up with some force, and throwing out considerable quantities of fine, white sand. The action of these underground streams in removing and transporting these fine sands, accounts for a number of circular depressions not very different in appearance from lime-sinks, found scattered here over the elevated flats and plateaus, and when, by an accumulation of vegetable growth or a caving in of the earth, the channels of these streams are obstructed, rains sometimes fill these depressions, giving rise to clear sheets of water or lakelets. Another phenomenon occurring here, and not well understood, are blowing wells, of which there are several. For example, on a high sand hill in Hammond township, Aiken county, a number of unsuccessful attempts were made during many years to dig a well. At length an auger, eight inch diameter, penetrating the loose, coarse, white sand, and nothing else, to a depth of one hundred and twenty feet, encountered a bold stream of excellent water. When the well was curbed and completed, it was found that a current of air issued from it all the time, which, in threatening and stormy weather, acquired such force as to make itself heard at some distance, and to blow several feet into the air a hat or cloth laid over the orifice.

GEOLOGICAL FEATURES.

These hills form a dividing ridge between the more recent formations of the low country and the very ancient formations of the upper country. Their southern aspect overlooks the tertiary plane descending to the sea shore of the Atlantic. On the north they reach the clay slates (dipping north) of Edgefield, Lexington, Richland and Chesterfield counties, and the granite and gneiss rocks of Kershaw county. Outcrops of these most ancient rocks occur among the sand hills themselves, as follows:

In Aiken county, granite occurs on Horse creek, and granite overlaid by gneiss rock and hornblende slate on the South Edisto, where the Columbia road crosses in.

In Lexington county, granite is found at Quattlebaum's mill, on Lightwood creek.

In Kershaw county, masses of steatite occur on Spears, Twenty-five Mile, and Pine Tree creeks, and at Liberty Hill and at other places rounded blocks of coarse granite are seen, " as though they were pushed up through the sand."

Next to the granite is found a stratum of sandstone, consisting of the ruins of the granite consolidated into a pretty hard rock. It occurs on Horse creek, on the ridges at the head of Lightwood creek, on Congaree creek, where Mr. Tuomey observed in it comminuted fossils of the eocene type; at the Rock House, in Lexington county, where it has been quarried for architectural purposes, and on Second creek, in the same neighbor

hood, where silicified shells and fragments of lime were found embedded in the stone.

Lying on this sandstone are extensive beds of loose white sand, intermingled with strata of clay of various colors, the whole having an estimated vertical thickness of one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet. Large beds of kaolin clay, free from grit or other impurity, and of great whiteness, are found intercalated among these sands. Several quarries to the west of Aiken C. H. having been worked with much profit, the material being used as porcelain clay, and also by paper manufacturers. Some of the clays of Lexington county, beautifully mottled with various colors, harden, on exposure, to such a degree that it is thought they might be utilized for ornamental building purposes.

The last member of this series of strata is the "ironstone," already alluded to as covering the summit of Sugar Loaf mountain. Next in order comes the porous, siliceous rock, resembling menilite, and the buhrstone series.

SOILS.

The characteristic of the soils of this region is the loose rounded sands which form their chief constituent. The organic matter which it contains consists largely of charcoal, resulting from burning off the woods, principally the pine straw (leaves of the pine). Occasionally there are rounded hills of very fine sand of a dazzling whiteness, of such purity that they seem just to have emerged from the waters, or to have been blown together by the winds on the seashore. There are, however, many elevated flats, which, under good culture and manuring, give excellent crops, and in the vales, the soil is often very productive; it is cultivated with care, and continues to produce so long as there is an atom left of anything that can sustain a plant.

The following analyses of the sand hill soils were made by Prof. C. U. Shepard, Sr., in 1846:

No. 1 is surface soil near Aiken; No. 2 is subsoil of the same; No. 3 is from Platt Springs, Lexington.

In recent years, under high culture, " on a lot in Aiken, adjacent to the one where the above analysis was made, the product was forty bushels of corn, and thirty bushels of wheat per acre." Since the introduction of fertilizers, level lands in the neighborhood of the South Carolina railway, which sold in 1860 for three dollars an acre, have sold for thirty dollars and even as high as forty dollars an acre. Throughout this region thousands of acres, equal and superior to these, though not immediately upon a railroad, are for sale at one dollar to five dollars an acre.

GROWTH AND PRODUCTIONS.

The growth is almost exclusively long leaf pine, and on the more barren ridges, even this tree becomes stunted, and sometimes, on the higher and finer sand crests, yields its place to the New Jersey tea plant, which alone covers the dazzling whiteness of the sands. Usually, however, there is a heavy growth of long leaf pine, and this tree here-almost on its northern limit in the State-attains its highest perfection, not only as regards size, trees of three feet and four feet in diameter being not uncommon, but also as to the quality of its wood, which has more heart and is more resinous than elsewhere, a fact duly recorded in the names of localities, as Lightwood creek, and Lightwood Knot springs, the inhabitants of even this mild climate being not unmindful of the light and warmth furnished by this excellent fuel. There is often an undergrowth of the forked leaf blackjack, and where there is a suspicion of moisture in the soil, this is replaced by the round leaf blackjack, a sure indication here of better soil. On the hillsides, there are not unfrequently outcroppings of kaolin, and here a growth of kalmia adds a pleasing variety to the monotony of the pine forest.

