Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1875-10-28
it as capital to make his farm more pro-

ductlve.
| have heard Of man who, when ad-
vised to SOW winter rye, objected that he
wantedto get his return the same year he
planted; that che did not exactly like to
trust Providence through whole winter.
Many farmers act ON this principle, if
they do not openly avow it, They know
perfectly well that market gardeners, near
the city, put 500 and often 5000 worth of
manure on the acre with large profit, and
that in their own experience the more
they put on their land the greater their
profit, and yet they do not exactly like to
take $500 or $1,000 out of the savings
bank and invest it in drainage or ma
nure, though they will readily admit that
they would get a larger interest by so
doing.
No farmer can reasonably expect to re-
allze more than 5 or 6 per cent. from
investment OF money in bonds or stocks.
II, by the favor OF some specializing friend,
he is allowed the privilege of taking a
few shares in proposed railroad or cop
per mine or coal company sure to pay 10
per cent. at least, he will be lucky if he
does not lose his money and have to pay
an assessment.
Ii, by spending $1,000 in drainage and
other productive Improvements, heperma
nently increases the income of his field
only sixty dollars year, it is good in
vestment, and he need not look anxiously
every morning in the daily paper to as
certain whether it is lost or not. In an.
nual crops, like market truck, If the Use
OF 800 worth of extra manure will raise
SOS worth of extra produce, it is
fair business transaction, as good as the saw
ings bank, but a market gardener expects
and often realizes six times per cent. on
such an investment.
An acre of asparagus or strawberries,
established and maintained at an annual
cost, including rent for the land, of $500
an acre and yielding an income of $500,
gives 200 per cent. per annum, and beats
out Of sight the promises even of railroads
and coal companies; yet if you are not
yourself doing this, some Of your neigh
bors are, and more too.
Put your money where it will do the
most good-into your best land close at
home-in such way that it will yield an
income. you invest $50 in a weather.
cock on your barn it may crafty yourself
and the passersby, but will not add much
to your income. A horse that earns moth
ing costs $3.50 year at least, and this is
the interest on $4,000 capital. Expensive
dwellings and furniture are not good in
vestments of capital.
While every farmer should expend &C.
cording TO his ability for the comfort and
pleasure of his family, he should not
count as capital in agriculture either the
cupola on his house or the piano in his
parlor.
Time is money, and labor is money on
the farm, and an investment that brings
water to your house and barn, that pro-
vides for storing fuel close to your fire,
that makes the washing and drying of
clothes easy, and makes everything con
venient outdoors is always profitable.
A friend of mine visited his father who
was farmer in New Hampshire. For
thirty years he had brought water from
spring in buckets for household use The
son proposed to put in an aqueduct, but
the father thought it hardly worth while.
He asked the old gentleman how many
times day, on an average he had brought
his buckets from the spring to the house,
and then measured the distance and found
that he had travelled one mile day, COM
puted the whole amount of travel, and
showed him that he had already per.
formed the labor of carrying his two
buckets 1850 miles, and that an aqueduct
would cost about $50. This pilgrimage,
nearly half the distance round the world,
was not economical.
Capital is well invested in good farm
ing implements, such as are of constant
use. Isaac Walton says: "Whoso has
wherewithal to buy spade, yet prefers
rather to borrow his neighbours and wear
out that, is covetous." In fact, no man
can afford to live by borrowing common
small tools. The time spent in getting
and returning them is worth more than
their cost. Indeed, the whole system of
borrowing, as rule, is bad one. With
expensive implements, like mowers, own
ers of small farms may often provide
themselves by hiring the machines, or
having their grass cut by those having
teams and implements.
While | would not usually be borrow
er, | would always cultivate such rela-
tons with my neighbors that we should at
all times borrow and lend freely in any
emergency; but borrowing may become an
imposition. One of my neighbors has a
field-roller, which | have no doubt is
worn out twice as much by being hauled
over the highway from farm to farm as
it is by use in the field. One such nipple
ment, expensive to repair and troublesome
TO house, is enough for a neighborhood,
but its use should be paid for by all Dor
rowers.
''The destruction of the poor is his pow
erty," and this applies to farmer who is
poor as fully as to other men. Buying
and selling well and at the right time
form an important element of success in
all farming, and this requires capital We
need ready money to buy when cattle and
corn are cheap, and to be able TO hold our
hay and such other articles as are not per-
ishable for fair price. Some OF our
farmers bought $500 and $500 worth of
corn in the fall of 1878 at sixty-four cents