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with what milk we want, but I buy my butter and cheese. I 

 told her, a few days since, that my stockings were worn out, 

 and that I had a good deal of wool in the chamber, which I 

 wished she would card and spin. Her reply was, in a tone of 

 unaffected surprize, — Why, father ! no young lady does that ; 

 and besides, it is so much easier to send it to the mill and have 

 it carded there. Well, I continued, you will knit the stockings 

 if I get the wool spun? Why no, father ! mother never taught 

 me how to knit, because she said it would interfere with my 

 lessons ; and then, if I knew how, it would take a great deal 

 of time, and be much cheaper to buy the stockings at the 

 store " 



/ This incident illustrates perfectly the condition of many a 

 farmer's family, and exhibits a serious drawback upon his pros- 

 perity, and a serious impediment to his success. The false 

 notions, which prevail among us in regard to labor, create a 

 distaste for it ; and the fact that, if the time required to be 

 employed in many articles of household manufacture be reck- 

 oned at its ordinary value, the cost of producing or making 

 many articles of clothing would be more than that of purchas- 

 ing them at the store, is deemed a sufficient reason for aban- 

 doning their production at home. In many cases, however, 

 this time is turned to no account, but absolutely squandered. 

 But yet the clothing, if not made, must be bought ; and they 

 who might produce it must be sustained at an equal expense, 

 i whether they work or are idle. 



/ Another great occasion of many a farmer's ruin is the credit 

 which he easily obtains, and a practice of dealing at the village 

 store for barter. The fact, so common and notorious, that the 

 owners of most of our village stores obtain liens in the form of 

 mortgage, attachment, or forced sale, upon many of the farms 

 in their vicinity, shows how great is the danger of the almost 

 universal system of store trust and credit. Few farmers keep 

 any accounts, and before they are at all aware they have a long 

 score on the trader's books, and that not only for the current 

 price of the goods, but enhanced by an additional charge for the 



