The South has always been largely an agricultural section, with the production of cotton as the leading interest. In 1909 the yield was about 13,500,000 bales from about 32,000,000 acres. In value the crop equals about twice the annual output of all the gold mines in the world. The 8,000,000 bales which are exported annually represent an income to the United States of about $400,000,000. The problem which has called for the most attention is that the average output per acre has been decreasing for years. During the past few years the white farmers have taken active steps to remedy this weakness. Agricultural experiment stations have conducted investigations and the agricultural press has interpreted these results to the actual farmers and has conducted a systematic agitation for an agricultural revolution. Associations have been formed for the purpose of studying conditions and introducing improved methods in preparing the soil and rotating crops. More of the food supply of the South is to be raised at home; better homes and farm buildings are being erected, and better machinery is being used. The invention of a mechanical cotton picker, which has been accomplished, should reduce materially the cost of handling the crop. [Illustration] Bales of cotton ready for shipment. Cotton-press yard, New Orleans. Closely connected with this is the problem of roads. Where railroads are scarce good wagon roads are all the more necessary. In the South (excluding Kentucky, Arkansas, and Oklahoma) there are 500,000 miles of public roads serving a population of over 20,000,000 people. In 1908 there were only 17,700 miles of improved road. To help along this work good roads associations have been formed in the various States. The old methods of financing the plantation system are passing. The planters are breaking away from the credit system which has kept them as borrowers and debtors and, as a result, they have money for investments elsewhere. The great problems connected with cotton culture are the labor supply and proper conservation of the soil. These solved, the friends of the South confidently believe that thirty times as much cotton could be produced as is produced at present. When one learns that only 145,200,000 acres out of 612,000,000 are now under cultivation, the claim does not seem extravagant. [Illustration] Loading cotton on the levee, New Orleans.