20 THE GRASSES 



$2.00, the laborer will get $16. Tobacco, our most remu- 

 nerative crop, on good land will make 800 pounds of leaf, 

 which is about $50 to $60 per acre. Wheat will make, on 

 good land, fifteen bushels per acre, and at $1 will yield 

 about $15. Taking the cost of production from these 

 amounts, the average farmer will not have left, at the best, 

 more than twelve dollars per acre. A good meadow, in full 

 bearing, with ordinary care, will yield, with two cuttings, 

 at least two tons per acre. The cost is altogether in har- 

 vesting, while the trouble of sending to market is no greater 

 than either of the other crops. This, at the price for which 

 it has been selling for several years, will be $20 per ton. 

 Here, then, is a difference in actual receipts of almost 

 double that obtained from other crops, nothing paid out for 

 production, and besides the land can be enriched year by 

 year, until it attains an almost fabulous fertility. Nor is 

 this all. The amount of hay produced from a single acre 

 can be increased almost to any extent by the applica- 

 tion of stimulating manures. If then, land in Europe can 

 produce five tons of hay per acre, and sell for $1,000 per 

 acre, why cannot Tennessee lands, far better naturally, and 

 in a more genial climate, be made to rival these results ? 

 One thing only prevents, and that is the fatal apathy and 

 want of enterprise on the part of the land owners. It is 

 the thirst for immediate returns. To create this state of tillage, 

 it will be necessary to proceed slowly, and look for no re- 

 turns of consequence for one or two years. Pressing neces- 

 sities weigh upon the farmer, and he thoughtlessly drives 

 on in the same interminable furrow, regardless of the loss 

 of time and fertility. The Northern husbandman bales his 

 hay, and is able to ship it to all parts of the South in search 

 of a market, and after paying heavy railroad charges, is 

 still able to sell his producee at a remunerative price. The 

 Southern man has no freight charges to tax his hay, and 

 yet he is content to let his Northern rival enjoy, without 

 competition, this great market. When will our eyes be 



