Tobacco: Upper South - continuing reliance on tobacco, but tobacco notoriously unstable and land-exhaustive - 1830s: ? farmers from old tobacco-growing regions (Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina) changing to other crops ? center of tobacco cultivation to Piedmont Rice: Coastal South (South Carolina, Georgia, Florida) - stable, lucrative, BUT long growing season (9 months), substantial irrigation - only small area of cultivation Sugar: Gulf Coast, southern Louisiana and eastern Texas - Reasonably profitable - Intensive (debilitating) labor, long growing time ? only wealthy could afford to cultivate - Major competition from Caribbean - Did not spread Long-staple (Sea Island) Cotton: coastal regions of Southeast - Could only grow in limited area