THE TIM BUNKEK PAPERS. 



ing toward the farm this fall, and the substance of my talk 

 with the Deacon might be useful. 



I lay it down as a principle, that a man ought to own 

 at least half the capital he means to invest in farming. If 

 a man has nothing but labor to dispose of, he should sell 

 his labor to the best advantage, until he accumulates suf 

 ficient capital to set him up in business. Not one man in 

 a hundred will succeed, who runs in debt for his farm and 

 stock. There must be several hundred dollars of interest 

 money to pay every year, and this will be a heavy load to 

 carry, with all the other expenses. But if he have money 

 enough to buy a hundred acres of land, he may safely rim 

 in debt for the tools and stock. We must have some float 

 ing capital always on hand, to take advantage of the 

 times, and buy cheap when we can. If a man wants more 

 stock, it is better to buy it when stock is low, than when 

 it is very high. Sometimes a little extra manure will help 

 out a crop wonderfully, and fifty dollars spent in guano 

 or bone-dust will bring back a hundred in less than six 

 months. It is very important to have the fifty dollars 

 where you can lay your hand on it. 



Then a man ought to consider his own habits and 

 tastes, in the location of his farm. This is especially im 

 portant to men who have lived in the city, and enjoyed 

 its advantages. Society is much more a necessity to them 

 than to a man who has always lived in the country. He 

 will feel uneasy without the daily mail, and a little of the 

 stir to which he has been accustomed. He should by all 

 means locate near a village, or on the line of some railroad. 

 The farm, good as it is, will not be a substitute for every 

 thing he has been accustomed to. And if a man have been 

 bred to this business, he should consider what particular 

 department of husbandry he likes best. A man bred to 

 the routine of a grain farm would probably do better 

 with this than with a stock farm. It is less important 

 that a grain farm should be near a village, or city, than a 



