Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-01-12
In Debt TO His Farm.

OUR neighbor Jones, about ten years
ago, bought the farm which made him
our neighbor Il was a snug little farm
of one hundred acres, for which he paid
eighty dollars an acre. One thousand
dollars was all that he could pay down,
leaving debt Of seven thousand dollars.
The land was not in high state Of cult
vation, but was in good condition to
receive improvement Our friend felt
that he had heavy burden to bear, for
one so weak as he; and set about with all
his energy to lessen il. He would as he
said, suffer nothing to increase his debt,
or claim any part Of the money with |
which hemeant to decrease 1t. He would |
countenance no outlay. Improvements |
must be a secondary consideraton-must |
wait their time. First of ALL his farm |
must be paid for; then he would talk of
improvements. With this idea he went
to work. lie bought no fertilizers and
drained no marshes. He put nothing on
| his land--hc could not afford to-but
took everything off that he could make IT
produce. lie farned il hard, determined
to make it pay for itself. He cut, at first,
considerable hay, which he sold, all that
he could possibly spare of it-for cash, to
pay on his farm. He kept just as little
stock as he could possibly get along with,
fattened no cattle, and, consequently
turned very little of his hay and grain in
to manure to be returned to his land.
Thus he kept up constant drain on the
substance of the soil, and made very little
restitution. Buthe made-that is-saved
money. His expenses were light, his in
come yearly considerably exceeded them,
though the excess grew gradually less,
giving him the opinion that he must
, straighten his working expenses still
: more, in order to keep up satisfactory
balance. Every year saw him making
increased effort to wiring money from the
soil, and counting the cost still closer and
closer Thus he managed to keep up the
semblance of half satisfactory balance
for some time; but even this soon failed.
When Mr.. Jones, blind to his own folly,
began to murmur "A bad year. bad
G year for farmersl / never had such poor
/ crops in my lifer This was his yearly
= cry, while his neighbors reioiced in luXu
RANT crops.
c Ten years have passed away, during
Z which Mr.. Jones has enjoyed almost none
|. of the comforts, and endured all the trials
u and hardships, of farm life. lie has
u lifted ~ a mortgage of three Thousand
T. dollars, leaving him four thousand still
u in debt. lie thinks himself quite success
g fnl, and looks with pride on his decreas
u ing debt
n But circumstances have become s1cl
G that he thinks il best to sell. He offer
u his farm at private, then public sale, anC
ST to his great astOnishment, fifty dollars ~
acre is all that he can get for it. ii
thinks the people crazy, They said h
IT. got it cheap at eighty, ten years ago. ii
le finally comes to the sage conclusion, " It
g hard times, and they're afraid to buy.
ie Ay, friend Jones, You have good reaso
to think them hard times, but you err i
c your conclusions.
o. The facts are that though Mr.. J., wit
reason, complained of hard times, thing
ne never looked more encouraging; and lane
sc so far from being depressed in value, as i
'c supposed had really advanced twent
dollars an acre within ten years-showin
~ that while he was paying off three tho
Ie sand dollars, he ran into dept five thousan
to the poorest of all creditOrs-his farr
ls' With all the advantages that should ha'
, accrued TO him from rise of two tho
hc sand dollars on the value of his farm, III
re- re- he merely kept it as good as when
ne bought it, he had really worked ten yea
hu i for nothing. The yearly surplus that
ny tlattered himself he was making, he W
really borrowing of his farm at a We
Dn' high rate of interest Ten years of ha
Ill work and scanty conYeniences, and ty
thousand dollars further in debt tn
IN, when he began
.eu Farmers, don't go in debt to your farm
I9r n Sooner pay six, eight, or even ten /
my cent interest to neighbor For, depe
"a as upon it, your'farm will charge you thir
ue- If you cannot afford to supply the
OF mand of your farm for fertilizers a
mas other improvements, and pay moder
orh rate of interest for what money you n
not have of your own-SELI. Sell a p
or all as may be required, for, rest assur
the that you cannot afford to scant your la
to run in debt to your farms. True, Il
are silent creditors. They send no dI
ure for unpaid interest. But they With
to from you four times what noisy cre
her or would demand Don't trust their by
|, as critical silence If you can't afford
oos- keep a farm in good condition and
the good repair, you can't afford to keep il
wed all; and if you can't keep it in good c
SO dition, few years will prove that
the can't keep it at all The worst cred
lnds man can have is his tarm.-E T. b
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