Besides the staple products of cotton, corn, the small grains, peas and potatoes, common to this latitude, these soils have been thought specially adapted to certain other crops. One locality has been known for more than one hundred years as "Pinder Town," from the number of pea-nuts formerly produced there. Many years ago the lands of Lexington and Kershaw were thought especially adapted to the growth of Palma Christi, and even with the rude appliances for its extraction in those early days, a vield of one hundred and fifty gallons of excellent oil per acre was obtained. These sandy soils produce sorghum, which, while it is of smaller growth than that on more fertile lands, yields more abundantly a syrup that is much superior in quality. No where are watermelons produced with such ease and certainty, in so great quantities, of so large a size, and

so fine a flavor as on the poorest of these lands. There was no finer vegetable or flower garden in the State than that of the late William Gregg, situated on a high and sandy hill between Aiken and Graniteville; one scuppernong vine covered the fourth of an acre with its luxuriant and productive growth. On the apparently barren hills of this vicinity there also flourished formerly a most remunerative culture of the peach. The late James Purvis cultivated, with three hands, sixty acres in this fruit, and in six years he made five crops, realizing on each from $5,000 to $10,000. Neighboring orchardists engaged in this culture have more. than once made five hundred dollars to the acre. The

CLIMATE

of the sand hills is dry, tonic, sunny and stimulating, and entirely free from malarial influences. They have long been a resort during winter for consumptives from northern latitudes, and during the summer months for persons from the lower country of the State. The inhabitants themselves enjoy an unusual degree of health. Cases of great longevity are common, and the death rate is unusually low. For example, in Platt Springs township, Lexington, in a population of eight hundred and fiftythree by actual count, there were only two deaths in 1879, and only four deaths in 1880. Of the latter three were of persons over eighty years of age; nor can this be considered an exceptional case.

The period without frost has an average duration of two hundred to two hundred and twenty-five days, nor are they of very frequent occurrence, even during midwinter.

The mean annual temperature is 62°, 50' Fah. The winter mean is 48°, 53' Fah. The spring mean is 55° Fah. The summer mean is 75° Fah., and the autumn mean is 71°. Excluding August, the warmest month of the year, the mean for autumn, i. e., September and October, would be 68° Fah. The average diurnal range of temperatures is 12°, 65`, a fraction less than at the important health resort of Santa Barbara, California. The elevation and the porous subsoil of said, in which water is found only at a depth of eighty feet to one hundred and twenty-five feet, make this a remarkably dry climate. Steel instruments may be exposed for months without rusting; matches left open never miss fire; moth and mould are rarely seen, and the cryptogameous plants are feebly represented. Observations at Aiken show that the relative humidity of the air is 64.04, being less than at any of the famous health resorts of Europe, except Cannes and Hyeres, which are somewhat less, due, perhaps, to the prevaHeavy dues never occur. Heavy dues never occur. Fogs are also rare. The number of rainy days varies from twenty-nine to forty-five, and of the

lence of the mistral.

remainder, two hundred and sixteen to two hundred and thirty-nine are clear, leaving only eighty-four to one hundred and seven cloudy days. During sixteen years the rain fall at Aiken varied from 33.87 inches to 56.49 inches, with an average of 46.70. During five years six falls of snow were recorded, but as a rule there were only a few flakes, which melted as soon as they reached the ground. Sleet is more frequent than snow, but disappears on a few hours exposure to the sun. The prevailing winds are from the south and southwest. The water of wells and springs is of a superior character, being transparently clear, with a temperature varying from 62° to 64° Fah. (Climate and topography of Aiken, by E. S. Gaillard, M. D., Richmond, Va.; Aiken as a Health Station, by W. H. Geddings, M. D.). It must be remembered that this description applies to no restricted locality, but refers to an area of more than 2,000 square miles, where the sanitary conditions above alluded to are present with the terebinthinate and healing odors of a great pine forest.

AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.

The area of the sand hill region is estimated at 2,441 square miles. The population is 28,612; being 11.7 per square mile, nearly one-third less than the average of the State, and less than in any other region. Fifty-nine per cent. of the population is colored.

The area of tilled land is 151,359 acres, which is sixty-two acres to the square mile, or a fraction under one-tenth of the entire surface. This is twelve acres below the average of the State, and less than in any other region except the lower pine belt, where it is thirty-five acres per square mile. It is five and a third acres per capita of the population, the largest proportion in the State, and is due to the few towns and railroads in the region, leaving the rural population more exclusively to agricultural pursuits.

The tilled land is divided among 4,238 farms; giving thirty-five acres of tilled land to the farm; five acres less than the average for the State. The number of farms in proportion to the population is greater than anywhere else, being one farm to every seven of the population. More farms are worked by their owners, and fewer by renters than elsewhere. Thus in Kershaw and Chesterfield counties, sixty per cent, of the farms in the sand hills are worked by the owners, and forty by renters; in the portion of the same districts embraced in the upper pine belt, the Red Hill and the Piedmont regions, fifty-six per cent. of the farms are rented. This independent small proprietary has exercised its influence on the agricultural policy of the State, and the long opposition to a change of the fence law is largely due to them. They have also, in times past, been a