: PART IIT. Mr. SIMPSON said that in districts where Wimbi can be cultivated the natives have been taught to plant their seed between the rows before uprooting the cotton sticks. After the Wimbi has been harvested they are expected to plant ground-nuts. and the soil will not carry cotton again for two years. In the course of a discussion arising out of a question regarding the pressing of cotton seed for oil, Mr. Simpson said that the export of oil did not pay, as freight had to be paid upon the empty oil containers. . The climatic conditions of Uganda were not conducive to the production of a good oil cake. Transport costs made the use of cotton seed cake as a manure prohibitive. The production of oil in Uganda would not become a paying proposition until there was a local market for it and its bye-products. The Uganda cotton industry had to bear this disadvantage. In the course of further discussion, it was agreed: — That as long as no local markets existed it was more economical to export the cotton seed than to export oil in special containers. Mr. HOLM asked the Conference to convey to the Director of Agriculture of Uganda and his staff congratulations upon the wonderful success of the cotton industry of that Protectorate: he would have preferred someone else to have spoken on this subject, inasmuch as Kenya was not an important cotton producing country, but the success of Uganda had benefitted Kenya Colony greatly in many ways. CHAPTER IV. THE COTTON INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA. (This item was dealt with by the Cotton and Agricultural Sections jointly). Mr. KOCH made a statement on the Cotton Industry in the Union of South Africa, as follows: — The annual world production of cotton lint is normally about 20,000,000 bales of 500 lbs. each, being the quantity actually consumed in the cotton mills, and exclusive of the large amounts used locally by primitive tribes in China, India, Africa, and other countries. At present South Africa produces only a small amount of the world’s supply. The farmers in this country have for many years (since about 1860) been trying to produce cotton, but until 1910 their efforts met with failure owing to lack of knowledge of cultural methods and want of gins and means of conveyance. However, cotton culture has made rapid progress since 1910, especially in the Middle and Low veld of the Transvaal and Natal, where conditions are ideal for the crop. The future is now most promising. The great possibilities of cotton in those parts are causing widespread interest, and a realisation of the very important part it will play in the development of the vast, sparsely-populated and fertile recions in the hotter parts of the Union. The periodical 139