156 THE PIEDMONT REGION. 



named, the laborer takes one-third, and the landlord two-thirds, under 

 the above conditions. In Greenville also, the laborer takes two-thirds, if 

 he furnishes tools, stock and feed for it. The portion paid for land alone 

 varies from one-third to one-fourth of tlie crop — the latter rate being the 

 most general one. 



In Laurens, Newberry and Spartanburg, and portions of Fairfield and 

 Chester, wages are preferred, the laborer running no risk of the seasons, 

 faring better and working better in consequence. In Aljbeville and York 

 the share system is preferred, and is the prevailing practice ; the demands 

 on the care and attention of the landlord is less, and the independence 

 of control and freedom from steady work it affords the laborer is highly 

 prized by him. In Greenville, laborers using stock, tools and provisions, 

 find the share system most profitable, otherwise they prefer wages. 



Tolerable satisfaction with the system prevailing in each locality is ex- 

 pressed, but the feeling is general that the relations of labor and capital 

 are in a transition stage, and, either that those now existing need per- 

 fecting, or that better ones would .be preferred. 



Eight out of nine correspondents report that under the present system 

 the lands are not improving, but deteriorating, especially those rented 

 and worked on shares; the ninth only qualifies the general statement by 

 tlie expression, " with care it improves." Though there may be much 

 sad reality in these statements, they are to be considered in connection 

 with the facts above given, which show that within the last decade the 

 two leading crops in this region have increased, one by one hundred and 

 seventy-two, and the other by one hundred and thirty-nine per cent. 



Statements regarding the average market value of land vary with every 

 locality. They are for Greenville and Laurens, six dollars to ten dollars 

 an acre ; for York, six dollars ; for Abbeville and Spartanburg, ten dollars ; 

 for Newberry, six dollars to twenty-five dollars ; for Fairfield, three dollars 

 to fifteen dollars ; for Chester, seven dollars to eighteen dollars. There 

 will be found a fuller detail in the Abstract of Township Correspondents, 

 *and attention is directed to their frequently recurring expression, that 

 " there is little land for sale, but nearly all of it to rent." Only three out 

 of eleven correspondents state the rental of land in money ; it is put in 

 York and Chester at two dollars, and in Laurens at three dollars to four 

 dollars. Three state that no land is rented for money. In tliese cases 

 one-fourth to one-third of the crop — estimated in Fairfield at an average 

 of five dollars an acre — is given, or a larger proportion where stock and 

 other supplies are furnished. In Abbeville, the average rent is given as 

 three bales of cotton for as much land as one plow can cultivate; in Fair- 

 field it is nine hundred pounds, and in Chester as much as twelve hun- 

 dred pounds of lint. Or, in other words, something over one thousand 



