^ THE RED HILL REGION. 115 



and hickory of large size. All the oaks common to the section attain 

 here an unusual size, including even the blackjack and the post oak, not 

 conspicuous elsewhere for their growth; the red oak, however, sur- 

 passes them all in size, measuring sometimes as much as seven feet in 

 diameter, while trees four feet and five feet through are not uncommon. 

 The live oak when planted does w^ell, the chinquapin is found wild in 

 the w^oods; the Roman chestnut, the pecan nut, the English walnut, 

 and the almond, bear abundant crops. So that the region is to a large 

 extent suitable for the growth of plants natural to higher and to lower 

 latitudes. 



STATISTICS. 



The red hill region contains about 1,620 square miles, and has a popu- 

 lation of 44,866, being 27.6 to the square mile. Fifty-six per cent, are 

 colored. 



The area of tilled land is 234,682 acres; being 144 acres per square mile, 

 or 22 per cent, of the entire surface ; and five acres per capita of the pop- 

 ulation. 



The number of farms is 4,568, being 2.8 per sc[uare mile, or a farm to 

 nearly every ten persons ; averaging for the w^hole, 228 acres to the farm, 

 of which fifty is under culture ; the remaining 178 being included and 

 for the most part yielding no return wdiatever. 



The crops are cotton, in which 84,939 acres are planted, yielding 34,249 

 bales of cotton in 1879. Averaging a yield per acre of 183 pounds of 

 lint, or 348 pounds per capita for the whole population ; which is the 

 largest' yield per capita of any region of the State, This is a little more 

 than six per cent, of the area planted in cotton in the whole State, and 

 yields six and six-tenths per cent, of the entire crop of the State. In 

 grain of all sorts 114,425 acres are planted, yielding 804,443 bushels, a 

 little over seven bushels to the acre, and seventeen bushels per capita of 

 the population, a yield wholly disproportionate to the capabilities of the 

 soil, which is particularly adapted to small grain. This area is a little 

 over six per cent, of the total area planted in grain in the State, and the 

 yield is four and seven-tenths per cent, of the total crop of the State. Of 

 course very little rice is planted here, which in part accounts for the fall- 

 ing off, that being the most productive grain crop in the State ; but lands 

 which in 1825 made an average of eight to twelve bushels (see Mills, p. 

 660), and wdien well manured, thirty-four bushels of wheat per acre, and 

 from ten to twenty-five bushels of rice to the acre, and still more when 

 planted in rye and oats, are far below their normal production Avhen 

 yielding as above indicated. In fallow and other crops there is 35,318 

 acres, nearly fifteen per cent, of the land once under cultivation. The 



