The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1886-06-17

lettuce seed, soak them in strong
brandy twentyfour hours, then
plant the seed in box and keep it
moist with lukewarm water, setting
the box in a warm room. In forty
eight hours, we are assured, but
don't vouch tor it's truthtulness,
good-sized heads of lettuce will
have formed"
Neither do we vouch for it, but
still it is worth a trial, as the time
soon expires.-Spirit of the Farm.
Buying More Land.
Said one of my neighbors the
other day, "Pve got chance to buy
that twenty acre lot that joins my
south field, and it's a piece of land
we've always calculated on to make
the starting of farm for one of
the boys. or course / haven't the
money to pay down for it, but l
can get it on long time at reasona-
bic interest. What do you think
about the venture, neighbour
"WhY, so far as the venture of
the thing is concerned, neighbor, /
am sure that you will pull through
all right; but as to the policy of the
undertaking, am not quite 50 GER
tain. In fact, to be perfectly plain
with you, neighbor, / don't,approve
of the plan; and since you ask my
fopinion FL tell you why: You
have got 120 acres oEland now that
your boys can handle comfortably
without hiring any help excepting a
little, perhaps, in haying and .har-
vesting. Part of this land is con
siderably run on account of keep
ing it cropped with wheat, as you
were not able to put on more stock
to keep it up in better shape. If
you buy more land is will have to
fare in pretty much, the same way,
only little worse perhaps; for the
payments of interest and principal
will absorb your earnings, SO that
instead of increasing your stock, as
you certainly ought to, if you add
another field to your farm, you may
have to still further reduce in or
der to meet your present demands"
/ answered.
ayes, / will admit that it would
cramp me pretty badly, bnt the
point in my mind is this: In five
years from now that piece of land
can't be bought for less than third
more than the present price. Don't
you think man would be justified
in cramping himself little in or
der to get a piece of land at bar
gain2"
''Not while his farm is in need of
every dollar that can be raised to
regain lost fertility and to maintain
that which remains. How much
will you have to pay for the land if
you buy2"
"Forty dollars an acre."
"Twenty acres at forty dollars an
acre would be $500. This $500 ju-
diciousIy invested would put your
land in shape to realize twice the
return that you now get from it.
1t would enable you to regain the
fertility that has been lost by the
'skinning process that almost every
farm has to go through while the
owner is paying for buildings and
other permanent improvements.
Now, instead of doing this, you pro
pose to subject your land to anoth-
er heavy drain by making it pay
for an additional field. You say
that the land that You propose to
buy will cost a third more five years
from now. We will say that it adj
vances $I5 an acre in that time.
That would make a difference of
$500 by Withdrawing from your
working capital the money and in
terest upon it. A large part of this
loss would be in the form of di-
rect falling off In yearly receipts,
and the balance would be taken out
of the fertility of the land. This
latter item can hardly be estimated
with precision, but the injury to
land, by continued cropping with
out making adequate return, is sell
dom ever estimated"
That's all very true, neighbor,
but you see my boys will soon be
old enough to start for themselves
and we want them to settle as near
US as possible. The home place
won't do to cut up in three farms,
and it seems as though we ought
to be making some provisions
against the time of their going for
themselves"
"That opens up a very important
phase of this subject, neighbor.
Now / don't know what your inten-
tions have been concerning the edu-
cation of your boys, but very natur-
ally you will want them to go lit
tie farther than they can at our
common schools here. If you buy
more land and run in debt for it
you will hardly feel able to spare
the boys on account of the cost of
hiring help IN their places while
they are at school and the expenses
of keeping them there. If you buy
land for them you will probably
feel as though the boys ought to
stay at home and help pay for it.
That's the way it usually works, 1
notice. Many a farmers boy has
sacrificed his future possibilities by
neglecting present opportunities,
Just for the sake of having q little
property accumulated for his use
when he is let down from his paren-
tai roof tree"
"But 1 thought, neighbor, that
you went agin' educating boys up
so that they could see nothing but a
profession of some sort ahead"
'And I stand by that, too, neigh
Dor. l don't want a farmers boy
to stuff himself with dead languages
but want him to get all the live
science he can hold and apply to
any practical work in life. want
him to get a good, broad, common
sense education, and if he gets that
he'll find that the farm offers as
good a field for investments as any
other professionT
sBut if you are going to make
scientific farmers of them you
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