422 State Board of Agriculture, &c. 



adopted, the absorption of smaller estates, and the disper- 

 sion of households resulting thereby, the isolation of fami- 

 lies, the breaking up of schools, the loss to the church and 

 State, and various other evils connected with this practice, 

 I have not time to notice now. 



" III fares the land, to every ill a prey," 



where this evil prevails. Our farmers are already over- 

 loaded with debts. So are our towns and States. Some 

 warning voice should be raised to stay, if possible, the ruin. 

 Is it not true that one of the most fruitful causes of uneasi- 

 ness, complaint, anxiety, distrust, ill temper, and much of 

 domestic infelicity, among farmers at the present time, is 

 the heavy burden of debt that hangs about their necks like 

 a millstone, debts that are ever recurring and ever pressing ? 



