VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 37 



many a sudden rise in real estate, still we don't care to see our 

 property go up in that way. Don't set a lantern down when it 

 is lighted ; always hang it up — not on a nail, but on a hook or 

 snap. A good hook answers the purpose and is most conve- 

 nient, so have a hook put up in every place where you are 

 likely to want to use a lantern. Be careful with the lantern. 

 It is a treacherous servant. There is fire enough in it to destroy 

 all you have accumulated by your hard work. 



If you were to ask me what I regard as the greatest hin- 

 drance to business success, I should say the credit system. 

 The cash customer can invariably get better terms than he who 

 buys on credit. Now let us see what this means. If you buy 

 phosphate, for instance, it is to be paid for by November ist, 

 but if you settle July ist you get a discount of five per cent. 

 That is, you save five per cent, by paying three months earlier. 

 This means twenty per cent, per year. Can you afford to pay 

 this rate ? If you will buy phosphate pay cash for it, if you 

 have to borrow the money. No matter how good your credit 

 may be, you will always get better rates by paying cash. Your 

 farm machinery, implements, grain, groceries — everything that 

 you buy w T ill cost you from 5 to 25 per cent, less if you pay 

 cash. Don't buy on the installment plan ; it seems easy, but it 

 is too expensive. If you must have something that you can't 

 pay for, borrow the money at a fair rate, and get the benefit of 

 the cash discount. Pay for one thing before you buy another, 

 you will then be more careful about buying something that you 

 don't need, and if some smooth-tongued agent comes along and 

 wants to sell you something that you had never thought of be- 

 fore, don't listen to him. He wants your money. If you really 

 want a set of lightning rods, or a cook stove or a cream sep- 

 arator or a patent umbrella, buy one, but don't buy it to 

 accommodate any agent. 



The merchant buys at wholesale and sells at retail. He 

 makes a profit on his sales. He makes his living that way — 

 supports his family, pays his clerks, his rent, his taxes, all his 

 bills and expenses, and perhaps lays up money — out of his 

 profits. Who pays them? And why? Why should not the 

 farmers of every neighborhood combine and buy their grain, 

 their machinery, their fertilizer, their flour, sugar and all other 

 staples at wholesale and save from 10 to 40 per cent, that now 

 goes to support the merchant? Is it businesslike to continue 

 this waste? Think of this. There is much to be learned by 

 close observation. Watch two classes of men, the successful 

 and the unsuccessful. The failures of the latter will be as 

 valuable to you as the improved methods of the former. 



