r)2 THE LOWER PINE liELT, OR SAVANNA REGION. 



to the 31 ?t of January, 1882, is estimated at 1,505,550 tons ; of tliis about 

 44 per cent, was shipped to foreign ports. The royalty of ^1.00 per ton 

 paid to the State for rock raised from navigable waters amounted, in 1881, 

 to 1124,541 ; a single company, the Coosaw, paying $99,135. In this 

 year 71,316 tons of river rock were shipped to foreign, and 52,225 tons 

 to domestic ports. The State can safely count on a much larger revenue 

 from this source for years to come, for at this rate of production the 

 Coosaw company itself would not exhaust the rock in sight, without 

 further exploration in its own territory, in 120 years, and the demands of 

 agriculturists for this valuable material, while they can scarcely be less 

 than at present, are likely to increase very much. 



SOIL. 



The 7,000 square miles, of uplands in the Lower Pine Belt comprises 

 three leading varieties of soil : 1st. A sandy loam, with a white sandy 

 subsoil. 2d. A sandy loam, with a yellow subsoil. 3d. A sandy loam, 

 witli a clay subsoil ; the clay is generally yellow, but sometimes it is red. 

 The surface soil is lighter or darker, in proportion to the varying quan- 

 tities of vegetable matter it contains, and where the clay subsoil occurs, 

 it assumes, on cultivation, a mulatto color. These soils bear a strong re- 

 semblance to the sea island soil, having this advantage, however, over 

 them that are very generally underlaid by easily accessible beds of 

 marl, richer in lime than those of sea islands. In drainage, however, 

 they compare unfavorably with the sea islands. For the scouring effect 

 of the rise and fall of the tide, which keeps the water ways around the 

 islands open, is not only not experienced in this belt, but, on the contrary, 

 the luxuriant water growth that flourishes here has filled up the chan- 

 nels, converting them into swamps, through which scarcely any current 

 passes. This, in connection with the level character of the country, 

 renders the body of these lands wet. But for this, the good mechanical 

 constitution of the soil, being light and easily tilled, and at the same 

 time (except in the case of white sandy subsoil) sufficiently compact to 

 be retentive of manures and moisture, together with the abundance of 

 marl and of peat and muck at hand as amendments to the virgin soil, 

 would have made them most desirable lands for tillage. As it is, not 

 more than one acre in 22 is under cultivation, and the jiricesof lands, are 

 from $5.00 down to 50 cents. 



The following analyses by C. U. Shepard, Sr., from Toumey's report, 

 give an idea of the constitution of some of the poorer soils of this re- 

 gion, classed as pine barren. 1. Loose sandy soil. 2. Dark gray soil. 

 3. Very light sandy soil. 4. Loose yellow sandy soil : 



