COTTON PRODUCTION 



Year. 



1870 

 1880 

 1890 

 1900 

 1910 

 I9II 

 1912 



1913 

 1914 

 1915 



Production. 

 Millions of Ib. 



1,924 

 3.039 

 4,093 

 4,846 



5,552 

 7,506 

 6,556 

 6,772 

 7,719 



5,354 



Total Exports. 

 Millions of Ib 



1,399 

 2,130 



2,797 



3,238 

 3,852 

 5,159 

 4,471 

 4,480 



4,332 

 3,978 



The area devoted to cotton each year in the United 

 States is about 33 million acres. The principal 

 States in which the crop is grown are South Carolina, 

 Georgia and Alabama on the east of the Mississippi, 

 and the eastern half of Texas on the west of the river. 

 The acreage planted has increased during recent 

 years, owing partly to the development of new regions 

 in Oklahoma and Western Texas, but more largely to 

 extension within the so-called cotton belt. There 

 are vast areas of land which could be rendered suitable 

 for the crop, but the scarcity of labour is a formidable 

 obstacle to progress in this direction. It is considered, 

 however, that the production could be greatly 

 increased on the lands at present cultivated by the 

 more general use of manures, by the employment of 

 modern agricultural machinery for preparing the soil, 

 and by more diversified farming. 



The average yield of ginned cotton in the United 

 States is about 200 Ib. per acre. 



The crop consists mainly of Upland varieties, the 

 amount of Sea Island cotton produced being less than 

 one per cent, of the whole. 



The consumption of cotton in the mills of the 

 United States has undergone a steady increase and 

 at the present time is growing more rapidly than the 

 production of the raw material. The following table 

 records the approximate quantities used in 1830, 

 and each tenth year subsequently, and also in 1912, 

 1913 and 1914. 



