346 FIELD CROP PRODUCTION 



the making of cotton cloth is one of the important indus- 

 tries. 



364. Production in the United States. — In the United 



States cotton production is confined to the Southern and 

 Gull States of southeastern United States, which is re- 

 ferred to as the " cotton belt." In this section of the coun- 

 try cotton is the principal money crop and is closely 

 associated with the prosperity of the farmers and the 

 success of all kinds of business. Growing from a small 

 industry at the time of the Revolutionary War in the 

 Carolinas and Georgia, its culture has greatly spread with 

 increasing acreage into the states to the west of the original 

 cotton region, until now the production of cotton is 

 second in value only to corn and contributes mightily 

 to the nation's wealth. 



Texas devotes nearly 40 per cent of her improved land 

 area to cotton, and produces more than one-fourth of 

 the cotton of the country and more than 15 per cent of 

 the world's crop. Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and 

 South Carolina each devote over 35 per cent of their 

 improved lands to cotton, and taken together, produce 

 almost one-half of the cotton of the country. Arkansas, 

 Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Louisiana each devote 

 considerable area to this crop, and when their production 

 is added to that of the above mentioned states, together 

 these nine states produce over 95 per cent of the cotton crop 

 of the United States and over one-half of the cotton crop 

 of the entire world. The ten-year average yield of cotton 

 per acre varies from 166 pounds in Texas to 225 pounds 

 in North Carolina, and the average yield per acre for all 

 of the states for the same period is approximately 185 

 pounds. 



365. Adaptation. — Profitable cotton production is 



