226 HOW TO GET A FARM, 



bountiful crops, while in ten years its market value 

 increased four hundred per cent. 



Northern men, who are thus astonished at the 

 cheapness of these lands, and incredulous as to their 

 value, have overlooked the great underlying fact 

 that the prosperity of these two States has been 

 weighed down by the presence of slavery ; that the 

 average value of land in the slave States has uni 

 formly been less than in the free States ; that in the 

 former there are no large cities to give value to 

 thousands of surrounding acres, by furnishing 

 markets for their products ; that they support no 

 manufactories of their own, but depend almost ex 

 clusively on ours ; that consumer and producer are 

 everywhere widely separated ; that labor, instead of 

 being diversified, is confined principally to agricul 

 ture ; that instead of being honored, it has been 

 despised ; that education and morals have been 

 neglected, and free discussion forbidden. Into com 

 munities so governed, Northern men, educated to a 

 higher standard, refused to migrate. It is true, that 

 some were moved to do so, but the census proves 

 that there are more native-born emigrants from the 

 Southern States to the North, than Northerners to 

 the South. Foreigners avoided it for kindred rea 

 sons. Thus, with no increase of population from 

 abroad, and with very little at home, it was im 

 possible for land to rise in value. As the West 

 has grown to her colossal proportions by force of 

 immigration, so the South, having none, has failed 

 to increase her numbers to an extent sufficient to 

 enhance the value of her soil. 



