RISKS OF THE COTTON MARKET 131 



coarser and finer portions by river and ocean action and 

 at one time was the bottom of a shallow ocean. The ma- 

 terial was largely consolidated into sandstone, shale, and 

 limestone, was afterwards elevated above sea level and 

 has since been covered to a certain extent by outwash 

 from material and by wind-blown deposits of sand and 

 silt."' 19 "The land above cap rock is generally level and 

 gently rolling and the tillable soils are mostly light and 

 easily worked when properly moist; hence, cultivation of 

 large fields with large equipment is easy. These new 

 soils are now fertile; hence, the application of fertilizers 

 is not necessary at present and it is possible that on 

 some of them it never will be." 40 . 



The introduction of agriculture into this region waited 

 upon a substitute for corn, which was unable to stand 

 the dry hot weather. This was found in the cultivation 

 of kafir corn, milo, and sudan. The introduction of cot- 

 ton in this area is said to have been a surprise to every- 

 one except those concerned in its cultivation. By 1924 

 an acreage of 1,269,600 in Texas and 22,700 in New 

 Mexico were planted. "When once new land [in the 

 Staked Plains] is plowed and put in cultivated crops, 

 it rarely is used again for grazing as it does not become 

 reset in the native grasses satisfactorily for many 

 years." :1 Thus the land is kept in cotton or a competing 

 crop. 



In the Staked Plains as a whole, it is estimated that 

 over fifteen millions of acres in Texas and four and a 

 half in New Mexico may be used for crops and pastures. 

 Under favorable market conditions it is likely that from 



39 Milton Whitney, Soils and Civilization, p. 78. 



40 Wooten, op. cit., p. 272. 41 Watkins, op. cit., p. 5. 



