Page:Eastern North Carolina Encyclopedia.djvu/13

 cleared and easy to cultivate, BUT AT PRESENT LYING OUT IDLE.

Though agriculture is the principal occupation, the manufacture of lumber, doors, sash, and fruit and vegetable packages, both for home and foreign use, has assumed considerable proportions. The recent extension of the Tidewater Power Company's power lines through the county opens up new possibilities in this field. With this power in the cotton producing centers, the manufacture of cotton and cotton seed products will be an ideal industry for this section. The use of Tidewater power is considered cheaper than the use of steam in manufacturing in this county.

The census property valuation of the county in 1919 was $32,500,000; crop production, $20,000,000; per capita wealth, $1,080; per capita farm production, $665. The bank resources are approximately $3,800,000. There are in Duplin County ideal opportunities for opening up new fields of wealth, namely, the manufacture of cotton, cotton seed products, and lumber. Electric power is available in the centers where these raw materials are produced at reasonable rates. Seven