78 PRINCIPLES OF RURAL ECONOMICS 



by bargain and sale, and the estates of persons dying intestate 

 were to be divided among their heirs in equal parts. By allodial 

 tenure is meant the absolute ownership of the land, free from 

 all obligations to an overlord, king, or any one else. By feudal 

 tenure is meant the holding of land originally granted by a king 

 or an overlord, on condition of the rendering of some service 

 or the payment of some rental, which service or rental, how- 

 ever, is fixed in the original grant. Such tenure is permanent, 

 provided the stipulated service is rendered or payment made. 

 This form of tenure differs from the ordinary lease in that the 

 latter holds only for a limited term and a new contract is made 

 at the beginning of every new term. Land held in fee simple 

 is held without condition or limitation, is perpetual, and belongs 

 to the owner, his heirs, and assigns forever. This provision for 

 a popular system of land tenure has determined the form of 

 land ownership throughout the entire country, and even the 

 older states, in which certain relics of feudal tenure still sur- 

 vived, have since remodeled their land laws after the pattern 

 set by this ordinance. 



The rise of the cotton industry. The next epochal change 

 in the agricultural history of this period was the rise of cotton 

 to the first place among Southern products. During the colonial 

 era, and down to 1803, tobacco held first place, but at this date 

 cotton began to outstrip it and soon left it far behind. This 

 rise of cotton to a position of predominance came about as a 

 result of several factors working together. During the latter 

 half of the eighteenth century there had been a remarkable 

 series of inventions, mainly in England, for the manufacture of 

 cloth. These had greatly increased the demand for cotton on 

 the markets of the world. In' 1786 the long-staple or sea- 

 island cotton was introduced and proved to be well adapted to 

 the low lands of South Carolina and Georgia. But more im- 

 portant than all other factors was the invention of the saw gin 



