The history of cotton production in the southern United States is related to the socioeconomic patterns in the context of soil quality. Dominantly, the soils are acid Ultisols but there are significant contiguous areas of base rich Alfisols and Vertisols. Vertisols became the soil of choice for cotton in many parts of the world, particularly the Black Cotton Soils of the Deccan Plateau, India. A few farmers in the 1850s bought guano. Generally in the ante-bellum period, most southern cotton farmers had to rely on the natural soil fertility. Soil fertility, length of growing season, tilth problems, and drainage status of soils are the criteria seen in cotton production patterns. Patterns of the slave population mirrored intensity of cotton, rice, and sugar production under the plantation system. . Cotton production spread westward from the Eastern seaboard. There was one major exception to the rule. A center of cotton culture developed around Natchez on the Mississippi River before the interiors of Alabama and Mississippi were settled.

After the Civil War changes in technology especially the availability of fertilizer began to affect cotton production. Phosphorus from Southern mines became available and nitrogen was imported. Cotton production expanded on the Ultisols, many of which had better tilth conditions for cotton growing. Later in the 20th century, as farmers adopted gas-powered equipment, the gentler topography of the coastal plain was preferred to the hilly Piedmont. The ante-bellum pattern of planting intensity remained for a time, due to the availability of labor. But farmers on the Ultisols, utilizing fertilizers, often produced higher per area yields.

This poster will analyze the interaction of soils and technology in cotton, by utilizing the National Cooperative Soil Survey soils data, U. S. Census cotton production data, and GIS.