28 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



share of it, and then he studies expense account, to see if 

 retrenchment can be effected there ; and possibly he fancies 

 that his wife might get along with one less bonnet or shawl or 

 dress, and if he is a bold man he holds a consultation with her 

 iipon the subject, and probably retires from the interview, 

 musing deeply upon human weakness, and liability to error. 



So much for the idea of a system of accounts in farming ; and 

 now let us briefly consider the question of capital. What is a 

 farmer to do, who has not got it of his own, and cannot or does 

 not dare to borrow it ? Well, this is a fair question, and 

 deserves an answer equally so. You shall have it. He must 

 farm at a great disadvantage all his life, or until he acquires it, 

 as compared with one who has it. Is this hard and 

 discouraging ? 



If it seems so, recollect if you please, that no one is to blame. 

 It is true, and we are bound to state facts as we find them. 

 Farming in this particular, does not differ essentially from any 

 other business. Here at least, the conditions are the same ; 

 and if it seems discouraging to a young man just starting in 

 life, to be told that capital is essential to success, let him bear 

 in mind, that it is not so in farming only. What would you 

 think of a man who should hire a store, and buy on credit a 

 large stock of goods, and start a large business, without any 

 capital ? You say at once he would fail, and whether you say 

 so or not, he would. There would hardly be one chance in a 

 thousand for him, and when the crash came, the unanimity 

 with which the community would decide that he was a fool, if 

 not something worse, would be such as is seldom seen outside 

 of a political caucus or a parish sewing circle. 



Is it then reasonable to expect that a young man can buy a 

 farm and stock it and carry it on without money ? Is there 

 any guardian angel who presides over the destinies of agricul- 

 turists and exempts them from the common lot of humanity ? 

 Are they not subject to the same laws, based upon principles 

 as simple and immutable as that two and two make four, that 

 govern other business men ? Let us see. A young man buys 

 a farm, and owes for the whole of it, agreeing to pay interest, 

 and a certain share of the principal each year. He perhaps 

 has money enough barely to stock it. Tlie farm is in good 

 condition and produces for him full crops, but he has his family 



