Land of the Macs
Where the ScoIk Built Slowly but
Firmly.
«I/
Bin. SHARPE
Л
SUSAN SHARPE ZARR
After generations of labor and edu¬
cation. Scotland County, citadel of
North Carolina Scots, is gathering satis¬
fying fruits. A robust economy equally
shared by time-honored agriculture and
young, strapping industry: a multi-
mil lion-dollar college with a fresh ap¬
proach to the wisdom of the ages.
These are the most spectacular.
Balanced
Only twenty-eight miles long and
twenty miles wide. Scotland County is
nevertheless chockfuil of lively history,
productive countryside, and industrious
people. 1 0,000 of them live within the
four incorporated towns. The remaining
15,000 make their homes in the coun¬
try or grouped about the eight or nine
farm and mill communities. The stamp
of Scottish character is everywhere —
in the ring of the name, in the neatness
of the home, in the prosperity of busi¬
ness. in the well-managed farm, in the
tenacity of purpose, in the vigor of
church and school.
Scotland's 3IX square miles straddle
the wispy border between sandhills
and coastal plain. Her southern border
lies on the South Carolina line. The
county is varied in its topography, the
southeast side being low and flat, and
the northwest section higher and roll¬
ing. Draining the area is a web of small
creeks and streams, ail of which flow
eventually to either the Cape Fear or
Pec Dee basins. Scotland's main water¬
way is Lumber River, which runs down
the northeast and cast border.
A small county to begin with. Scot¬
land is further reduced by the govern¬
ment-owned Sandhills Game Manage¬
ment Area, w hich occupies the northern
fifth of the area. This territory and
about two-thirds of farm-owned land
are thickly wooded. Much of this
forest, of tall long-leaf pines, gum and
oak. has remained untouched, and
thousands of acres have recently been
reforested. I hcsc woods are Scotland's
most attractive natural asset, and with¬
in their depths a variety of wildlife
make their home.
Cotton Country
Subtract the forests, the park and the
tow-ns, and it leaves only 50,000 acres
of cultivated farmland. But Scotland
has a way of making the most out of
what it has; and the county currently
ranks high among cwtton-producing
areas in North Carolina. Out of a 1961
agricultural income of 7.3 million dol¬
lars, cotton brought
2'Л
million. To¬
bacco was next crop w’ith one million
dollars, and livestock accounted for
another one and a half million. Prod¬
ucts of the forest represent a potential
which has hardly been realized. One-
third of a million came from this
source in 1960.
Commercial hog and cattle produc¬
tion arc comparatively new elements
in the agricultural picture, but arc ex¬
pected to expand rapidly with the
stimulus of the gigantic Laurinburg-
Maxton cattle feed lot.
Truck Crops Fade
While cotton has held its own in
Scotland, with steadily increasing
yields due to mechanization, insect
control, and more know-how, a few-
familiar crops have passed out of the
picture. There used to be around 30.-
000 acres of canteloupcs and melons;
now there are little more than a thou¬
sand. In the twenties and thirties,
peaches were thought to be Scotland's
most promising young crop. Now there
is only one commercial peach orchard
in the county.
The sharecropper is becoming obso¬
lete in North Carolina and in Scotland
County. W’hat work can not be done
by machines is done by the day laborer.
Only 25% of the farm population can
be strictly classed as tenants. Another
agricultural trend is the cash renting
of land on which to grow cotton and
other crops. This trend has grown out
THE STATE. September 29. 1962
The Scotlond County CourtHouie
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