32 WHAT I KNOW OF FARMING. 



not consider this really running into debt. One has 

 more land than he needs, and does not need his pay 

 for it forthwith ; another wants land, but lacks the 

 means of present payment. They two enter into an 

 agreement mutually advantageous, whereby the poor- 

 er has the present use and ultimate fee -simple of the 

 farm in question, in consideration of the payment of 

 certain sums as duly stipulated. Technically, the 

 buyer becomes a debtor ; practically, I do not regard 

 him as such, until payments fall due which he is un- 

 able promptly, to meet. Let him rigorously avoid 

 all other debt, and he need not shrink from nor be 

 ashamed of this. 



I have a high regard for scientific attainments ; I 

 wish every young man were thoroughly instructed in 

 the sciences which underlie the art of farming. But 

 all the learning on earth, though it may powerfully 

 help to make a good farmer, would not of itself make 

 one. When a young man has learned all that semi- 

 narie'fe and lectures, books and cabinets, can teach 

 him, he still needs practice and experience to make 

 him a good farmer. 



"But would n't you have a young man study in 

 order that he may become a good farmer?" 



If he has money, Yes. I believe a youth worth 

 four or five thousand dollars may wisely spend a 

 tenth of his means in attending lectures, and even 

 courses of study, at any good seminary where Natural 

 Science is taught and applied to Agriculture. But 

 life is short at best ; and he who has no means, or 



