But the sheep and oxen
which are to eat the hay, can not be kept in one country, while the
grass which they feed upon grows in another. The animals must live, in
general, on the very farm which the grass grows upon. Thus, while the
cotton cultivator has nothing to do but to raise his cotton and send
it to market, the grass cultivator must not only raise his grass, but
he must provide for and take care of all the animals which are to
eat it. This makes the agriculture of the northern states a far more
complicated business, because the care of animals runs into great
detail, and requires great skill, and sound judgment, and the exercise
of constant discretion.
"You observe," continued Forester, "that it is by the intervention of
animals that the farmer gets the product of his land into such a shape
that it will bear transportation. For instance, he feeds out his hay
to his sheep, attending them with care and skill all the winter. In
the spring he shears off their fleeces; and now he has got something
which he _can_ send to market. He has turned his grass into wool,
and thus got its value into a much more compact form. The wool will
bear transportation. Perhaps he gave a whole load of hay to his sheep,
to produce a single bag of wool. So the bag of wool is worth as much
as the load of hay, and is very much more easily carried to market. He
can put it upon his lumber-box, and drive off fifty miles with it, to
market, without any difficulty."
"His lumber-box?" asked Marco. "What is that?"
"Didn't you ever see a lumber-box?" asked Forester. "It is a square
box, on runners, like those of a sleigh. The farmers have them to haul
their produce to market."
"Why do they call it a lumber-box?" asked Marco.
[Illustration: THE LUMBER-BOX.]
"Why, when the country was first settled, they used to carry lumber to
market principally; that is, bundles of shingles and clapboards, which
they made from timber cut in the woods. It requires some time for a
new farm, made in the forests, to get into a condition to produce
much grass for cattle. I suppose that it was in this way that these
vehicles got the name of lumber-boxes. You will see a great many
of them, in the winter season, coming down from every part of the
country, toward the large towns on the rivers, filled with produce."
"What else do the farmers turn their grass into, besides wool?" asked
Marco.
"Into beef," said Forester. "They raise cows and oxen.
