Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-01-11
In Debt TO His Farm.

OUR neighbor Jones, about ten years
ago, bought the farm which made him
our neighbor. 1t 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 it, He would, as he
said, suffer nothing to increase his debt,
or claim any part of the money with
which hemeant to decrease H. He would
countenanCe no outlay. Improvements
must be a secondary consideratioi1-must
wait their time. Firat of all, his farm
must he paid for; then he would talk of
improvements. With this idea he went
to work. He bought no fertilizers and
drained no marshes, He put nothing on
his lanti--he could not afford to-but
took everything off that he could make il
produce. He farmed il hard. determined
to make IT pay for itstlf. He cut, at first.
considerable nay, 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 alcng with,
tattened no cattle, and, consequently,
turned very little of his hay and grain in
to manure to- be returned to hia land.
Thus he kept ur constant drain on the
/ substance of the soil, and made verylittle
restitution. Buthe made-that is-saved
| money. His expenses were light his in
come yearly considerably exceeded them
though the excess srew gradually less.
! giving him the opinion that he must
| stralghten his working expenses still
more, in order to keep up satisfactory
balance. Every year saw him making
increased efihrt 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 TING; hut even this soon failed.
/ When MI. Jones, blind to his own folly,
began to murmur: "A bad year! bad
year for farmersl | never had such pool
crops in my lifer' This was his yearly
cry, while his neighbofs rejoiced in luXu
rant crops.
Ten years have passed away, during
which Mr.. Jones has enjoyed almost none
of the comforts, and endured all the trial.
and hardships, of farm life. He ha:
lifted" mortgage of three thousand
dollars, leaving him four thousand still
in debt, He thinks himself quite success
! Rho ioOhS WIN IlAhC uONlCsio
ing debt,
But CIRCUMSTANCES have become sucl
that he thinks it best to sell. He offer!
his farm atprivate, then public sale, anC
to his great astonishment, fifty dollars al
acre is all that he can get for it. III,
thinks the people crazy. They said III
got it cheap at eighty, ten years ago. III
finally comes to the sage conclusion, "It'
hard times, and they're afraid to buy.
Ay, friend Jones, you have good reason
TO think them hard times, but you err il
your conclusions.
The facts are that, though Mr.. j., witt
reason, complained of hard times, thing
never looked more encouraging; and land
so far from being depressed in value, as h
supposed, had really advanced twent
dollars an acre within ten years-showin
that while he was paying off three thou
sand dollars, he ran into dept five thousan
to the poorest of all creditors-his farm
With all the advantages that should hav
accrued to him from rise of two thoJ
sand dollars on the value of his farm, ha
he merely kept it as good as when L
bought it, he had really worked ten yea
! for nothing. The yearly surplus that
fiattered himself he was making, he w;
really borrowing of his farm at a vel
, high rate of interest. Ten years of han
work and scanty conveniences, and tv
thousand dollars further in debt thi
: when he began!
u Farmers, don't go in debt to your farm
/ Sooner pay six, eight, or even ten p
J cent interest to neighbor For, depeI
: upon it, your,farm will charge you thirt
If you cannot afford to supply the {
u mand of your farm for fertilizers al
= other improvements, and pay a modera
IL rate of interest for what money you m
not have of your own-SELL. Sell a pa
or all as may be required, for, rest assure
e that you cannot afford to scant your la
to run in debt to your farms True, til
are silent creditors. They send no du
e for unpaid interest. But they withhC
20 from you four times what a noisy cred
er or would demand. Don't trust their hyI
rs critical silence. If you can't afford
s keep a farm in good condition and
he good repair, you can't afford to keep it
"a all; and if you can't keep it in good CO
20 dition, few years will prove that y
le can't keep it at all. The worst credit
Is man can have is his farm.-E. 7. Bu
e. in P,uiT7e Farmer.