Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1853-02-10
THE TaRHFrLEss FARMER.

we copy The following from the Fort
Wayne Times, and regard is as one of
The bes, portraits of q "thriftless farmer"
we have ever seen. En-
"rhe shrif,less farmer, then, provides
no shelter for his cattle, during the iu-
clemency of winter. but permits them tn
stand shivering by the side OF "a fence, or
TO lie in the snow, as best suits them.
He throws their fodder on the ground,
or in he mud. and not untrequenily in
the highway; by which large portion
Of il, and all the manure, are wasted. :
He grazes his meadows in the fall and
spring. by which they are gradually ex-
hausied, aud finally ruined. .....
His fences are old and poor-just such
as to let his neishbors' cattle break into
his fields, and teach his own to be unru.
y.
He neglects 10 keep the manure from
around the sills of his barn--if he has
one--by which they are prematurely rot.
ted, and his barn destroyed.
He tills, or skins over the surface of
his land, until il is exhausted; bat never
thinks il worth while to manure or clover
il. For the first, he has no time, and for
the last, he ais not able
He has more stock than he has the
means to keep WE'LL
lie has place for nothing, and moth.
ing in its place. He, subsequently,,
wants hoe or rake, hammer or an
auger, but knows not where to fiud it,
lie and his whole household are In search
Of it aud much time is lost.
lie loiiers away stormy days and eve
nings, when he should be repairing his
utensils, or improving his mind by read
ing ihe Times & Press
He spends much time in town, at the
corners of the street, or in the snake.
holes complaining of hard times,' and
goes home in the evening pretty well
tore
He plants few fruit trees. and his
cattle forthwith destroy them. lie has
no luck in raising frui,.'
One half of the little he raises, is de
stroyed by his own, or neighbors' cattle.
lie has no shed for his fire wood
consequently his wife is out OF humor,
and his meals out ofseason.
His plow, drag, and other implements,
lie all winter in the field where last used;
and, jus, as he is getting in hurry, The
next season, his plow breaks because i.
was not housed, and properly cared for.
Somebody's hogs break in, and DESTROY
his garden, because he had not stopped
hole in the fence, that he had been in
tending TO stop. for week.
He is often in great hurry, but will
stop and talk as long as he can find any
one to talk with.
lie has of course, little money: and
when be must raise some to pay his tax
es, &c, he raises it at a great sacrifice,
in some way or other;--either by paying
an enormous shave, or by selling his
scanty crop when prices are low.
He is a year behind. instead of being
a year ahead of his business--and al.
ways will be.
When he pays debt. il is at The end
Of an execution: consequently, his credit
is al a low ebb.
He buys entirely on credit, and mer-
chants, and all others with whom he
deals. charge HIM twice or thrice the
profit they charge prompt paymasters,
and are unwilling TO sell him goods at that.
He has TO beg and promise. and promise
and beg, 10 get them on any terms. The
merchants dread to see his wife come in
10 their stores, and the poor woman feels
depressed and degraded.
The smoke begins to come out Of his
chimney late of winters morning,
while his cattle are suffering for their
mornings feed.
Manure lies in heaps in his stable, his
buildings unpai1ted. and the boards and
shingles falling off-he has no time to re-
place lhem--the glass is out of the win
dows. and the holes stopped with rags
and old hats.
He is great borrower Of his thrifty
neighbors' implements. but never re-.
turns the borrowed article; and. when il
is sent for, i, can't be found.
His children are late at school--that
is, if they go to school-,heir clothes
ragged. their faces unwashe6, their heads
uncombed, and their books torn and dir
V.
He is, in person, great sloven, and
never attends public worship-or, if i.e
does. occasionally, do so, he comes
sneaking in when the service is half out.
If the printer wants quarter of beef,
or a few bushsls Of oats, corn, o. pola-
toes. on his bill, our farmer 'has none to
spare
Take him, all and in all, he is a poor
farmer. poor husband. poor father, a
poor neighbor, poor citizen. a poor
Christian. and poor devil any way yon
can take him. @
On some subsequent day, we shall al.
tempt TO portray the indications of poor
house keeper.