta-
tion Company, reporting that the present crop
grown on the company's estates is estimated at
30 tons, and that next year the manager hopes to
send forward six times that quantity. The New
Orleans seed has not been so successful as the Sea
Island, and attention is now given almost:exclusively
to the_ cultivation of this latter variety. The success
of the company has induced the apathetic natives to
grow cotton, and the whole seaboard is becoming a
series of plantations. The plant bears continuously
during the year, the yield being about 600 kilo-
grammes of clean cotton to the hectare per annum,
or about 5001 b. to the acre. Samples of cotton re-
cently received were submitted for examination, and
valued at 28d. and 34d. per lb. respectively. Re-
ports forwarded by the Foreign-office were received
from her Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Pekin re-
specting the cultivation of cotton in the provinces
of Kewkeang and Chi-Li. Mr. Vice-Consul
Hughes states that Kewkeang is not likely to
become the centre of a large export trade in
cotton. The amount expended in 1864, up to the
9th of November, was 1,464 bales, equal to 1,500
piculs—say 20,0001 b. Of this amount, 639 piculs
were exported between the 3d of October, the com-
mencement of the season, and the above-named
date. The cotton plant cultivated in Chi-Li bears
a yellow flower, and grows to a height of about a foot
and a half. It is grown all through the plain dis-
trict, particularly in Shun-t'ien, Fu and Tien Ching
Fu, about 70 miles south-east of Pekin. In this
district about half the land is planted with cotton.
The crop suffers from drought and floods, and oc-
casionally from locusts, but not from frost. The
land is generally owned in fee simple by families,
and cultivated by the owners. The climate is cha-
racterised by the extremes of heat and cold. In
winter the thermometer falls below zero, in summer
it rises above 100 degrees. The Peiho is frozen
about the end of November, and opens about the
middle of March. The extreme heat lasts from the
beginning of June till the middle of August. An
immense quantity of rain falls in July, and but little
at any other part of the year. A despatch from her
Majesty's consul at Savannah, dated July 5, an ex-
tract from which was forwarded by the Foreign-
office, reports that it is generally believed the pre-
sent crop under cultivation will not yield more than
20,000 bales in Georgia; and that next year negroes
enough may be induced by tempting wages to raise
250,000 bales; but this is a matter entirely of theory,
and the most sanguine are not over confident of the
result. A letter was read, conveying an offer on
the part of the Spanish Government to place at the
disposal of the association a quantity of cotton for-
warded by the Governor of Fernando Po and its de-
pendencies. The Queen has authorised this offer for
the purpose of bringing the cotton thus grown
under the notice of English manufacturers, and with
the hope of encouraging its further cultivation in
the Spanish possessions in the Gulf of Guinea,
where it was produced with the greatest facility and
in abundance, in spite of the imperfect appliances
which until now have been in use in its preparation
and cultivation. The offer thus made was readily
accepted, and the cotton on its arrival will be sub-
mitted to public inspection, and be practically
tested according to the desire of the Spanish
government. A prospectus was received of a pro-
posed Antigua Cotton Company, the formation of
which has been suggested by the facility with which
cotton is grown in the island, and the desire which
prevails among the inhabitants to enter into its cul-
tivation. Three estates, consisting of about 1,100
acres, to which 300 acres more may be added, are
available for the objects of the company, from a por-
tion of which 60 bales of cotton have recently been
shipped. The Governor-in-Chief has been unre-
mitting in his solicitude to promote the interests and
welfare of the colony ; he forwarded to the Board
of Trade the first specimens of cotton grown there,
and has contributed greatly to extend the cultiva-
tion. Cotton being a sun plant will bear the greatest
amount of dry weather, and an island where it sel-
dom rains and the sun always shines seems peculiarly
adapted to its growth. The New Orleans variety
has been found to thrive best ; the Sea Island yields
less and is capricious in its growth. Sanguine
expectations are entertained that the enterprise
will prove successful and remunerative. A letter
was read, reporting the arrival of a consignment
from Kurrachee of 28 bales of cotton, grown
from American seed, near Ferozepore, and a
sample submitted for examination was valued at
16d. per lb., affording additional evidence of the
capability of India to produce cotton that will bear
comparison with American. A letter was received
enclosing specimens of a hybrid cotton, which is
considered to be an improvement, and describing
various experiments still in progress, which the
writer has made, and which promise interesting re-
sults. A further grant of American seed was made
for Bagdad and the surrounding district, where the
soil and climate are represented to be highly favour-
able to cotton cultivation.

ELECTION E PENSES. —The expenses incurred by
Mr. Wyld, M.P. for Bodmin, aro officially stated to have
been £342 19s. 8d ; those of Mr. C. L. Webb, defeated can-
didate, £285135.