THE PIEDMONT RECxIOX. 151 



FARM A^ALUES AND PRODUCTIONS. 



The total of values invested in farms in this region, obtained as the 

 sum of the values entered in the 10th United States Census for lands and 

 improvments, for farm implements and machinery, and for live stock, 

 amounts to thirty-nine millions of dollars, \vhich does not differ very 

 widely from the valuation of the same property on the tax returns of 

 these counties. The value of farm productions annually, is nineteen and 

 a quarter millions of dollars, or forty-nine per cent, on the above invest- 

 ment. This percentage varies in the different counties from thirty-nine 

 per cent, in Greenville to seventy-one per cent, in Laurens. It may not 

 be possible to ascertain, even approximately, how the profits of this pro- 

 duction is distributed ; how much of it rests with the farmer and laborer, 

 or how much goes to merchants, bankers, and railroads. Nevertheless, 

 whoever gets the net profits, it is safe to assume that the value represents 

 in a general way the productiveness of agriculture in this region. Here 

 are twelve adjacent counties, between whose soil, climate, population, 

 social, political and industrial system, there is very great similarity. On 

 the other hand, there are very wide variations, among these same counties, 

 on four points, frequently and earnestly discussed as affecting fundamen- 

 tally, southern agriculture. These are : 



1st. The ratio between the area planted in cotton and that planted in 

 other crops. 



2d. The ratio of large and small farm holdings. 



3rd. The proportion of farms rented to those worked by their owners. 



4th. The proportion of the white to the colored population. 



