CHAPTER XX 
COTTON 
The World’s Best Fiber.—Cotton may well be called 
“king of the fiber crops.” In quantity of production it 
ranks first as the world’s textile fiber. It is a staple crop 
that has supplied man with clothing for many ages. Its 
seed, stalks, and roots are now being converted into feed, 
food for the table, fertilizer, paper stock, and medicine. 
While a number of countries are engaged in cotton pro¬ 
duction, three-fourths of the world’s crop is produced in 
the Southern states with an area of about one-fourth of 
that of the United States. Cotton growing is well adapted 
to the moist, warm, even climate, and soils of the South. 
These conditions, together with farmers trained in the 
art of cotton growing and backed by cheap labor, lead 
one to believe that cotton will remain the chief money 
crop of the southern farmer. 
Types of Cotton.—We have two principal types of 
cotton in the United States known as Upland and Sea 
Island Cotton. The upland is classified into what is 
known as short and long staple cotton. The short staple 
varieties produce lint that ranges in length from % to 
1% 6 inches. The long staple varieties produce lint of a 
better grade that ranges from 1% to IV 2 inches in length. 
The short staple varieties may be grown successfully on 
many kinds of soils varying from the thin light sandy 
soils to the heavier loams. The long staple varieties are 
more profitable when grown on bottom lands and very 
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