King Cotton

     The cotton plant has been used to make cloth for over 7000 years. The first cotton plants were cultivated in the New World by the Spanish during the mid 1500s. Whitney's cotton engine, coupled up with machine spun cotton, made a huge impact on the cotton belt growers in the United States. Cotton production leaped from an 150,000 dollar a year industry to over eight million in just a few years after the cotton gin came on line in 1794. Cotton was king in the southern states for decades during the early 19th century until over production and overworked soil lead to hard times for the industry.
     Today, a resurgence has taken hold for the cotton growers all across the south from California to North Carolina. Cotton acreage in Virginia has jumped from 5,000 to an astounding 100,000 in the last few years. North Carolina has also seen great increases as cotton has replaced the tobacco crop. Once again, too much of a good thing has taken a huge slice of the farmer's profits. The price for cotton topped out at 80 cents a pound, and has since dipped to 30 cents per pound.
     Bathed in the morning sun, a sole Roanoke Rapids' cotton house stands out in the middle of the cotton fields. Here in the American sunbelt, it takes just about five months for the cotton plant to mature.