In the Staked Plains as a whole, it is estimated that over fifteen millions of acres in Texas and four and a half in New Mexico may be used for crops and pastures. Under favorable market conditions it is likely that from 18 to 20 per cent of the region would be devoted to cotton, giving about 3,200,000 new acres.
The advantages of cotton culture in this area rest upon the fact that high altitude and dry climate have so far kept the boll weevil in check. Thus the necessity for con tinuous cultivation through the season is not felt. This advantage is further aided by the absence of troublesome weeds. The level fields allow the riding machine type of cultivation to be used to the utmost. A farmer riding a two-row lister with a six-mule team and a set of fenders, knives, disks, and points can plow and plant the land at one operation. Tractors and plowing teams of four, six, and eight horses are used. Under climatic influences the plants tend to ripen at almost the same time. Thus there has grown up a mechanized method of picking cotton called "sledding." These sleds are run across the level fields, plucking the fruited fiber and unopened bolls. By means of specially perfected machinery the boll cot ton is opened, and the scraps of foliage extracted during the process of ginning. Accordingly, so much less labor of men and mules is required that one farmer may cul tivate as high as one hundred acres in cotton. Cotton picked with the cotton burr to save time is known as "snaps," and frost bitten bolls harvested whole are called "bollies." The gins return remarkably clean bales from snaps, bollies, and sledded cotton, but the grade is not as good as that of the cotton in the Eastern Belt and receives a lower price.
The extent to which farmers realize profits from pro ducing under these low costs is shown by detailed studies made by the Department in Lubbock County, Texas, for 1924.
. . . The average net income per farm received for its operation by the family for the year, after paying all inter est on borrowed capital (and including the value of that part of the family living furnished directly by the farm as part of the farm receipts) was for 139 farms over $3,000. Three men lost money, 10 per cent made less than $1,000, but 13.5 per cent made over $5,000 and the remainder made between $1,000 and $5,000. These incomes were obtained on farms
averaging 232 acres in size, valued at $68 per acre, with 37.6 per cent of the land in harvested cotton having an average yield of 148 pounds of lint selling at an average price of about 20 cents per pound. The average net worth of these farmers when they settled in the region was just over $5,000 per man and on March 1, 1925, the corresponding figure was $18,000, the difference having been made by the operation of the farm and its own increase in value in an average period of operation of 5.84 years.' The conditions in this county are typical of about eight others in the region.
Such an analysis serves to explain why the period from 1915 to 1926, which saw an increase in cotton acreage of 51 per cent in the whole United States, found the Western Belt with an increase of 87 per cent. Texas in creased her acreage in this period 77 per cent and Okla homa 169 per cent. The disastrous bumper crop of 1926 found several of the eastern states with acreage prac tically stationary and in some cases reduced. Texas and Oklahoma for that year increased production 2,076,000 bales, which almost accounted for the disastrous in crease from 16,004,000 bales in 1925 to 18,618,000 in 1926. This analysis also serves to show why any state agreements to restrict acreage are likely to fail. When other states are selling cotton below cost of production the newer regions continue to operate on a margin of profit.
Again Texas and Oklahoma have made cotton farming more hazardous for growers in other states because the variations in their yields are so great as to increase price fluctuations. Thus from 1925 to 1926 Texas with only a 4.2 per cent increase in acreage, from 17,608,000 to 18,363,000 acres, increased her crop 41 per cent, from 4,163,000 to 5,900,000 bales. In the same period Oklahoma with a 0.6 per cent decrease in acreage, from 5,214,000 to 4,912,000 acres, had a 15 per cent increase in production, from 1,691,000 to 1,950,000 bales." These variations are due to the extreme danger of droughts in the West as already discussed. In this area the effects of the drought are increased by the blowing of the loose sandy soil which occurs during dry weather.