COTTON 201 



YIELD OF COTTON 



(Continued} 



Year Production, Product per acre, 



in bales pounds 



1900 10,425,141 193 



1901 10,701,433 186 



1902 10,758,326 192 



1903 10,123,886 170 



1904 13,556,841 207 



1905 10,697,013 205 



No one needs to be told that these fluctuations 

 were due to natural causes. The same farmers 

 tilled the same kind of land, used the same kinds 

 of fertilizers, followed the same methods of culture, 

 picked the fiber in the same manner, during all these 

 years. There is some fluctuation in acreage, to 

 be sure, but we are now referring to the yield per 

 acre. The difference in yield between 1903 and 

 1904, for instance, is thirty-seven pounds per acre, 

 or a variation of more than twenty per cent. In 

 this case acreage did not influence the yield, since 

 it was greater the year the largest area was planted. 

 Neither smaller productivity of the land nor the 

 grower's carelessness in culture could possibly have 

 influenced these results unless they acted in keeping 

 the differences within closer limits. The same 

 wide difference is noted when the years 1898 and 

 1899 are compared, only here the variation is even 

 greater 51 pounds, or a difference of more than 

 thirty per cent. 



This inability on the part of the cotton farmer 

 to control his output acts immensely to his dis- 

 advantage not only in estimating his yearly ex- 

 penses, but in marketing his crops as well. 



Quite different is it with the man who buys cot- 

 ton and manufactures it. 



