COTTOX STATISTICS 383 



■ " The statistics in this report for 1909 are subject to slight 

 corrections. Included in the figures for 1909 are 49,448 bales, 

 which ginners and delinters estimated would be turned out aftei 

 the time of the March canvass. Round bales included are 

 150,690 for 1909 ; 242,305 for 1908 ; and 198,549 for 1907. Sea- 

 island bales included are 94,566 for 1909 ; 93,858 for 1908 ; and 

 80,895 for 1907. Linter bales included are 314,597 for 1909 ; 

 346,126, for 1908; and 268,060 for 1907. The average gross 

 weight of the bale for the crop, counting round as half bales and 

 including linters, is 496.5 pounds for 1909, compared with 505.8 

 for 1908 and .502.2 for 1907. The number of ginneries operated 

 for the crop of 1909 is 26,660, compared with 27,598 for 1908." 



354. Distribution of cotton culture in the United States. 

 — The northern line of the cotton-belt of the United States 

 extends from near Xorfolk, ^'irginia, in a southwesterly 

 direction to the northeastern part of Georgia ; thence in 

 a northeasterly direction through Tennessee and into 

 Kentucky, crossing the ^lississippi River just south of 

 the mouth of the Ohio. Thence the line extends almost 

 directly west through the southern part of Missouri, 

 excluding the northwestern part of Arkansas. The cot- 

 ton-belt includes practically all of Oklahoma and all of 

 Texas except the extreme western part. Small isolated 

 areas producing small amounts of cotton are found in the 

 irrigated regions of Xew ^lexico, California, and other 

 parts of the Southwest. 



Within the territory mapped as constituting the cotton- 

 belt, a large proportion of the counties produce only a few 

 thousand bales. These areas in which cotton is a relatively 

 unimpiortant crop are, (I) the countrj' along the northern 

 edge of the cotton-belt, especially in mountainous sections ; 

 (2) parts of the country on the Gulf coast where rice, 

 sugar-cane, truck crops, and forest pjroducts supplant 



