THE TIM BUNKER PAPERS. 149 



barn-yard manure, and next to none of that, he didn t 

 think a farmer could more n make the ends of the year 

 meet. 



&quot; I don t believe he can du that,&quot; said Jake Frink, &quot; un 

 less he has better luck than I have had. I ve worked hard 

 as an Injun on my land, for well-nigh forty year, and I 

 hain t got so much land as when I started. I hev ben al- 

 lers comin short at the eend of the year, and every now 

 and then, have had to sell off a chunk of land to some 

 lucky naber. And it allers happened, that I sold jest the 

 best lot I had, but didn t see it till arter it was gone. 

 That horse-pond lot, that didn t use to raise any thing but 

 sour grass, bulrushes, and hardback, now bears three 

 tun to the acre of first-rate herds-grass. Some folks make 

 farming pay, but I never could. Some how it don t run 

 in the blood.&quot; 



Mr. Spooner said farmers did not have capital enough 

 to carry on their farming profitably. No man can be suc 

 cessful in business without capital. The merchant has his 

 years of discipline as a clerk, and earns a small capital be 

 fore he sets up for himself. But the farmer often runs in 

 debt for his farm, and has hardly money enough to buy 

 his stock and tools. This keeps him troubled all the time. 

 He is afraid to hire help, to purchase such new machines 

 as he needs, and to make those improvements in his land 

 which are essential to profitable husbandry. 



George Washington Tucker thought there was a good 

 deal of truth in Mr. Spooner s doctrine. &quot; I don t know 

 zactly what the parson means by capital, but if he means 

 money, he s jest right. I never had a red cent tu begin 

 with, and that s the reason I haint got along no better. As 

 they used to say in siferiug, from 0, and remains. It s 

 jest so in farming.&quot; 



&quot; Them s my sentiments,&quot; said Jones. Now the fact is, 

 both Tucker and Jones are lazy, and never did a good 

 day s work in one day, in their whole lives. The cipher 



