the planter. This plant requires a long season of warm weather. However, the 

 temperature is not oppressive, and sunstrokes, which are so common in the 

 Northern states, seldom occur in the South. The average temperature for the year 

 1917 at Greenville, Miss., was 63 degrees. Winter temperature seldom goes below 

 freezing and will range somewhere between 36 and 60 degrees. In summer the 

 temperature rarely goes above 96 degrees. The annual rainfall is about 56 inches. 



Water 



The excellent health conditions that prevail in the Yazoo Delta country are 

 largely due to the pure drinking water obtained from flowing artesian wells, of 

 which there are about 5,000. Nearly every large plantation, village, hamlet and 

 city gets its water supply from this source, which was not true in the pioneer days 

 in the South any more than it was in the North, where the water was drawn from 

 shallow wells and cisterns. Wherever proper drainage and sanitary conditions 

 prevail, the health of the people compares favorably to that of any other section 

 of the United States. Coming from a depth of several hundred feet, the water is 

 not subject to contamination, and is therefore of the highest quality and purity. 



Crops 



Cotton. For more than a century the Delta has gone unchallenged as the 

 Champion producer of long-staple cotton. This staple was king and reigned 

 supreme, and on good land, under proper cultivation, yields from one to two bales 

 per acre. A bale consists of about 500 pounds and at war prices is worth about 

 $200, and under pre-war times was worth from 18 to 25 cents per pound. Con- 

 ditions have changed in the Delta since the advent of the boll weevil, which a 

 few years ago threatened the entire cotton belt with ruin, just as the chinch bug 

 did the wheat farmers of the North some years ago. Under these conditions the 

 cotton planter was forced to revise his farming methods, which he did by diversi- 

 fying his crops. The one-crop system no longer prevails, but with profitable 

 results crops of corn, alfalfa, oats, soy beans, cow peas and velvet beans are 

 marketed annually. 



Mississippi for Cotton 

 6 



