Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1840-03-27

SChhc ~ DICuoCu W Sot
but which is infallibly connected with
meanness, and is one ofthe most effectual
prcventives of all Improvement, and the
surest precursor of utter degradation that
can be found in a man, and of all other
things, is most out of place in a farmer.
The great secret of economy, is knowing
what is useful and necessary, and what
not +; of knowing when to expend and
when to withhold expenses ; in keeping
our out-goes clearly within our income,
and never purchasing what we can our
selves produce, or which a correspon-
ding amount of our own labor will not
procure ; and in having every thing in
doors and out in its proper place, nothing
wasted or destroyed, but a general super
vising care directed to every thing con-
nected with our business at all seasons of
the year. 1t is miserable economy to
undertake to labor without the proper
tools to undertake to sec how cheaply
we can summer or winter our animals ;
or to sec with how little knowledge and
and intelligence, or the means of obtain
ing either, we can c%ontrive to plod along
through life. 80.
Il Farmer should be free from Debit
If the farmer wishes to bind a milestone
round his neck, to sink him beyond the
possibility ofhope orrescue-to keep him
constantly restless, and struggling for sub
s%istancc if not for existence, let him keep
in debt ; if he would be able to call what
he has his own, and breathe the air of a
freeman, let him religiously eschew debts.
We would almost 60 so far as to say that
nothing excepting the purchase of land,
can Justify a farmer in contracting a debt;
and before he sells himself for more land,
he will do we'll to inquire whether he has
capital to work it profitably, or whether
what he now has, is brought to the proper
degree of fertility. We arc confident
that If Men were to pay ready money for
a thousand things they fancy they need,
and can obtain on credit, they would not
be purchased. The habit of contracting.
debts has a direct tendency to induce
needless risks, and bad domestic ccono-
my. Two-thirds Of the law suits that
arise, and which are productive of so
much expense and i'll will, spring from this
SIuSlc CAUSE. Dul WIdlCNCI INuIIotuu-
ces else may occur to render debt neces-
sary, indebtedness to banks Is what should
never happen TO a farmer, and he should
never be seen within the doors of one of
those institutions. They were never in
tended for the farmer and, necessary
and beneficial as they may be for the pur-
pose of exchanges and trade, the man
whose business and transactions are as
those of the farmer should be, can never
with safety allow his name to be used too
familiary within their walls.
Il Farmer should be MteUigent.-It
is an old and true maxim, that "igno-
rance of the law cXcuseth no man," and
ignorance on any topic necessary to Il
proper prosecution of his business, or to
his proper standing and influence in the
community, cannot now be plead by the
farmer, without indirectly conteSsing to a
great and incxcusablc neglect Of means
within the reach of every one. Know
ledge, no less than money, is power; and
its accumulation in the hands Of any class
is a sure proof Of eventual a%sccndancy ;
and this fact should stimulate farmers to
use every c~xcrtion to become its possess
sors. Universal education is the glory of
our land the true foundation Of our ma
tional greatness, and, in connection with
sound morals, is its surest preventative.
Shoots, books, newspapers, and journals
of all kinds, have a wide circulation, and
at a rate that places them in the hands of
all who choose to think and investigate.
Error cannot escape under the guisc or
plea of antiquity ; and the stake and the
pillory are not required to combat it in a
land where reason is free to expose its alb
surditics, or plead the cause of truth. BY
this general diffusion of the means of
knowledge no class has hcen more bene-
fitted than the farmer, and none can have
adceper interest in its continued increase |;
and none should more freely and fully
avail themselves of the means the laws
have so literally placed within their
reach.
A Farmer should be MoraL.-It has
been said that an undevout astronomer
is mad" and an immoral, prohigate far
mer is an equally decisive instance OF
f mental alteration. The owner of the
soil; the producer and the possessor OF
) the main part of the country's wealth; its
, defence in war, and its cOnservator in
peace, the farmer has every reason to
, uphold a system not only right in itself but
, productive ofprosperity and permanence,
, and frown down and repudiate every thing
, that has a contrary tendency. There is
no surer index to the general happiness OF
f a people, and stability and excellence OF
0 their institutions, than the tone Of morals
: that exists among them. If the standard