14 HUMAN FACTORS IN COTTON CULTURE 



limits thus set outline the traditional Dixie with remark- 

 able fidelity. The line begins at the northern border of 

 Virginia, slopes to the southern border of Tennessee, rises 

 to the northern border of Arkansas and Oklahoma, and 

 turns sharply to the south when it meets the arid regions 

 of west Texas. The limiting factor in the area thus out- 

 lined is the amount of autumn rainfall. While it is true 

 that heavy spring rains cause shallow rooting of the 

 cotton plant and excessive summer rains restrict the 

 yield, an autumn rainfall exceeding ten inches is practi- 

 cally prohibitive of cotton culture. This is because "fre- 

 quent rain at this season of the year not only interferes 

 with picking and damages the lint, but also favors de- 

 struction of the bolls by the weevil." 13 This has led geog- 

 raphers like O. E. Baker and J. Russell Smith to set off 

 Florida and the subtropic gulf coast as a region separate 

 from the Cotton Belt. 14 



THE COTTON BELTS: SOIL REGIONS 



Within the limits set by frost line and rainfall the 

 density of cotton production is determined by the soils 

 and altitude. A dot map of cotton acreage 15 discloses 

 four generalized areas of cotton production* the Eastern 

 Coastal Plain, the Gulf Coastal Plain, .the Central Al- 

 luvial Valleys, and the Western Prairie Lands. These 

 areas are divided into subregions which correspond with 

 definite soil areas. 16 



13 Baker, op. cit., p. 67. 



14 Smith, North America, chap. XIV. 



15 See opposite page. Reprinted from Cotton Atlas, Plate 14, p. 9. 



16 This analysis of the cotton belts follows the contribution of 

 Hugh H. Bennett in his map prepared in 1917 for the Bureau of 

 Soils, published in Cotton Atlas, Fig. 12, p. 8, and reproduced as 



