AND WHERE TO FIND ONE. 53 



its ability to yield quick and certain returns makes 

 its possession extremely desirable. Its money-pro 

 ducing power is enormous, because of its nearness 

 to a dense population of consumers. As to this 

 fact it owes its chief value, so, from the same fact, 

 the small capitalist who becomes possessed of it is 

 enabled to pay for it by the ready and profitable 

 market he finds for all that it may produce. 



Thus price has its compensations. If the cost of 

 land be high, the value which its productions com 

 mand in the market is generally in exact proportion. 

 High price for land, and low price for products, 

 would be ruinous to the farmer. But let the latter 

 maintain a just relation to the former, and if the 

 land be skilfully worked with distinct reference to 

 the most profitable crops it can be made to yield, 

 the lapse of a few years will enable the industrious 

 owner to make full payment. Wheat may be grown 

 with profit on a prairie farm which the owner ob 

 tained as a gift, because for that grain there is a 

 cash market at the nearest railroad station. But 

 asparagus and cabbages would perish on the grow 

 er s hands. Wheat can be shipped to Europe, and 

 hence its universal salability ; but the vegetables 

 must find purchasers within short distances of the 

 spot where they were grown. So, on the other 

 hand, the man who cultivates high-priced land 

 within the suburbs of a great city, will lose money 

 by raising wheat, while by cultivating asparagus 

 and cabbages he will be certain to grow rich. The 

 West can undersell him in wheat, but cannot com 

 pete with him in vegetables. Hence the proper 



