480 FIELD CROPS 



"Fair" cotton is usually about one-fourth higher in price 

 than " ordinary." 



628. Prices. The relative prices of different lots of 

 cotton are based on the market grades, but the price itself 

 is fixed by the supply and demand, and also to some extent 

 by market manipulations. The price usually ranges between 

 8 and 15 cents a pound, though cotton has sold below 5 

 cents. The lowest price of middling upland at Galveston, 

 Texas, for the ten years from 1901 to 1910 was 6.625 cents, 

 and the highest price, 16 cents. The average of the highest 

 yearly prices for the ten years was slightly less than 13 cents, 

 while the average of the lowest prices was 8.8 cents. The 

 prices at the other large markets usually rule slightly higher 

 than those at Galveston. 



629. Exports and Imports. The average annual exporta- 

 tion of cotton for the ten years from 1900 to 1909 was 

 7,542,074 bales, valued at $387,996,516. Of this, about 

 30,000 bales were Sea Island cotton, the remainder being 

 upland. During this period, the annual imports of cotton 

 averaged only 151,080 bales, with a value of $11,808,939, 

 leaving a balance in favor of the United States of $376,187,- 

 577. 



630. Insect Pests. The most important insects which 

 attack the cotton crop are the boll weevil and the bollworm, 

 though a host of others do more or less damage. The boll 

 weevil was first reported in extreme southern Texas in 1892, 

 though it had been known in Mexico for many years. Since 

 then it has spread through the cotton belt steadily, the 

 advance northward and eastward being at the rate of from 

 forty to fifty miles a year. The region now infested includes 

 practically all of Texas where cotton is grown, southern 

 Oklahoma, southern Arkansas, and all of Louisiana and 

 Mississippi. At its present rate o^ progress, it will probably 



