"Yes," replied Forester. "The farms in this part of the United States
may be called grass farms. This is the grass country."
"Isn't it all grass country?" asked Marco. "Grass grows everywhere."
"Grass is not _cultivated_ everywhere so much as it is among
the mountains, in the northern states," replied Forester. "The great
articles of cultivation in the United States are grass, grain, and
cotton. The grass is cultivated in the northern states, the grain in
the middle states, and the cotton in the southern states. The grass
is food for beasts, the grain is food for man, and the cotton is
for clothing. These different kinds of cultivation are not indeed
exclusive in the different districts. Some grass is raised in the
middle and southern states, and some grain is raised in the northern
states; but, in general, the great agricultural production of the
northern states is grass, and these farms among the mountains in
Vermont are grass farms.
"There is one striking difference," continued Forester, "between the
grass farms of the north, and the grain farms of the middle states, or
the cotton plantations of the south. The grass cultivation brings with
it a vast variety of occupations and processes on the farm, making
the farm a little world by itself; whereas the grain and the cotton
cultivation are far more simple, and require much less judgment and
skill. This is rather remarkable; for one would think that raising
food for beasts would require less skill than raising food or clothes
for man."
"I should have thought so," said Marco.
"The reason for the difference is," replied Forester, "that in raising
food for animals, it is necessary to keep the animals to eat it, on
the spot, for it will not bear transportation."
"Why not?" said Marco.
"Because it is so cheap," replied Forester.
"I don't think that is any reason," replied Marco.
"A load of grass" - said Forester.
"A load of grass!" repeated Marco, laughing.
"Yes, dried grass, that is, hay. Hay, you know, is grass dried to
preserve it."
"Very well," said Marco; "go on."
"A load of grass, then, is so cheap, that the cost of hauling it fifty
miles would be more than it is worth. But cotton is worth a great deal
more, in proportion to its bulk. It can therefore be transported to
distant places to be sold and manufactured. Thus the enormous quantity
of cotton which grows every summer in the southern states, is packed
in bags, very tight, and is hauled to the rivers and creeks, and there
it is put into steamboats and sent to the great seaports, and at the
seaports it is put into ships, which carry it to England or to the
northern states, to be manufactured; and it is so valuable, that it
will bring a price sufficient to pay all the persons that have been
employed in raising it, or in transporting it.
