THE COAST REGION. ' 41 



the most, if not the most, successful among sea island planters, Mr. 

 J. J Mikell, of Edisto, says the cost is 15 cents per pound there. 



Before considering the rational cost, a word should be said as to the 

 amount of production. The liighest yield on record to one acre is oGG 

 pounds of lint, on a single acre on Mr. Schaffer's place, on Wadmalaw 

 island. A planter on John's island made an average of 290 pounds of lint 

 per acre, on a tract of 20 acres, while small- farmers in the same locality 

 produced only 50 pounds to 75 pounds lint per acre. The members of 

 the Farmers' Club on James' island recorded, for 1870, an average yield 

 on their fields of 280 pounds of lint. On Edisto island, there is a tract 

 of 100 acres, producing, in that year, 210 pounds of lint per acre, and 

 conservative farmers there consider 200 pounds of lint an average on the 

 larger- iarms, year in and 3'ear out, a fair yield of fine staple. In Mills' 

 Statistics of South Carolina, published in 1825, it is stated that a 

 farmer on Edisto island produced, on an extensive scale, an average of 

 270 pounds of clean cotton to the acre. He also states that there were 

 lots of land that had produced 435 pounds of lint to the acre. From 

 which it would appear that the soil, climate, and old methods of culture 

 had a capacity not very far inferior to that with which the invention of 

 fertilizers, and of improved implements and methods, at the present time, 

 endows this locality. 



The following table presents the rational cost, giving an itemized 

 account of all expenditures, as reported by intelligent sea island planters. 

 The first three columns are from Edisto, the yield being placed at 200 

 pounds of lint cotton to the acre. Number four is from James' island, 

 the yield taken at 280 pounds of lint per acre. Number five represents 

 the average expenditures of the better class of small farmers on John's 

 island : 



