=Valuations of Samples examined at the Imperial Institute.=—The following selection of specimens of Gold Coast cottons examined and reported on at different times by the Imperial Institute will give some indication of the relative values:— Standard at time of Place Variety Staple Value valuation “Middl. Amer.” Labolabo Volta clean-seed 0·8-1·4 5-5½_d_. 5·05_d_. „ Green-seed 1-1·4 5_d_. 5·05_d_. „ Black Volta, small woolly 1-1·4 5½-6_d_. 6·43_d_. seeded from N. Terr. „ Black Rattler 1·2-1·8 7_d_. 6·7_d_. „ Native × Allens 1·2-1·6 6_d_. „ „ Native × Russels 1·2-1·5 4½_d_. „ „ Native × Peruvian 1·2-1·6 7_d_. „ „ Native × Culpepper 1·1-1·5 6½-7_d_. „ „ Volta × Black Rattler 1·1-1·5 5_d_. „ „ Volta × Richmond 1·1-1·6 6-6½_d_. „ „ Greenseed × Black Rattler 1-1·4 5_d_. „ „ Greenseed × Richmond 1-1·4 7_d_. „ Tamale, N. Terr., Native 0·7-1·0 5½_d_. „ The cottons from native varieties crossed with American represent the first generation only, as in no case were the following generations found constant. The large profits which have been made from cocoa in the forest country have caused cotton-growing to be neglected, and it seems improbable that large quantities of cotton will be exported from this region during the next few years. In the same part of the country palm oil and rubber are easily collected, and, besides being more remunerative products, require comparatively small exertion in preparation. An attempt to establish cotton cultivation upon a commercial scale, among the industrious people of the Northern Territories, was made by the British Cotton Growing Association, but the immense distances of the inhabited tracts from a shipping port and the consequent expense of transport, combined with the uncertainty of the rainfall in these ultra-forest regions, compelled the abandonment of the venture in 1916. =FIBRES.=—Piassava fibre, which has sometimes been called “vegetable whalebone,” is prepared from the sheath of the lower parts of the leaf-stem of a tree belonging to the Natural Order _PALMÆ_, and classified as _Raphia vinifera_, P. Beauv. This tree is found growing in the vicinity of streams, and occurs commonly in the forest regions near the coast.