30 THE COAST REGION. 



Ijoard— tlio latter boin,": a ration of tlirce pounds of bacon and one peck 

 of o-rist a week, with shelter and fuel. The soil and the condition of the 

 laborers is reported as improving, and cash -wages are considered prefer- 

 able to the share, or the land system of payment. Arable land rents 

 here at $2 an acre per annum. The i)rice of land is from $15 to $80 an 

 acre. A few laborers own their houses, but very few own any farming 

 land. 



On John's island, cash wages are from $8 to $10 a month, with board. 

 Most of the laborers, however, are engaged for two days' work a week by 

 allowing them a house, fuel, and six to seven acres of land free of rent. 

 The report is that the system is not satisfactory. The lands worked by 

 the landlords are improving; that worked by the laborers on their own 

 account is deteriorating rapidly. The labor is not so easily controlled as 

 when cash wages are paid. The lands vary greatly in- price — prices 

 ranging from $2.50 to $20 per acre, with some lands valued recently still 

 higher. Kent is higher tlian on James' Island, in consequence of a sys- 

 tem tliat increases the demand by multiplying small farmers, and it is 

 ^about $3 per acre per annum. 



On Edisto island, the two days' system prevails. The laborer gives 

 the landlord two days' work in every week during ten months of the year, 

 and receives in return a house, fuel, and six acres of arable land, which, 

 together with such other land as he may rent, he cultivates on his own 

 accovmt during the remainder of the wcQk. When extra work is required 

 on the farm, these laboring tenants are employed at fifty cents by the day. 

 The system is reported as being quite unsatisfactory, these two days 

 hands not cultivating more than two acres as an average for the pro- 

 prietor, and burdening his estate with the support of a much larger 

 po})ulation than necessary to its cultivation. By means of this, however, 

 a large amount of resident labor is secured on the place, which is of prime 

 importance during the cotton-picking season. The laborers themselves 

 prefer this system, having four days out of the week for themselves, they 

 are more independent, and can make any day they choose a holiday. As 

 a rule, they are comfortably off, and about seven per cent, are reported as 

 owning homes of their own and some land. The land for which they 

 pay rent .service generally deteriorates in value. The lands worked by 

 the proprietors are among the very best on the sea-coast, and are improv- 

 ing. The average yield' of cotton on the whole island is a bale to 2.6 

 acres ; for the six largest planters it is a bale to 1.7 acres. Considering 

 the (piality of the staple produced, it may be safely said that the larger 

 farms yielded between two and three times as much as the small ones. 

 Lands here are worth from $10 to $25 per acre — formerly they were 

 worth from $50 to $70 per acre. Small tracts rent for about $4 per acre 



