106 Journal of the Mitchell Society [June 



Conditions in Sontli Carolina are very favorable for showing cer- 

 tain fundamental relations between geology, or soil, and civilization. 

 The state can be divided Into seven or eight belts approximately par- 

 allel to the coast, each ditf'ering from its neighbors in geology, soil or 

 topography (and incidentally in climate; though that gives no abrupt 

 transitions and therefore does not help us much in drawing the re- 

 gional boundaries), with corresponding differences in the density, ra- 

 cial composition and education of the population, the development of 

 agriculture, etc. The counties, although rather large for statistical 

 refinements (averaging about 709 square miles each in 1910) fit these 

 belts very well, considering the fact that they were laid out with little 

 regard to regional geography. This is not quite so true of census 

 periods previous to the last, however, when some of the counties were 

 larger, and that is one reason why the regional statistics given here 

 are based on the last census onl.v. (A few additional counties have 

 been created since 1910, but those are of course ignored.) 



The different belts or regions were well described by Maj. Harry 

 Hammond, of Aiken County (1829-1916), one of the greatest geogra- 

 phers the South ever produced, in the 6th volume of the Tenth Census, 

 and in still greater detail in his 734-page handbook of South Caro- 

 lina, published about the same time (1883) by the state agricultural 

 department.* The present writer, having visited most of the counties 

 in South Carolina, has introduced some minor modifications, and the 

 boundaries as now recognized are shown on the accompanying sketch 

 map.- 



The regions will be described very briefly, and the results of the 

 statistical investigations then presented in a table, followed by ap- 

 propriate comments. 



The Blue Ridge, including the highest mountains in the state, with 

 a maximum altitude of about 3,500 feet, occupies only a few hundred 

 square miles in the extreme northw^est, too small an area to figui-e at 

 all in the statistical tables. It is therefore combined with the next 

 region. 



The upper Piedmont region, on account of its geographical position, 

 is the highest, coolest, and most hilly part of the state, with the ex- 



* Unfortunately the only leaf bearing the author's name, namely, that containing the 

 preface and bibliography, ^vas cut out of most copies of this monumental work bv the 

 publishers, on account of a slight misunderstanding; and the authorship is therefore "some- 

 times credited to the then Commissioner of Agriculture by those who do not know the 

 circumstances. 



^ The fall-line, or boundary between the Piedmont and sandhills, is generalized from 

 a geological map by Earle Sloan, in the 1907 ?Iandbook of South Carolina. 



