desires to insert is, that all the hay that is made shall be fed upon
the land, and that manure shall be purchased to supply the waste
resulting from the sale of corn or flax from off the land. In order,
however, that it may be so supplied, it is indispensable that the
place of consumption shall not be far distant from the place of
production, as otherwise the cost of transportation will be greater
than the value of the manure. In a recent work on the agriculture of
Mecklenburgh, it is stated that a quantity of grain that would be
worth close to market fifteen hundred dollars would be worth nothing
at a distance of fifty German, or about two hundred English miles,
from it, as the whole value would be absorbed in the cost of
transporting the grain to market and the manure from market--and that
the manure which close to the town would be worth five dollars to the
farmer, would be worth nothing at a distance of 4-3/4 German, or 19
English miles from it--and that thus the whole question of the value
of land and the wealth of its owner was dependent upon its distance
from the place at which its products could be exchanged. At a greater
distance than 28 German, or 112 English miles, in Mecklenburgh, the
land ceases to yield rent, because it cannot be cultivated without
loss. As we approach the place of exchange the value of land
increases, from the simultaneous action of two causes: First, a
greater variety of commodities can be cultivated, and the advantage
resulting from a rotation of crops is well known. At a distance, the
farmer can raise only those of which the earth yields but little, and
which are valuable in proportion to their little bulk--as, for
instance, wheat or cotton; but near the place of exchange he may raise
potatoes, turnips, cabbages, and hay, of which the bulk is great in
proportion to the value. Second, the cost of returning the manure to
the land increases as the value of the products of land diminishes
with the increase of distance; and from the combination of these two