“Forty yoke!” repeated Marco.

“I don’t mean to be exact,” said Forester.  “I mean it would take a great many.  So that, by feeding his hay out to horses, the farmer gets his produce into a better state to be transported to market.  The Vermont horses go all over the land.  Thus you see that the farmers in the grass country have to turn the vegetable products which they raise, into animal products, before they can get them to market; and as the rearing of animals is a work which requires a great deal of attention, care, patience, and skill, the cultivators must be men of a higher class than those which are employed in raising cotton, or even than those who raise grain.  The animals must be watched and guarded while they are young.  There are a great many different diseases, and accidents, and injuries which they are exposed to, and it requires constant watchfulness, and considerable, intelligence, to guard against them.  This makes a great difference in the character which is required in the laborers, in the different cases.  A cotton plantation in the south can be cultivated by slaves.  A grain farm in the middle states can be worked by hired laborers; but a northern grass farm, with all its oxen, cows, sheep, poultry, and horses, can only be successfully managed by the work of the owner.”

“Is that the reason why they have slaves at the south?” asked Marco.

“It is a reason why slaves can be profitable at the south.  In cultivating cotton or sugar, a vast proportion of all the work done in the year is the same.  Almost the whole consists of a few simple processes, such as planting, hoeing, picking cotton, &c., and this is to be performed on smooth, even land, where set tasks can be easily assigned.  But the work on a grass farm is endlessly varied.  It would not be possible to divide it into set tasks.  And then it is of such a nature, that it could not possibly be performed successfully by the mere labor of the hands.  The mind must be employed upon it.  For instance, even in getting in hay, in the summer season, the farmer has to exercise all his judgment and discretion to avoid getting it wet by the summer showers, and yet to secure it in good time, and with proper dispatch.  A cotton planter may hire an overseer to see to the getting in of his cotton, and he can easily tell by the result, whether he has been faithful or not.  But hay can not be got in well, without the activity, and energy, and good judgment, which can come only from the presence and immediate supervision of an owner.  This produces vast differences in the nature of the business, and in the whole state of society in the two regions.”

“What are the differences?” asked Marco.