bales, followed in order by Georgia and Mississippi.

The following table from Bulletin 100 of the Bureau of the Census,
Department of Commerce and Labor, gives the acreage devoted to
cultivation of cotton in 1908 as follows:

Alabama 3,591,000 acres.
Arkansas 2,296,000 "
Florida 265,000 "
Georgia 4,848,000 "
Louisiana 1,550,000 "
Mississippi 3,395,000 "
Missouri 87,000 "
North Carolina 1,458,000 "
Oklahoma 2,311,000 "
South Carolina 2,545,000 "
Tennessee 754,000 "
Texas 9,316,000 "
Virginia 28,000 "
----------
32,444,000 "

The figure for Missouri includes other cotton-producing localities not
named.

Before dealing with the actual cultivation of cotton, as carried on in
the States, it will be well to briefly name the kind of soils which are
met with in this cotton area. Generally speaking, soils are divided into
the following classes:--

Clayey soils.
Clayey loam soils.
Loamy soils.
Sandy loam soils.
Sandy soils.

This classification is determined by the relative percentage of sand and
clay.

In the States we have all these types, and in some districts they lie
within easy reach of each other. It should be pointed out that
sufficient and uniform heat and humidity are essential to the
production of good cotton crops, and as the sandy soils are of an open
character, it is plain that moisture will readily pass from these, while
the heavy clays act just in the opposite direction, viz., prevent the
uniform evaporation of the moisture within them; hence, as a rule,
clayey lands are moist and damp, and it has been found from observation
that on lands of this class, a good deal of wood and leaf are produced,
and but little fruit relatively. A matter therefore which must not be
lost sight of, is that a suitable texture should be found, or, in other
words, the amount of sand and clay in the soils should be in the right
proportion. Of course, however suitable a soil may be, if the climatic
conditions are adverse, only failure can result. Given good land,
properly drained and a suitable temperature, together with an uniform
supply of moisture, heavy crops may be expected. Sudden changes in the
temperature, and variations in the amount of moisture, certainly act
deleteriously upon the plant, especially during the period in wh