THE SAND HILL REGION. 123 



remainder, two hundred and sixteen to two hundred and thirty-nine are 

 clear, leaving only eighty-four to one Jmndred and seven cloud}'- days. 

 During sixteen years the rain fall at Aiken varied from 33.87 inches to 

 56.49 inches, with an average of 46.70. During five years six falls of 

 snow were recorded, but as a rule there were only a few flakes, which 

 melted as soon as they reached the ground. Sleet is more frequent than 

 snow, but disappears on a few hours exposure to the sun. The prevailing 

 winds are from the south and southwest. The water of wells and springs 

 is of a superior character, being transparently clear, with a temperature 

 varying from 62° to 64° Fah. (Climate and topography of Aiken, by 

 E. S. Gaillard, M. D., Richmond, Va. ; Aiken as a Health Station, by W. 

 H. Geddings, M. D.). It must be remembered that this description applies 

 to no restricted locality, but refers to an area of more than 2,000 square 

 miles, where the sanitary conditions above alluded to are present with the 

 terebinthinate and healing odors of a great pine forest. 



AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS. 



The area of the sand hill region is estimated at 2,441 square miles. 

 The population is 28,612 ; being 11.7 per square mile, nearly one-third 

 less than the average of the State, and less than in any other region. 

 Fifty-nine per cent, of the population is colored. 



The area of tilled land is 151,359 acres, which is sixty-two acres to the 

 square mile, or a fraction under one-tenth of the entire surface. This is 

 twelve acres below the average of the State, and less than in any other 

 region except the lower pine belt, where it is thirty-five acres per square 

 mile. It is five and a third acres per capita of the population, the largest 

 proportion in the State, and is due to the few towns and railroads in the 

 region, leaving the rural population more exclusively to agricultural 

 pursuits. 



The tilled land is divided among 4,238 farms ; giving thirty-five acres 

 of tilled land to the farm ; five acres less than the average for the State. 

 The number of farms in proportion to the j^opulation is greater than 

 anywhere else, being one farm to every seven of the population. More 

 farms are worked by their owners, and fewer by renters than elsewhere. 

 Thus in Kershaw and Chesterfield counties, sixty per cent, of the farms 

 in the sand hills are worked by the owners, and forty by renters ; in the 

 portion of the same districts embraced in the upper pine belt, the Red 

 Hill and the Piedmont regions, fifty-six per cent, of the farms are rented. 

 This independent small proprietary has exercised its influence on the ag- 

 ricultural policy of the State, and the long opposition to a change of the 

 fence law is largely due to them. They have also, in times past, been a 



