The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1878-02-22
farMRrs' Column.
Speed the PIOpp.O
Running in Debt for a Farm.

oioiiy aePenus more on the character of
the man, than the adoption of either sys
tem-debt or no debt. Nevertheless, some
general principles may be laid down that
may be useful to every young man who is
ABOUT entering active business in farming,
and who does not possess much capital.
The tirst thing to understand is the ma
ture and character of compound interest.
or the amount of money one has to nav to-
wards debt in a long run of years. Sup
pose hundred acres of land are bought.
one-thlrd paid down, and debt of four
Thousand dollars remains. At seven Der
cent. this amounts to two hundred and
eighty dollars per annum; and after the
purchase of tools, seeds, animals. &c. and
supporting his family, in connection with
paying shopkeepers' and blacksmiths
Dliis' the young farmer will do well if he
keeps down this interest without reducing
the principal. Two hundred and eighty
dollars every year good seasons and bad
ones) would amount in ten years, interest
alone, compromising it as he should once a
year, to $500; or in twenty years, in the
same way, it would reach $11,4sO. It
would be an interesting and practical
question to ask any farmer who owns
hundred acre farm without debt if he could
lay up Sl1 600 in twenty years from it
Ii lie could, and the young farmer whose
case we have supposed, might do as well,
then he could keep down the interest, but
he would not reduce the four thousand
dollar debt.
Much would depend on two conditions.
one OF which we have already mentioned
namely, the skill, energy, economy and
good judgment of the farmer and the otn-
er is the quality of the land. Poor land
may do when it is all paid for, but heavy
debt cannot be paid by working it, A
well-known and successful business man
began farming as the owner ola poor farm.
He rented this farm for what he could get.
and then took fertile farm on the shares.
HIS half OF the products of the good land
paid him better than the whole of his own
poor land. 1t is better to have a small
and rich piece of land than an extensive
and sterile one.
Most farmers, on looking at the figures
we have given, will incline to recommend
keeping out of large debt. 1t stimulates
to industry and economy. Yet there is
one advantage in some debt. A neiphbor
who had succeeded, by hard work on his
small farm, mingled with days labor when
he could spare the time. and by close saw
ing, in paying the last dollar of debt on it,
remarked to us a year or two afterwards.
VI must contrlve to get into debt again,
for, as | have easier times, do not make
anything"
We have given the preceding figuree,
not to discourage young farmers wholly
from mourning debt, but to show in adj
vance and before too late the character of
the responsibility they are assuming. 1t
may now be well to see what young man
may earn by labor alone as a hired hand.
Ii he can get his board, clothes, and 5000
a year to lay up, he will have in ten years,
If he adds the yearly interest at seven per
cent. the sum of $2,70O. In twenty years
he would have $4,000. Even at 800 saw
ed yearly, half OF these sums would not be
bad. Some men can acquire property more
RAPIDLY in this way than by running in
debt for farm. For most this will be
the best way
AS general rule, it would doubtless he
best for every young man, if he has moth
ing to begin with, to work several years
at wages. If by that time he has thous-
and dollars or two, he may adopt one of
two courses. He may buy small and fer
tile piece of land and work it. or he may
take larger farm on shares and if possible
add to his money. The latter would give
him an opportunity, without great risk, of
learning what he could accomplish. In
buying land, however, great care should
be exercised to see that he obtains the val
ue OF his money in productive land. A
young farmer with family, some years
ago, was ambitious to own farm of his
own and gave a thousand dollars more for
a small, handsome place than it was worth,
running in debt for nearly the whole. He
worked hard and managed badly. His
farm soon became overgrown with weeds;
but another, and more fatal growth was
springing up almost unseen by him. name
ly, the growth by compound interest off the
heavy membranes on it. A year or two
ago, it went under four mortgages, with
all that he had so long labored for.
Then the question comes up, Shall we not
go West and buy cheap farma AS the
saying is, "there are six of one and halfa
dozen of the other" There is no place on
the earth which groups together all the adj
vantages, but they are distributed pretty
evenly. Where land is cheap, its products
are low priced and markets distant In
long settled places and near cities, with
their high prices and ready markets, land
also is high. A near neighbor let his fine
farm to tenant, who gave him half the
products. But the tenant concluded he
had hard bargain, in having only half of
all he worked for so hard, and he told the
owner he had concluded to GO West, buy
II cheap farm, and have all he raised. The
owner then made him this offer: II will
buy of you all you can raise on my farm,
and pay you the same price you would
get for your crops beyond the Mississippi"
This offer delighted the tenant, until he
found by inquiry that the aggregate of the
Western prices were not one-half those at
the East, and he concluded to stay where
lie was, and save the expense of removing.
And yet some men of robust health and
strong limbs do best by going where land
is cheap, because they are compelled from
necessity to work hard, endure privations,
give up society, and practice rigid econo-
my. IT they worked as hard and saved as
rigidly at the East, they might do as well.
In moving West, every man should &C
quaint himself well with the country and
neighborhood where he is going; its heal
thiness, markets, drawbacks and advanta-
ges, and not plunge into the dark. In
making these remarks for and against the
different courses to adopt, our object has
been to caution young farmers against
hasty decisions, and to look carefully, and
feel their way in any change they make
Country Gentleman.
There were tramps also in Shake
speare's day, as the following bit of philoso-
ply, from Much Ado About Nothing,
shows:
"Dogber,y-This is your charge: you shall
comprehend all yagrom men; you are 10 bid
any man stand, in the princes name.
"Second Wdtch-How If he will not stand?
"Dogbe,ry-Why, then, take no note of him,