King Cotton
Austin Hidalgo 7th
The Cotton
The most important crop grown in Texas was cotton. The typicial Texan in the late 1800's was not a rancher but a cotton farmer. In most years the value of the cotton crop in Texas was larger than the combined value of all other crops grown. In the year 1900 alone, production of cotton on Texas farms surpassed 3,500,000 bales from nearly 7,200,000 acres.
The cotton
The cultivation of cotton had spread rapidly throughout the state. In Sout Texas, Proeso Martinez introduced cotton to the Rio Grande Valley. Martinez, a leader in business and agriculture, also brought the first modern plows and corn planters to the valley.