34 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



cliant and manufacturer, invest them in liig business to increase 

 his working capital, and improve or enlarge his operations ? 

 No; as a body, our thrifty farmers are content to loan their dol- 

 lars at legal interest, on good security, and pcrha])s to a trader 

 or manufacturer, who by employing them in his business, is ena- 

 bled to pay the interest, and realize a profit upon their use. If 

 the farmer had faith in his occupation as a business, be would 

 save this profit to himself, as well as secure the interest. Again, 

 men in business, if they have not ample capital, do not hesitate 

 to borrow money to carry it on, and sometimes at rates of 

 interest above the legal one ; and they do this because they be- 

 lieve that by so doing, they can pay the interest, and make a 

 profit beside, while with our farmers, who- as a body arc con- 

 fessedly embarrassed for want of working capital, not one in a 

 dozen dares to borrow money to invest in agricultural opera- 

 tions. They may, from necessity, incur debt for tlie purchase of 

 lands, the erection of buildings, <fcc., which becomes fixed capi- 

 tal, but very few are they who dare to borrow to use as work- 

 ing capital. It is not so in other countries. In England agri- 

 culturists make, what to us, Avith our style of farming, seems 

 the most lavish use of working capital in their operations, as 

 well as landholders of fixed capital in permanent improvements. 

 It is not uncommon there for the landlords to add to the value 

 of their estates beyond the cost of the land, buildings and enclo- 

 sures, from forty to a hundred dollars per acre in permanent 

 improvements, as thorough draining, &c., and then for farmers 

 to rent such at the usual rates of interest on fixed ca})ital, and 

 themselves using from thirty to sixty dollars per acre of working 

 capital to carry it on ; and they do a profitable business at it. The 

 money-lending farmers of Maine would probably much prefer to 

 see an operator bold enough to do likewise, put under guardian- 

 ship, rather than trust him with any of their funds. 



Lavergne, in his interesting and valuable work on the Rural 

 Economy of England, Scotland, &c., comparing English and 

 French agriculture, says : "All make advances to the land with 

 implicit confidence. In that country, where manufactures and 

 commerce offer such inducements for the employment of capital, 

 many people prefer to embark their money in agriculture. While 

 our farmers are sparing to the last degree, considering that what 



