130 HUMAN FACTORS IN COTTON CULTURE 



up to cotton farming of a hitherto undeveloped region 

 in the Great Plains. 



From 1919 to 1926 Texas increased her cotton acreage 

 from over ten million to over eighteen million and her 

 production from three million to almost six million bales. 

 A great part of this increase occurred in a region which 

 had been considered beyond the possibility of cotton cul- 

 ture, the Staked Plains. In 1918 the Department experts 

 had written in the Cotton Atlas: "The expansion of the 

 Cotton Belt has approximately reached its climatic lim- 

 its, and future increases in acreage must be mostly by 

 a more complete utilization of the land within these 

 limits." 5 This prophecy was to receive a striking con- 

 tradiction. Located near the south end of the Great 

 American Desert, the Texas Staked Plains first furnished 

 winter range for the buffalo and after 1865 became the 

 scene of western cattle ranches. 36 Under the impression 

 that such land would never be available for crops, stock 

 raisers acquired ranches comprising thousands of acres 

 by what practically amounted to violation of Texas 

 land laws. By 1885 it was shown that crops could be 

 grown in this area, and the small farmer began to push 

 his way into the midst of the ranching economy. Be- 

 tween 1919 and 1924 a million acres were added to cul- 

 tivation. 37 The decline in the value of live stock and the 

 rising price of farm land had practically completed the 

 removal of cattle raising from the region by 1925. 38 



The soil has been described as "a heterogeneous mix- 

 ture of outwash material segregated to some extent into 



85 P. 23. 



36 E. O. Wooten, "Cotton in Texas Plain Area," Dept. of Agri- 

 culture Yearbook, 1926, pp. 271-74. 



37 Ibid., p. 271. 88 Ibid., p. 272. 



