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I'UHLISHED BV JOSKPII liRECK & CO.. NO. 52 NOUTH MARKKT STHI.-I.T ,. . ,, i« » . . , 



^ ' * i-«<Jttiii ftiAiiKh, I hUthKT, (AoHicULTOBAi Wa»iiiou««.)— ALf.K.N PUTNAM, EDITOR. 



OL. XZ.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER i:}, 1841. 



N . E . FARMER 



For the N. E. P»rm«r. 



.MORTG.\GE INCUMBRANCE. 

 AiLEN I'lTNAM, Es(j. — Sir— OnB of the c!iief 

 mirancoi to a more prosperous state of things 

 noil;; till! agricultural cominiinity, is to bo found, 1 

 prelicnil, in tlic embarrassments arising^ from rnorl- 

 ges on their estates. — It was stated some time 

 \cc by an a^'ricultural paper in Maine, that three 

 Ihs of tlie farms in that State were under thisspo- 

 53 of incumbrance. Though I must tliink this 

 mber far too high, yet the evil it estimates is 

 jch more extensive llian is generally supposed, 

 id constitutes an obstacle of so serious a nature 

 the thrift of the landed interest, as to justify 

 mo imiuiries a.' to its ori^'in and some sugges- 

 ins as to the means by which it may be lessened, 

 prevented from gaining a more e.xtended preva- 

 nce. 



And here I will premise, that it is far cnsier to 

 jgest some remedies for the evil than to specify 

 rreclly its causes : — the former readily present 

 imselves to the mind, but the latter are so many 

 <1 so various, that it is difficult to decide which 

 3 exercised the most di.<iastrous influence in in- 

 cintr the ovil. and to which it in most referable 

 a majority of the cases where it exists. 

 It may be safely said, generally, I presume, that 

 has its origin in man's Jtpravily, his rupiMy, 

 ! imprudfiice, or his pn'(fc,— though it would be' 

 ke uncharitable and unjust to deny that in many 

 3es it is produced by far different and more jus- 

 able causes. 



The first named influence has contributed to- 

 rds it, by the losses incident upon a course of 

 eness and dissipation— in gambling, liorse-trad- 

 r, and the like. 



Cupidil;/ — an inordinate and unreasonable de- 

 e fur sudden wealth— has contributed to produce 

 n various ways, but in none with more disastrous 

 nsequences than by inducing a participation in 

 Tie scheme of speculation, around which fancy 

 ■ows a golden charm, and portrays a pleasing 

 te of independence as the certain result of an 

 •estment in the en/erpnie. Soon the whole pro- 

 It 13 proved to have been but a bubble, blown 

 o existence one day to burst the next, and the 

 idulous shareholder in its "moonshine" linds 

 iiself near the verge of ruin. 

 To imprudence, also, in a vast number of cases 

 .y be traced this evil of embarrassment by mort-' 

 ge, — in attaching one's name, by way of friend- 

 accommodation, to a note, bond, or some paper 

 like force, without considering the danger at- 

 idant upon the act and the omnipotence of iu 

 lure. In this way— by such acts of unsuspect- 

 i friendshi)), too many are ready to attest they 

 leived tlie first impetus in their downward course 

 'ife. 



Pridt, too, laatly—man's pride— a desire to be 

 )ughl wealthy merely for the name, when he is 

 no means able to support such dignity— or per- 



[NO. 15. 



haps in the expectation of gaining thereby increas- 

 ed respect, popularity and influence in the commu- 

 nity whore he dwells ;— this preeminently foolish 

 passion has lent itj aid to swell, to some extent, 

 the evil under consideration. I have heard of n 

 case in point — where a farmer, "well to do" in the 

 world, but wishing to appear, in the eyes of his 

 townsmen, much bettor able "to do" than cither 

 common wisdom or the length of his purse dicta- 

 ted, encumbered his farm with a mortgage simply 

 for the purpose (so report said) of raising money 

 wherewith to furni.sh liia house in grander style, 

 send his pet daughter to a boarding school, and in 

 lieu of "the nld mare" and homely wagon, procure 

 a fine carryall and horse to match. (And here I 

 cannot refrain from adding, by way of illustrating 

 how uncertain arc the chances of piipulnr distinc- 

 tion under our republican government, that this 

 would-be honored farmer, notwithstanding all his 

 flourish, has never yet succeeded in inducing his 

 fellow-citizens to gratify his towering ambition, 

 eiihcr by honoring him with their sufl'ra;;es as their 

 representative to the great and general court, or by 

 electing him commander-in-chief of— the village 

 militia company I His constituents, that he would 

 hme to be, seem to bo of the opinion that mere 

 wealth, much less a mere show of wealth, is no 

 equivalent for a lack of mental ability and com- 

 mon education.) 



