COTTON BELT, a name applied to that region of the United States where cotton growing is the chief branch of agri culture. The area producing this plant is limited by its special requirements—a warm climate, a long growing season, a fertile soil and a moderate amount of summer rain. The section properly called the "cotton belt" includes the eastern three-fourths of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, western Tennessee, Arkansas, northern and central Louisiana, the south-eastern two-thirds of Oklahoma, and the eastern three f ourths of Texas. The ten States, above named, in 1925, produced 95.5% of the total cotton crop of the United States and 55.53% of the estimated world total. The remaining 4.5% of the total for the United States in 1925 was produced in south-eastern Virginia, northern Florida, south-eastern Missouri, south-eastern New Mex ico, south-western Arizona and southern California.