FIBRE PLANTS 311 



"Of the 17,782,440 bales making up the 1904-5 

 cotton crop of the world, the United States grew 

 13,420,440 bales." If Mr. C. W. Burkett, author 

 of the great book, " Cotton, " is sure of his figures, 

 we see that the United States grew in that year 

 three times as much cotton as all other countries 

 put together. Cotton is the principal crop in ten 

 states of the South. Yet the industry is capable 

 of wonderful expansion, and the next half century 

 will see the cotton yield doubled without extend- 

 ing the territory. Only one acre in seventeen in 

 the Cotton Belt now grows cotton. The average 

 yield is less than two hundred pounds of "lint," 

 or fibre, per acre. Many large cotton plantations, 

 under careful cultivation, average 500 to 800 

 pounds of lint per acre. The primitive methods of 

 growing cotton must be reformed; then the yield 

 will keep pace with the growing demand for more 

 that comes from the mills and factories. More 

 land can be planted to cotton, when the world 

 needs more than good farming can produce on the 

 present acreage. The supremacy of our country 

 as the producer of cotton will never be taken away. 

 This is the opinion of the best authorities in this 

 and other parts of the world. 



The reason we are confident that more cotton 

 will soon be needed is that civilization is opening 



