The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-09-10

pests in regard to which the ryots are very ignorant. If the boil form ruins their crop they rarely study how to overcome the pest, but usually perform a religious rite. and if the second crop is also failure. they alphabetically starve to death. The boll worm, both pink and spotted. is common in India and annually destroys large quantities of cotton. The boil weevih which is so destructive in America, has not yet been found in India out there are many other cotton plant pests and dis eases. especially boil rot. which are about as numerous as those to which cotton in America is subject.
 The longer stapled varieties of In- dian cotton. such as DholIerahs, Vest erns. and Cocanadas are probably hy- brids. Acclamatized annual exotics. such as Dharwar and Broach, are much improved by seed selection and some experiments are being made in this di- rection. Such improvement on a larger scale is difficult for the reason that as soon as the cotton of any one gin ming center attains a good reputation the Indians will haul their cotton through the country for long distances in order to get it ginned and sent out from the same place, and the reputation so enjoyed Appreciates. Furthermore, at. many places, the ginner. or some other middleman, makes a speciality of mixing difficult grades and so ob- taining a better price than If the cot ton were sold straight. Very often the mixture Is sold under the name of the higher grades. and there is good deal of this false marking carried on. Saw-ginned Broach is usually consid- cred the highest grade of Indian cot ton and Bengal the lowest In fact good deal of Bengal and Khandesh cotton Is so low grade and short that it can not be woven into cotton goods, but is exported to Europe and mixed with wool for the purpose of produc- ing the continental worsteds.
 The Spence tree cotton has attracted & good deal of attention lately and seems likely to prove of some value. It Is is too early to predict much with re- gard to 1t. While referred to as Spence tree cotton" 1t is very old and found throughout India. but if cultivat- ed in the past, as some suppose. it has detertorated and dropped out of use for a long while.
 Shipping Advantages.
 If American cotton were baled as well as the Indian there would be three advantages, viz: saving in freight. saw ing in trouble at mill due to buckles, and saving in tare and liability to dam age. The most important is the sav- ing in freight. Owing to the superior packing of Egyptian cotton the cost of freight from Alexandria to Liverpool is only IS cents per 100 pounds. as com pared with 30 cents per 100 pounds from New Orleans to Liverpool. A re- auction of even cents per 100 pounds would save in ocean charges alone si.- 750.000 q year.
 The rate on cotton shipments from India is continually varying and the carrying trade of India is so controlled by shipping rings which give rebates that the actual carrying charges of cot- ton are uncertain. On July l, IS0Ts however, the quoted rate on cotton shipments from Bombay to Liverpool via Suez Canal was given at 15s. (Ss.65) per ton of 70 cubic feet for ready (JuIy) shipments and 14s. Sd. ($a.41) for forward (August) shipments. Rates from Bombay to Hamburg were quoted i shilling GA Is cents) per ton higher. ciation through the MitsurB agents Bombay, and partly through other agents.
 This last year more powerful presses were installed and the Indian bale con densed to much smaller packaRes- They were made so small that the ties were put around the bale endwise instead of sideways, as usual. The smaller size effected quite an additional saving in freight and the new baling was at first regarded as quite an achievement. How ever, to sample such hard bales was difioult, and the mills objected to them as being much more dififcult to get opened up and as causing trouble in working, so the new method Is now be- ing abandoned. In India cotton Is bought by net weight and not paid for until received. The bulk of the ex- ports and also a very large amount of the local mill cotton passes through the hands of the Bombay cotton ex- changes
 Insurance companies in America. on account of the known danger of spon- taneous combustion, usually forbid one cotton bale to be piled on another. At Colaba, however, both in the high warehouses and in the open cotton yards, the bales are stacked in large, closely packed masses. often fifteen bales or more in height. Owing to the uniform size of the Indian compressed bales. this is easily done and the cot ton occupies several times less space than would be possible in the case of American bale. The result. however. ts that during the months of June and July, when the cotton gets soaked in the Indian sun, there are continuous recurring fires, and the cotton men are puzzled as to why the numerous special police and detectives can not catch the incendiary. The fires all occur In the lots stacked up ln huge piles in the open, and during last season alone the fire, losses at Colaba amounted to over SS0O.000.
 Very little Indian cotton now goes to England, the bulk of the crop going to tbe European continent and Japan.
 Japan apd France take the highest priced qualities and Germany the low est The fact that Japan uses high CT average grade of Indian cotton than is used in the Indian mills, besides mix ing with Chinese and American cotton, is one reason why Japanese yarn brings a higher price on the Chinese market than does Indian yarn. Of the cot ton exported, about threo-fourths goes out from Bombay and the remainder from Madras, Karachi, Calcutta and RangoOn.