HINDRANCES AND HELPS 



of August, that have drunk up all the juices 

 of the grass; and I should expect him to meet 

 the want by a lush and succulent patch of pas- 

 turage, which his foresight has kept in reserve. 



BUSINESS TACT 



Akin to this sagacity is a certain business tact, 

 which is a large helper to whoever would suc- 

 cessfully engage in agricultural pursuits. It 

 implies and demands adaption of crops to soils, 

 exposure, and the market wants. It is emi- 

 nently opposed to the drowsiness in which a 

 good many honest country-livers are apt to in- 

 dulge. It reckons time at its full value ; it does 

 not lean long on a hoe-handle for gossip. 



The farmer who turns his capital very 

 slowly, and only once in the year, is not apt to 

 be quickened into business ways and methods. 

 The retired trader, who plants himself some 

 day beside him, bringing his old prompt habits 

 of the counter, will very likely, if a shrewd 

 observer, outmatch him in a corn crop, — out- 

 match him in pork, — outmatch him in every- 

 thing, if the year's balance were struck and 

 shown. And all this in spite of the trader's 

 comparative inexperience, and by reason only 

 of his superior business tact. 



299 



