THE COAST REGION. 33 



The remarkably high beds on which cotton is planted here, being from 

 eighteen inches to two feet high, subserves this purpose. The best jilant- 

 ers have long had open drains through their fields. These were gener- 

 ally made by running two furrows with a plow, and afterwards hauling 

 out the loose dirt with a hoe, thus leaving an open ditch, if it may be so 

 termed, a foot or more in depth. In recent years the enterprising farm- 

 ers on James' island have made deeper ditches and placed plank drains 

 in them. Seeing the great benefit resulting from this, they subsequently 

 replaced the plank with regular drainage tile. In this way they have 

 reclaimed a good deal of land, besides adding largely to the value of that 

 already under cultivation. The outlets open to the sea at low-water 

 mark and the pressure of the water in the pipes preserves a constant out- 

 flow even at high tide. So that land only a foot or two above high-water 

 mark, is susceptible of thorough drainage to the depth of four or even 

 five feet. The borders of these islands being usually their highest parts, 

 and the interior often quite low, a wide field for improvement is offered 

 in this direction. 



In the early part of the century, when agriculture had so far devel- 

 oped the value of these lands as to make $60 an acre for planting land 

 not an unusual price, the use of the plow was entirely unknown here, and 

 all the operations of tillage were performed by hand with the hoe alone. 

 This continued to be the usual practice until the war. Since then plows 

 have come more and more into use, until their employment is now quite 

 general. 



Fallowing is practiced to the extent that land planted in cotton one 

 year is pastured by cattle and sheep, not hogs. It is claimed that great 

 benefit is derived by having the loose soil of the islands trodden by stock 

 during the year they lie fallow. The rapid growth of bushes, briars and 

 weeds is kept down by the stock, and the dried stems of the cotton stalks 

 of the previous year are broken up and trampled down. If care be taken 

 " that the grass is not eaten so close as to expose the soil on the tops of 

 the beds to the summer sun," it is found when the stock are turned off in 

 November, to range through the fields, that the pasture " is in exactly the 

 right condition for the coming season's cotton fields, with no cotton 

 stalks, or troublesome growth to be got off, or under the land and make 

 it too husky." 



About one-half of the land formerly cultivated is reported as " turned 

 out " on John's island, and the same or a larger proportion on Wadma- 

 law. On the other islands less land has passed out of cultivation, but no- 

 where has the acreage under cultivation increased. 



