150 THE TIM BUNKER PAPERS. 



lies in the persons of those two individuals, and not in 

 their purses. I didn t say that in the club ; if I had, I 

 guess I should have spoke in meeting. 



I did have to say, however, that I thought the trouble 

 about bad farming lay a little deeper than the want of 

 capital or the want of labor. &quot; The want of brains, I guess, 

 lies at the bottom of all the unprofitable farming. What 

 is the use of a man s having money, if he does not know 

 how to apply it to his business? What is the use of a 

 man s having labor, if he does not know how to direct it, 

 so as to make it pay ? Farmers do not read enough about 

 their business, and reflect upon it. I know of a dozen 

 farmers who have from one to five thousand dollars in the 

 bank, and they have occasion for the use of twice that sum 

 in order to make their farms productive. Capital in the 

 bank only pays six or seven per cent. In the bank of 

 earth, if wisely invested, it will pay ten per cent. I have 

 got fifteen per cent on what I have laid out on the horse- 

 pond lot.&quot; 



&quot; Above all expenses ? &quot; asked Mr. Spooner. 



&quot; Yes, above all expenses, and I expect to get it for 

 years to come. I do not find it difficult to make land pay 

 the interest on three hundred dollars an acre, and any man 

 who will read and digest the American Agriculturist can 

 do the same thing.&quot; 



&quot; Where is that paper printed ?&quot; inquired Pinkham. 

 &quot; I ve heard tell so much about that paper, and about im 

 provements Squire Bunker has made since he began read 

 ing it, that I ve a notion to take it myself a year, and see 

 what it is, any way.&quot; 



&quot;At 41 Park Row, N. Y., by O. Judd, and it only costs 

 a dollar a year, and often you get a dollar s worth of 

 seeds thrown into the bargain.&quot; 



&quot; You say that cause you rite for it, Squire,&quot; said Seth 

 Twiggs ; to poke fun at me. 



