102 THE PIEDMONT REGION, 



has entirely superseded rope for baling. Jute bagging, the heaviest Dun- 

 dee, or the domestic Ludlow is used. The weight aimed at in the bale 

 varies from four hundred pounds to five hundred pounds ; the average is 

 four hundred and fifty-two pounds. 



SHIPPING AND SELLING. 



As soon as the cotton is packed it is moved to market, commencing 

 about the 1st of September ; by the end of the year almost the whole crop 

 has passed out of the farmers' hands. The farmer usually sells to the 

 merchant at the nearest railroad station, and has only a charge against 

 him of ten cents a bale for weighing. In some localities the transporta- 

 tion, hauling from Laurens county to Greenville, is stated to cost two 

 dollars a bale. Cotton shipped by railroad to New York costs three dol- 

 lars and fifty cents a bale. To Charleston it costs, from Fairfield, two 

 dollars to two dollars and twenty-five cents ; from Spartanburg, two dol- 

 lars and fifty cents ; from Abbeville, two dollars and seventy-five cents. 

 From Chester the charge is, to Charleston, forty-eight cents per hun- 

 dred weight; to New York it is sixty -three cents per hundredweight. 

 Cotton shipped from Fairfield to Charleston, and sold by the farmer, 

 costs, everything included, four dollars and fifty-seven cents for a bale 

 weighing four hundred and sixty-five pounds, and it is usually estimated 

 at about one cent per pound. 



COST OF PRODUCTION. 



This is estimated in four reports at seven cents ; in one report at eight 

 cents, and in one at nine cents per pounds of lint. The following table 

 exhibits the detailed statements on this head. 



