nd 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. But the grass that
grows in the northern countries can not be transported. The mills for
manufacturing cotton may be in one country, and the cotton be raised
in another, and then, after the cotton is gathered, it may be packed
and sent thousands of miles to be manufactured. 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 di