Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1900-03-22
-
THE COTTON BELT.

Ainslie's Magazine.
The cotton belt covers "a degi ees OF
longitude aud 10 degrees Of latitude.
Excluding from the count the greater
part OF Virginia, more than 100, 900
square miles of Western Texas and the
whole CT Kentucky, Kansas, Missouri,
Utah, California, Arizona and New
Mexico, in all Of which cotton has
been cultivated, and where larger
demand might cause its culture to be
extended, the ootton-growing region
measures neail 60U,000 square miles,
almost one-third of tho total area of
settlement in 1890 Of the United States.
The 20, 900, 600 acres planted IN cotton
occupies barely five acres, In every 100
of this extensive region. Scarcely 30
per cent of this territory is in farms.
and not more than onefifth has OF any
time been titled. This section con-
tanned in 1890 population of over
100000 whites and something over
5000, 600 negroes, in oil ID, 65l, 006,
every 100 of them producing 53 bales
OF cotton, an average OF 25A pounds of
lint per capita.
In 1901 South Carolina led the other
States in the production OF cotton. In
1870 Alabama stood first Mississippi
led In 1860 1880. Texas stood at the
head in 1880, and still does. The centre
of production was near Montgomery,
Ma, in 1850; this center had moved
two miles west by 1860. In 1870 1t was
near Carthage, Miss, and In 1850 was
in Noxubee county, Miss. In 1880 it
was GO miles northwest in AGtala
county. 1t is moving west all the time
ON account of the increasing crops In
A ttl fha iatn
tory, not to mention Oklahoma.
Best Way tU Breathe.
The supplying of oxygen Is not the
only function, although 1t is tho most
direct and vital ono of proper breath
ing. Thorough expansion Of the chest
insuies the proper filling of the lungs
with air, dilates all the minute air
cells. especially those at the SUBMITS
of the lungs, where motion is least and
where tho seeds of consumption are
usually first planted, and increases the
circulation Of tine Flood throughout all
parts of these organs.
Still another effect OF proper breath
ing Is a identifying one. The chest is
broRdened, and the shoulders are thrown
back, the figure is erect and the cal :
riaee graceful.
Perfect breathing is not natural to
those men and women of sedentary
occupation and indoor life. Like all
goud things, it must be worked for,
and the work must be persevered until
full and deep respiration has become a
habit.
Tho means Of attaining this object
are various and cannot be recounted
here, hut they are all based upon the
principle of removing permanently
every obstacle to the free entrance of
air into the lungs.
School children, sitting at their
desks, clerks bending over their ledgers,
seamstresses at work with the needle
or the sewing machine, typewriteis and
all who must stoop as they earn their
daily bread, should learn to stop from
time to time, to sit back in the chair,
or rise. throw back the shoulders and
draw in 10 or IL deep, slow respira-
tions, holding tho breath for three OF
four seconds each time the lungs are
filed.
These exercises, like breathing in
general, should always be done with
the mouth closed, for the nose is the
only proper channel for the passage to
! and fro of the air. A school teacher
who will interrupt the studies once
every hour through the session and
teach the class to do this breathing ex-
81 else, will be contributing more than
she Can ever realize to the future we'll
being of her youthful charges.