SKETCH OF MODERN AGRICULTURE 8 1 



Tobacco, live stock, and general farming continued in the 

 northern belt of slave states, that is, in Maryland, Virginia, North 

 Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri ; but through the 

 institution of slavery these states found their interests to be with 

 the cotton states to the south of them rather than with the free 

 states of the North. The cotton states furnished a market for 

 slaves and also for the horses, mules, cattle, hogs, hay, and 

 grain produced by these border states. 



The mule. It was during the period we are now studying that 

 the breeding of mules began to be a distinct business. George 

 Washington himself was a pioneer in this enterprise, having 

 received two valuable jacks as presents from Lafayette and the 

 king of Spain. The extent of his influence in this direction 

 is shown by the fact that there are now more than 2,000,000 

 mules in the country, and that they are still raised mainly in 

 the border states of Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, 

 Kansas, and Texas. 



Westward migration. The opening up of the Northwest 

 Territory under the ordinances of 1785 and 1787 stimulated a 

 rapid migration westward to this new territory. Inasmuch as 

 the government at this period sold land to speculators as well 

 as to settlers, this westward migration was made up of very 

 diverse elements, though then, as well as later, the home seeker 

 predominated. The land sought during this early period all lay 

 in the continuous stretch of forest which extended westward from 

 the coast to the present state of Indiana. Therefore the pioneer- 

 ing of this period differed, in some respects, .from that which we 

 have known later in the prairie states, though resembling that 

 of the colonial period on the Atlantic seaboard. After locating 

 his land and building a shelter, the first task of the settler was 

 to clear his land of timber. The work of destroying the forest 

 was prosecuted with such vigor and ingenuity as have probably 

 never been equaled in the history of the world. 



