abandoned during economic upheavals such as those 

 of the Civil War and the depressions of the 1890's 

 and early 1920's, are now covered with pine stands. 

 Excellent stands of blackgum, sweetgum, and other 

 hardwoods may be seen in the river swamps, behind 

 the levees of old rice plantations. Altogether, a 

 large part of South Carolina has gone through 

 several cycles of clearing, cultivating, and abandon- 

 ment, and a considerable portion of the forests is on 

 land that has been cultivated at one time or another. 



In spite of the fact that a large area has been al- 

 ternately in cultivation or in forest, the acreage de- 

 voted to agriculture at any time has remained fairly 

 constant during the past century. In 1940 the area 

 available for crops was 5,529,833 acres; in 1850 the 

 improved area was 4,072,651 acres. The abandon- 

 ment of old land and the clearing of new have tended 

 to offset each other, though in recent years abandon- 

 ment has exceeded clearing. According to the 

 Forest Survey, about 551,800 acres of former crop- 

 land were in a definite state of abandonment in 1936 

 (fig. 15), although only 57,400 acres had been cleared 

 and prepared for crops during the preceding 5 years 

 (table 30, Appendix). 



The tendency of abandonment to exceed the rate 

 of clearing is the result not only of soil erosion and 

 exhaustion, but also of changing economic condi- 

 tions, leading to a decrease in the area under culti- 

 vation. Until the advent of World War II, cotton 

 had for some time faced a steadily declining market 

 with a correspondingly low price. This accounts 



for the fact that in 1938 the harvested acreage of 

 cotton in South Carolina was less than in any year 

 since 1878 (/#). It has been difficult to divert 

 much cotton land to other cultivated crops, partly 

 because of the relatively small areas subject to re- 

 habilitation under the provisions of the Agricultural 

 Conservation Program. 



Value of Farm Woodlands 



The farm woodlands of South Carolina, as shown 

 in table 1, contribute only about 5 percent of the. 

 farm value of all crops; but this figure is quite mis- 

 leading. The large area in farm woods — more than 

 50 percent of the State's total productive forest 

 area — indicates that it is of great importance as a 

 source of forest products (table 2). To the farmers 

 the woodlands have the advantage of cheap produc- 

 tion and maintenance, so that the harvest of wood 

 materials represents more nearly clear profit than 

 the harvest of other crops. There is no expense of 

 fertilizing or cultivating, and little risk of loss from 

 adverse weather. Forest planting is relatively inex- 

 pensive. Thinnings and other improvement meas- 

 ures can pay for themselves, completely or in part, 

 through farm use (fig. 16) or sale of the materials re- 

 moved. Work can be done in the winter or at other 

 periods when farm activities are light. In short, 

 farm woods, if properly handled, will yield a con- 

 tinuous annual profit with comparatively little in- 

 vestment. 



Figure 15. — Land area classified by use. 



STATE 

 19,425,600 ACRES 



FOREST LAND 

 AGRICULTURAL LAND 

 ALL OTHER LAND 

 ABANDONED CROPLAND 



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