LIBERTY COUNTY. 371 



clay. In the vicinity of the swamps the clay is very 

 pure and tenacious. The western portion has generally 

 a sandy and barren soil. In many parts the surface is covered 

 over with a very coarse white sand and gravel. The products 

 are cotton, rice, corn, oats ; wheat is cultivated in small quan- 

 tities in the upper part of the county. Many of the planters 

 make their own sugar and syrup, and a small quantity is ex- 

 ported. Cotton may be said to average 100 pounds per acre, 

 corn 15 bushels ; two thousand five hundred bags of cotton 

 are made in a year, and about four or five thousand bushels 

 of rice are annually exported. Savannah is the market. 

 Fifty thousand bushels of rice were exported in 1848. 



Value of Land, Waste Lands. — The average price of. 

 land is 82 50 per acre. In this county there was at one time 

 a quantity of land lying waste, but of late the quantity has been 

 diminished. 



Timber Tkees, Fruit Trees. — Several varieties of the 

 oak, pine, palmetto, ash, gum, cypress, magnolia, poplar, maple, 

 and hickory. The orange tree thrives. Apples, peaches, and 

 grapes succeed in the northern part of the county. 



The late Dr. John M. B. Harden, M. D., in an able article 

 on the soil, climate, and diseases of Liberty county, in the 

 Southern Medical and Surgical Journal for October, 1845, gives 

 a catalogue of the different plants found in Liberty county, and 

 observes, " that the Sylva and Flora of this county are unsur- 

 passed by any in the world." 



Post Offices. — Hinesville, Riceborough, Walthourville. 



County Town, Villages. — Hinesville is the county 

 town, situated in the northwest part of the countyj 180 miles 

 southeast of Milledgeville, and 40 miles horth of Savannah ; it 

 has a neat court-house, jail, one Metho'dlst church, one aca- 

 demy, and three or four stores. Population about 200. This 

 town was named after C. Hines, Esq., who for several years 

 represented the county in the State Legislature. It is remark- 

 ably healthy. 



Walthourville is situated in the northwest part of the 

 county, about six or seven miles from Taylor's creek. Popu- 

 lation, 500. It has two flourishing academies, male and female, 

 two churches, and two stores. Distance from Riceborough 

 10 miles, from Savannah 40 miles. 



