814 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



The increase in the area of improved land is 

 largely due to the freedmen farmers, who, in 

 their eagerness to commence for themselves, 

 have settled on inferior and abandoned lands, 

 and by the use of guano and phosphates ren- 

 dered them productive. 



The amount of wages paid for farm-labor 

 decreased, according to the census returns, 

 from $7,404,297 in 1870 to $5,981,616 in 1880. 

 The. total value of farm produce was $41,967,- 

 746 in 1880, against $41,909,402 in 1870. The 

 number of horses, mules, and other domestic 

 animals, reported in the three census years, 

 was as follows : 



The yield of some of the principal agricult- 

 ural products as given by the census, was as 

 follows: 



The census returns are defective in many 

 respects, so that some of the above figures give 

 a false view of the state of agriculture in some 

 particulars. The cotton acreage in 1880 was 

 1,364,249, the crop of 1879-'80 amounted to 

 522,548 bales, as compared with 224,500 bales 

 ten years before. The production has in- 

 creased more than three times as fast as the 

 population. 



The rice-plantations of the Carolinns and 

 Georgia, which before the war produced 175,- 

 000 tierces of 600 pounds, were destroyed and 

 the cultivation discontinued during the war. 

 It was commenced again in 1864-'65, in which 

 year the product amounted to 4,000 tierces, 

 and has been gradually extended until the crop 

 of 1880-'81 reached 115,000 tierces. The Caro- 

 lina product increased from 48,000 tierces in 

 1878-'79 to 63,750 in 1879-'80, and 69,000 in 

 ISSO-'Sl. The product of North Carolina, in- 

 cluded in these reports, is comparatively small. 

 The rice-lands of South Carolina, which are 



not suitable for any other crop, give employ- 

 ment to thousands of the colored people, who 

 were thrown upon their own resources after 

 the war. 



Phosphate-mining almost ceased in Charles- 

 ton, and it was suspended altogether in Beau- 

 fort and Port Koyal, in the autumn of 1879, in 

 consequence of the cessation of the foreign de- 

 mand, owing to the overstocking of the mar- 

 kets the previous year, and owing also to a 

 decline in the domestic demand for phosphates. 

 The home demand began immediately to re- 

 vive, and became greater than before, owing to 

 the growing consumption of the Northwestern 

 States. The domestic consumption of Caro- 

 lina rock was 107,348 tons, against 60,899 tons 

 in 1879-'80. The English demand also became 

 active again in the beginning of 1881, and the 

 companies had more orders than they could 

 fill at prices 35 or 40 per cent higher than 

 those of the year preceding. The first ship- 

 ment of crude rock was made in 1867. There 

 have been taken out altogether about 2,000,000 

 tons. The consumption and exports since 1875 

 have been as follows : 



The profits earned on the crude article are 

 very large, the total cost of mining and wash- 

 ing, including the royalty of one dollar a ton 

 on marine phosphate rock, not exceeding three 

 dollars a ton, and the selling price averaging 

 seven dollars or over. The manufacture of 

 commercial fertilizers, the basis of which is the 

 Carolina phosphate- rock, is even more profita- 

 ble, and is one of the most flourishing branches 

 of manufacture carried on in Southern cities. 

 The product of the factories engaged in grind- 

 ing the rock and preparing the fertilizers in and 

 around Charleston was in 1881 over 100,000 

 tons, having doubled since 1878. The ship- 

 ping price of these fertilizers ranges above twen- 

 ty dollars a ton. The capital invested in South 

 Carolina in mining and manufacturing phos- 

 phates is from $8,000,000 to $10,000,000. There 

 are between 5,000 and 6,000 persons employed 

 in the industry. In land-mining the rock is 

 got out with picks and shovels. In the river- 

 bed the excavation is done by hand picking, by 

 dredging, and by tongs. The State has col- 

 lected altogether $700,000 of royalty on the 

 marine or river phosphates. The thickness of 

 the nodular stratum varies from a few inches 

 to two and a half feet, the latter depth being 

 very rarely observed. Ordinarily the thick- 

 ness is from six to fifteen inches, and averages 

 about eight. Where the deposit exceeds fif- 

 teen inches in thickness, the depth rarely ex- 

 tends beyond a limited area, and is generally 



