82 THE UPPER PINE BELT. 



ten and a quarter bushels j)er acre, twenty and a half bushels per capita 

 of population. 



The live stock number 313,811, wliich is one to every thirteen acres; 

 sixteen to each farm ; 11.4 head to each one of the population; two to 

 the bale of cotton, and one to every eleven bushels grain jjroduced. 



SYSTEM OF FARMING AND LABOR. 



A mixed system of farming is pursued in the upper pine belt, and the 

 attempt is made to raise at least a portion of the necessary farm supplies. 

 They are not raised, however, to the extent they were formerly, and al- 

 though the reports all state that the tendency to raise them is increasing, 

 the deficiency still remains very great, as the number of liens given for 

 provisions and recorded against the growing crop show. In Barnwell there 

 were 2,026 liens, averaging one hundred and twentj^-five dollars, being 

 eight dollars and eighty cents per bale of cotton produced ; in Orangeburg 

 there were 2,470 liens, averaging ninety dollars, being nine dollars and 

 eighty-seven cents per bale; in Darlington there were 3,925 liens, averaging 

 one hundred dollars, being sixteen dollars and forty cents per bale ; in Marl- 

 boro there were 1,183 liens, averaging one hundred and ten dollars, being 

 five dollars and forty cents per bale ; in Marion there were twelve hundred 

 liens, averaging one hundred dollars, being five dollars and a half per 

 bale. The number of liens for 1880 show an increase on those given 

 above for 1879. This does not indicate a diminution in the amount of 

 supplies raised by farmers, but only shows an increase in the number of 

 laborers who are seeking a credit, to enable them to do business on their 

 own account as tenant farmers. It is by this class chiefly that the liens 

 are given, mostly for provisions, next for fertilizers, and to some extent 

 for mules and farm implements. It is the general experience that these 

 small tenant farmers, mostly negroes, meet their obligations to the best 

 of their ability ; nevertheless, a mortgage given in January or February, 

 on a crop not to be planted until April, is not taken as a first-class com- 

 mercial security, and consequently the charges on the advances are 

 heavy ; for instance, when the cash price of corn is seventy five cents, 

 the credit price is not unfrequently one dollar and twenty cents and up- 

 ward. 



West of the Santee and "Wateree rivers in this region, the average acre- 

 age in cotton to the farm is fourteen acres; on onl}^ one farm is there over 

 four hundred acres in cotton ; in seventeen townships the maximum acre- 

 age is under one hundred acres ; in twenty it is one hundred to two hun- 

 dred ; in five it is two hundred to three hundred ; in two it is three 

 hundred to four hundred. 



