Cotton omission

Thanks for the detailed essay on the growth of cotton in Missouri. (Bootheel farmers boost cotton acres, Southeast Missourian, by Melissa Miller, May 29, 2012, pages 1A and 5A.)

However, there is a major oversight in the article. It emphasizes that five counties in the Bootheel raise cotton and names them as Pemiscot, Dunklin, New Madrid, Scott and Stoddard.

Melissa should take her experts, including Bobby Skeen, Jon Devine, Andrea Philips, Mike Milam and Rick Faulkner on a tour of Mississippi County and see if there is not cotton there.

I hate to see such an important county overlooked.

Bill D. Burlison, Wardell, Mo.

Editor's note: According to University of Missouri Extension agronomist Anthony Ohmes, there are about 200 acres of cotton grown in Mississippi County. A total of 400,000 acres of cotton is expected to be planted in Missouri's Bootheel this year, according to industry trade group The Cotton Board.