386 



THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



In the period of the early settlement of Central Illinois, or between the years 1818 and 

 1828, cotton was in that locality a common crop, not for exportation, but simply for home 

 consumption, to be used in connection with wool in manufacturing clothing for the settlers. 

 But since that period, the experiments made to cultivate it in that section have generally 

 proved a failure. This difference is probably not so much due to a change in climate or in 

 the length of the seasons as from the fact that the early settlers of Illinois confined their 

 corn and cotton culture to the timber fields, which were sheltered and warm; therefore the 

 crops would mature earlier than in unsheltered localities in the -same climate. Cotton requires 

 a warm climate to be successfully grown, and in such a temperature can be cultivated with 

 less expense and no danger of failure from causes which render its culture beyond its natural 

 habitat attended with considerable risk an early frost or backward season often resulting in 

 a partial or complete failure of the crop in such sections. 



We doubt if its culture nor&amp;gt;th of North Carolina and Tennessee will be attended with as 

 much profit as that of other crops better adapted to the latitude. It can, it is true, be grown 

 considerably beyond this limit, but the question to be settled in the mind of the planter is, 

 Will it be as profitable a crop to cultivate as some others better adapted to that locality ? 



Prof. Pendleton, of Georgia, gives as his opinion, that north of the thirty-fourth degree 

 of latitude the seasons are not sufficiently long to give uniform success with the cotton plant, 

 while south of the thirty-first degree the seasons are so wet, and insects so abundant, that 

 results will be quite uncertain, and the cost of its culture be also greatly increased. While 

 there may be some few exceptions, such as in warm and sheltered localities, where an earlier 

 growth and quicker maturity of the crop can be secured, yet, in the main, the belt between 

 the two above-mentioned degrees of latitude will be found to be the most favorable region 

 for the successful cultivation of the cotton plant. 



The following table from the Census Report for 1880 shows the total cotton production 

 in each of the cotton-growing States during the previous year (1879), the average product per 

 acre, etc., the names of the States being arranged in accordance with the order of their rank 

 in the amount produced. 



TABLE I. Showing Total Cotton Production and Average Product Per Acre. 



* The population figures are still subject to possible correction. 



The first three columns give the population of the several States, divided according to 

 color. The acreage and total production are given in the next two columns. Column 6 gives 

 the ratio between the figures of columns 4 and 5 in decimal fractions of a bale produced per acre. 



