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IN. DAKOTA, 129 
would simply have amounted to the unnecessary ex- 
penditure of two hundred dollars, which, as [ could 
spare the money without embarrassment, would not 
have been a matter of much importance. But this 
mistake opened the way for the other and more seri- 
ous one, for if I had not had a patent for the land I 
could not have mortgaged it, and so * Tom’s Folly ae 
would not have been built, and all the troubles that 
followed would have been avoided. 
_ Very few readers of this, probably, will be likely 
to fall inte just such mistakes as these. Once in a 
while we find a farmer who goes beyond his means to 
erect fine buildings, but the cases are rare. 
SHORT-SIGHTED ECONOMY. 
As a rule, farmers, especially those in a new coun- 
try, are more likely to ran tothe other extreme—that 
of a short-sighted, niggardly economy, and of being 
too cautious about extending their business. It will 
pay the farmer here, if necessary, to borrow a reason- 
able amount of money to develope his land and make 
it productiye. He has, for example, a quarter-section, 
and his purpose is to bring 140 acres of it under cul- 
tivation, but his means are limited, and therfore he ig 
compelled to do this quite slowly. This land may be 
called his capital, and being such, it is to his interest to 
make it productive as soon as possible. He 1s in the 
situation of a manufacturer who has all his capital 
invested in buildings and machinery, which he is 
compelled to allow to stand idle nine months in the 
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