I'lMKR CROPS 375 



been 210 pounds per acre as compared with 185 pounds a decade 

 earlier. A yield of 1,500 pounds of seed cotton containing 500 

 pounds of lint, popularly spoken of as a bale of cotton, is con- 

 sidered a good yield. 1 Two bales of cotton are not unusual on 

 certain types of soil. The yield of sea island cotton is less, 

 from 100 to 300 pounds being considered fair to good yields. 



476. Price. Since the United States raises such a large pro- 

 portion of the cotton of the world, and since there is no other 

 fiber that will replace cotton for most purposes at anywhere 

 near the same price per pound, any large fluctuation in yield 

 which may easily occur on account of climatic conditions, fun- 

 gous diseases or insect attacks, may profoundly affect the price 

 of cotton. Thus during the past ten years the December price 

 of middling upland cotton has ranged from 5.6 to 14.1 cents 

 per pound, and the May price has varied from 6.1 to 13.9 cents 

 per pound. 



When short staple upland cotton is worth 9 cents a pound, 

 long staple upland with one and a quarter inch staple may be 

 worth 12 cents, and with one and a half inch staple may be 

 worth 15 cents. The price of sea island cotton is quite variable, 

 but in extreme cases may bring 70 cents a pound. In the past 

 fifteen years the price received for seed by the planters has 

 risen from ten dollars or less to fifteen or more dollars a ton. 

 Thus when a grower sells a bale of cotton for forty-five dollars, 

 he may receive from seven to eight dollars for his seed. 



477. COLLATERAL READING. Alfred B. Shepperson: Cotton Facts (Annual). 

 New York: The Author, 15 William Street. 



C. W. Burkett and C. H. Poe: Cotton, pp. 200-233. New York: Doubleday, 

 Page & Co., 1906. 



H. Thompson: From the Cotton Field to the Cotton Mill. New York: The 

 Macmillan Co., 1906. 



United States Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census 

 Bui. No. 40, 1906. Cotton Production, pp. 46 et seq. 



Twelfth Census of the United States, VI (1900), Part II, pp. 405-419. 



1 A commercial bale of cotton is usually rated at 500 pounds gross that is, 

 including bagging and metal hoops, containing 478 pounds of lint. 



