St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-05-17
Mrs. MARTHA CRANDALL.
TO GET OUT OF DEBT
Suggestions by a Farmer How to
Get Rid OF Mortgages and

A writer in the Farmers Review
throws out these pointers for the bene-
fit of the unfortunate. He says: 1.-The
record of most counties in our Western
states, if examined, would show large
per cent Of the farms encountered with
mortgages, and it is probable that the
load of debt carried by farmers does
more to discourage and keep them from
doing good work, as they are capable of,
than all other causes combined. l have
a hearty sympathy for the young farmer
in debt, for have been through the en-
tire line of experiences, which, as the
catechism says, accompany and flow
FROM being in this state. just thirty
years age bought sixty acres of land on
long credit, and as it had no buildings l
borrowed 1000 at per cent interest,
to put up a modest house and barn. ]
was then young and enthusiastic, and
10 per cent had no terrors to me, but
with growing family on my hands, it
took twenty-five years of bondage and
hard work before could say, 81 do not
owe a dollar" and | doubt if Wander
bilt ever felt richer than do to-day
with my ninety-acre farm. If l can
read the Farmers Review. some things
to be avoided, and some methods which.
if adopted, will help to the desired
freedom from bondage, l shall esteem
myself happy. My first advice to
many farmers would be to sell
out and make a new start. They
have probably overloaded themselves,
either from buying too large farm or
one too badly out of condition. The
farmer who for years has not been able
to reduce his Indebtedness, has good
cause to believe that there should be
change of some kind. and he ought to
be able to determine whether OF not it
needs to be as radical as change of
location. In many cases he only needs
to change his plans. The farmer who
can make reduction of even $500 a
year in his Indebtedness, if owing from
81 900 to $4,000. has no cause for dis
couragement. A common mistake made
by the farmer in debt is to devote all his
thought and energies to an attempt to
increase his income. In other words, he
usually reasons in this way: Now. to
meet my interest and reduce my lndebt-
edness, l must work my farm for all
there is in it, and he begins to plow
large breadth and put out large acre
age of crops, which involves increased
expense for horses, hands and machin-
cry, larger blacksmith bills, and inev-
itably, decreased yields per acre. Now
all the profit in farming comes from
crops above the average. and to grow
them requires that the soil be in good
condition. that they be planted in good
time and thoroughly cultivated. The
true method for the farmer in debt is
to say. | cannot afford to cultivate
single acre that gives no profit,
and to reduce his acres under Gull
tivation and his expenses at the same
time. There are thousands of farmers
who have been keeping two teams on a
farm of less than one hundred acres,
and consequently must keep an extra
hand to work one of them, and having
| the teams and help they have kept so
much land under the pillow that they
have not prepared or cultivated it we'll.
and could fertilize but little, and the
extra expense has consumed all the
profit. Such farming is like Pharaoh's
lean kline, which ate up the fat ones and
| still were as thin as ever. 1t may be
difficult to convince my readers of it,
but l firmly believe that in majority
of cases the first and most i'm
portant step towards getting out of
debt will be to reduce the acres under
| cultivation, in order both to reduce eX-