OP TENNESSEE. 23 



of sowing, have failed, and, discouraged, abandoned it. 

 Many, and a majority, are content to secure such precarious 

 .spots as are self-sown, or where seeds have been distributed 

 by nature, and still exhaust their lands by cultivation. 



C. W. Howard, of Georgia, who devoted years to the 

 investigation of the influence of the grasses upon civiliza- 

 tion and material progress thus presents the subject in a 

 strong light : 



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 lands ranging from $50 to $200 per acre. He looks to England, 1 

 Holland and Belgium, and finds the price averaging from $300 to $500 

 per acre. Why this difference? Is the land in these countries better 

 th&nours? Not by nature — if it be better it is by the difference of 

 treatment. Is their climate better than ours? The acknowledged 

 superiority is on .our sjde. Are the prices of their products any better 

 than ours ? On an average not so good. Are the taxes lighter than 

 ours ? If we were compelled to pay their tax either at the North or in 

 England our lands would at once be sold for taxes. Have they val- 

 uable crops which they can raise and we cannot raise ? There is not a 

 farm product in either Old England or New England which we cannot 

 raise in equal perfection at the South. Is the labor cheaper than ours ? 

 The cost of labor at the North nearly doubles the cost of labor South. 

 In England labor is cheaper than with us. But the difference is per- 

 haps compensated by the poor and church rates and excessive taxes 

 paid by the English farmers. 



If our climate is as good as that of the countries referred to, if our 

 lands are as good as theirs, if our products bring as good prices, if we 

 can grow all they can grow, if labor is cheaper with us than at the 

 North, and if difference in taxes compensate for the cheapness of labor 

 in England, why is it that their lands are so valuable and ours so value- 

 less ? 



We shall find the map of use to us in answering this question. If 

 we take the map of the United States, and put our finger upon the 

 States or parts of States in which lands sell at the highest price, we 

 shall find that in those States, or parts of those States, the greatest 

 attention is paid to the cultivation of the grasses and forage plant . If 

 we open the map of Europe we shall find that 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 



