Cultivation of the Grasses and 



iar, the highest average of land in any one 

 county was $10 per acre, while the lowest was 

 less than one dollar per acre. The average of 

 Georgia probably quite equalled that of any 

 other cotton State. The good cotton lands of 

 southwestern Georgia were worth frorn $10 

 to$30per acre. Now, they would not command 

 one-half that price. It is a significant fact, 

 that the rich lands in upper Georgia, in which 

 a mixed husbandry prevails, have rather in- 

 creased than decreased since the war in value. 

 Let the fact be pondered that the depression 

 in price has occurred only in lands devoted to ex- 

 clusive cotton and rice culture, both of which 

 require a large amount of labor. 



A planter owning one thousand acres of fair 

 average land in the healthy portion of the 

 cotton States is a poor man. He could not 

 sell his land probably for more than $5,000- 

 He looks to the North and finds land ranging 

 from $50 to $200 per acre. He looks to 

 England, Holland or Belgium, and finds it 

 averaging from $300 to $500 per acre. Why 

 this difference ? Is the land in these countries 

 better than ours ? Not by nature if it be 

 better it is by the difference in treatment. Is 

 their climate better than ours ? The acknowl- 

 edged superiority is on our side. Are the 

 prices of their products any better than ours ? j 

 On an average not so good. Are their taxes 

 lighter than ours ? If we were compelled to 

 pay their tax, either at the North or in Eng- 

 land, our land would t once be sold for taxes. 

 Have they valuable crops which they can 

 raise, and' which we cannot raise ? There is 

 notafarm product in either Old or New Eng- 

 land which we cannot raise in equal perfection 

 at the South. Is their labor cheaper than 

 ours? The cost of labor at the North nearly 

 doubles the cost of labor at the South. In 

 England labor is cheaper than with us. But 

 the difference is perhaps compensated by the 

 poor and church rates, and other excessive 

 taxes paid by the English farmer. 



If then our climate is as good as that of the 

 countries referred to, if our land is as good as 

 theirs, if our products bring as good prices, if 

 our taxes are much lighter, if we can grow all 

 the crops that they grow, if labor is cheaper 

 with us than it is at the North, and if differ- 

 ence in taxes compensates for the cheapness of 

 labor in England, why is it that their land is 

 so valuable and ours so valueless ? 



We shall find the map of use to us in an- 

 swering this question. If we take the map of 

 the United States, and put our finger upon the 

 States or parts of States in which land sells at 

 the highest price, we shall find that in those 

 States or parts of States the greatest attention 

 is paid to the cultivation of the grasses and 

 forage plants. If we open the map of Europe 

 we shall find the same rule holds good. The 

 cheapest lands in Europe are those of Spain, 

 where little attention is paid to the grasses. 

 The value of land rises exactly in proportion 



to" '"the attention which is given to them, in 

 England and Holland reaching sometimes for 

 farming purposes to $1,000 per acre. Holland 

 is almost a continuous meadow. This land 

 value culminates in Lombardy, where irrigated 

 meadow lands rent for $60 to $100 per acre. 

 Without exception, in Europe and America, 

 where a large portion of land is in grass or 

 forage crops, the price of land is high, reach- 

 ing the figures above mentioned. On the other 

 hand, without exception, wherever in either 

 continent the grasses do not receive this atten- 

 tion, landed estate is comparatively of low 

 value. Now, when in the investigation of the 

 cause of a given effect, we find in a number 

 of instances in which the result occurs, the 

 presence uniformly of a particular agent, and 

 in a number of similar instances in which the 

 result does not occur, we find this agent to be 

 absent ; then unless good reason to the con- 

 trary be given, we are at liberty to attribute the 

 result to the presence of this agent. The con- 

 clusion is irresistible that a large attention to 

 the cultivated grasses is essential not only to 

 improved agriculture, but also to a high value 

 of landed estate. If there be a flaw in this 

 reasoning, the writer has been unable to detect 

 it. Fifteen years ago this solution was offered 

 of the apparently anomalous condition of our 

 lands, so favored as to all the elements of ag- 

 riculture, and yet so ruinously low in saleable 

 value. Time has but strengthened the con- 

 viction of its correctness. The argument is 

 strengthened by the consideration that ex- 

 tended grass culture in any country is an 

 index of the existence of an improved agri- 

 culture. Where this occurs, there must be 

 large numbers of horses or mules, sheep and 

 cattle. These produce an abundance of ma- 

 nure. Where there is an abundance of manure 

 there will be large crops. Where there are 

 large crops land will be valuable. These 

 results follow from the grass crop as the first 

 cause. 



If a farm of one thousand acres in the heal- 

 thy portion of the cotton belt were placed in 

 the condition of an English farm, as to the 

 quantity of meadow and pasture of the culti- 

 vated grasses, and which would now sell for 

 not more than $5,000, it would become intrin- 

 sically worth $100 per acre. At a low esti- 

 mate it would afford annually a net yield of 

 $10 per acre, or $10,000. This is ten per 

 cent, on $100,000. The owner would be very 

 foolish to-ftell a property yielding this income 

 for that price. The difference between the 

 present and practicable condition of the same 

 farm of one thousand acres is the difference 

 to the owner between $5,000 and $100,000 



But it may be asked, would it not cost the 

 $100 per acre to bring this farm np to this es- 

 timated value ? By no mea.is. It is true that 

 the land must be made rich by manure, and 

 that this manure costs heavily. But it may be 

 applied to cotton or wheat, and the expense of 



