El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-03-03
SEA ISLAND COTTON
CROPS ARE NOW BECOMING ENORMOUS

: per acre, while Montserrat. 40 miles
away, gets ESQ pounds. Apparently only
/ continued planting determines who is
/ the drawer. of a lucky location in the
( cotton land lottery
! In st. Kits the area of maximum pro
! duction is defined almost as sharply as
! If by a fence.
Free From WeeviI.
! The boil weeviI has not reached the
| islands where cotton is doing so well.
| but the planters are doing a vast
amount of spraying to head off such
pests. They have horrible example. in
Antigua where. during the past two
( years. the cotton bud maggot injured
the crop so badly that the enterprise
was nearly abandoned However. the
| landlords took heart once more and now
! have 900 acres in cotton. This is re-
| ported to be doing well because the
weather was hot and dry in the last
budding season. a condition the mag
got cannot abide
To further the war on pests. the inl-
perial department of agriculture under
fakes to buy and disinfect any new seed
brought into an island and to watch il
afterward TO see whether the disinfect-
ant was effective.
Cotton Supplants Tobacco.
Tobacco and sugar were formerly the
great staples Of the Caribbean. but to-
bacco growing died natural death and
sugar was scarcely paying when cotton
doomed on the horizon. With it came
a. providential discovery. This was, that
cotton is planted in May and June and
picked in November-the month for
planting sugar cane. Hence, no time
need be lost between seasons.
The discovery again made cane
valT1 vUhnra raised.
II was case OF killing two birds with
one stone. most of the preliminary work
for the cane being incidental to the
cotton cultivation This double tilling
is continued two years, then the ground
is planted in pigeon peas, which are
later plowed under as nourishment for
the soil The other fertilizers are of
the chemical kind and are imported
from the United States
Ginning facilities have been pro-
vided in st. Kits and other big pro
ducing islands. and S27 per ton is paid
for seed The cotton seed oil is shipped
to Barbados for refining The St. kits
bale weighs 622 pounds. and the freight
on it TO Liverpool is about $4.37 per
bale
Department Gin.
A sociatlistic departure made by the
imperial department of agriculture
should be a matter Of interest to stu
dents of economics and advocates OF
government ownership. Cotton was in
troduced in the Virgin islands by the
government experiment station 1t did
we'll At that time the sole industries
in the islands were fishing and rails
ing a few cattle and sheep.
The scientists furnished seed to peas
ants living near. and persuaded them TO
try it These pioneers soon found that
cotton paid them and the industry be-
came general However. the inhabi-
tants- of the Virgin islands were ex-
ceedingly poor. and all together could
not raise funds for a gin. The depart
ment entered the commercial field by
building a gin and offering to buy cot
ton in small lots at the usual rates
An outlet for their produce having
been found. the islanders of course
raised more cotton The ginnery is run
on strictly honest commercial lines
and the profits 70 TO the government
The experiment in the Virgin Islands
has worked so we'll that the income
from the ginnery equals all the other
revenues of the government put to-
gether-
Advance Money to Planters.
The government has fOstered the en-
terprise in other islands by advancing
money to the planters The manner of
collecting these loans was to levy an
export tax of one cent per pound. But
the government is now anxious TO get
out feeling that the industry is well
enough established to support itself
One objection TO the export duty was
that it was fiat rate, being the same
for inferior cotton selling at ten cents
per pound as on that selling at 35
cents.
To take the place of the government
as a sort of wet nurse to cotton grow
ing. the British Growing association
has been incorporated by royal charter
1t is lending money where assistance is
needed. Among other things it under
takes TO act as commission and
clearing house 'for the crOR provides
cheap insurance. furnishes cheap trans
portation from the islands 10 Liverpool
or Southampton. has agents who en-
courage the tenants and publishes
timely and valuable bulletins in addi-
ton to those issued by the government.
Among the associations members in
council are about 80 of England's big
gest men In the cotton business includ-
ing spinners. dyers. printers. weavers.
representatives of labor organizations
and members of the nobility. The as
ISOLATION also has West African
branch.
TomOrrow-Curing the Insane