Hewatt, Alexander, An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia, Volumes I and II (1779)
At present the common method of cultivation is as follows. After
the planter has obtained his tract of land, and built a house upon it, he then
begins to clear his field of that load of wood with which the land is covered.
Nature points out to him where to begin his labours; for the soil, however
various is everywhere easily distinguished, by the different kinds of trees
which grow upon it. Having cleared his field, he next surrounds it with a
wooden fence, to exclude all hogs, sheep and cattle from it. This field he
plants with rice or indigo, year after year, until the lands are exhausted or
yield not a crop sufficient to answer his expectations. Then it is forsaken,
and a fresh spot of land is cleared and planted, which is also treated in like
manner, and in succession forsaken and neglected.