The above specified influences in human action, 

 appear to me to be among the chief inducements of 

 mortgage incumbrance. At least, one or the other 

 of them has produced it iu most of the cases I have 

 known and heard of. Other causes doubtless there 

 are of which I am ignorant ; but considering I have 

 named the most active, I now pass to the remedy 

 I have to propose for the evil, and the means by 

 which I imagine it may bo prevented from making 

 farther progress in its disastrous course. 



As before hinted, this seems an easy part of my 

 undertaking. Honest industry— in these two sim- 

 ple words, I conceive, lies the " matchless .sanative" 



for the ills in question : — honest industry a wise 



and prudent husbandry of the means you have yet 

 in your power— it is the.se (aided by the blessings 

 of good health and vigor of body,) that form the 

 antidote to waning fortune and the power by which 

 lost property may be repossessed — Tlie term hojiest 

 industry I use as precluding the exercise of the 

 icor«< of the influences specified above: those vi- 

 cious propensities have no affinity with iio.tkst 

 iNDi-STRV : this adopted as a governing principle, 

 you will look to no other source for wealth than the 

 true, legitimate one— your own hands and the 

 smiles of heaven ; and you will suffer no pecuniary 

 losses III ministering to the indulgence of vicious 

 inclinations or a silly vanity, for with these, as I 

 have remarked, ii...vF.sr i.-vdustry has no fellow, 

 ship. Labor, wisely directed— honest, honorable 

 labor, will regain you— slowly, it may be, but none 

 the less surely for that— your lost standin.' in so- 

 ciety, his, indeed, ihe only certain means by 

 which you can regain that which you have lost or 

 realize that which is the object of your desire. 

 Another remedial agent for this evil occurs to ' 



1110, which may bo worthy of mention Many far- 

 mers whose estates are under incumbrance, have 

 sons. Instead of sending or permitting these to 

 como to the city for employment, let ihem be en- 

 couraged to stay at home :—//i<^ will gain by it, 

 in a moral point of view, doubtless bevond any es- 

 lim.ite we can make; and .you— their fiithers—mny 

 gain by it, if you but rightly employ them, in the 

 aid they are capable of aflurding you in extending 

 the resources of your farm and increasing its for- 

 tility, and thus enabling you the sooner t't. extri- 

 cate yourself from pecuniary liabilities. I am not 

 certain that this recommendation will bo received 

 by the more exporisnced as a dictate of practical 

 wisdom : I can only advance in its support, that it 

 seems such to me. 



But how can you employ your sons at home with 

 any great advantage to you .' you may ask. And 

 yet if you area constant reader of this paper, whose 

 excellent editor has given you so many valuable 

 practical lessons pertaining to the profitable man- 

 agement of the farm, I know not why I should er- 

 pect from you such an interrogatory.— There is a 

 cardinal principle in husbandry,' which passes cur- 

 rent as an undisputed maxim, and the wisdom of 

 which I certainly do not mean to call in question: 

 I would only protest against it as a principle of 

 universal application:— it is — "Cultivate a little 

 land, and cultivate that well." Now I would rather 

 say, in your case — to you who are endeavoring to 

 frocyoiir property of incumbrance, and have s^ons 

 to aid you— "Cultivate a ^ood deal of land, and 

 cultivate thai «•£?/.» Proceed upon this principle, 

 and the presumption is warranted that you will find 

 profitable employment for yimr sons. 



You will not object to this advice that you have 

 not the means of fertilizing much land,— you will 

 not raise this objection, when the virtues of th« 

 hidden treasures of the earth and the substances 

 which abound cm its surface, as promoters of pro- 

 ductiveness, have been revealed to you so ofi and 

 so convincingly through these pages, and the mun- 

 ner in which they may be best compounded and 



applied, demonstrated by scientific reasons Have 



you no muck on your premises ? If you have, make 



your hog-pen your chief manure manufactory ; if 



you have not this source of enriching material, you 

 doubtless have woodland— forest— or swamp— go 

 to these with your sons— take the rich virgin soil 

 from the former, and whatever you can find in the 

 latter— gather turf from the roadside, end the leave* 

 from under your trees and in the corners of your 

 fields ;— if you live near the seaboard, draw upon 

 its fertilizing facilities too, — mix these and any 

 useless vegetable substances you can find, with 

 your stable and hog manure;— make each year a 

 big mountain of a compost heap, with these mate- 

 rials— or, better still, perhaps, tittle mountains of 

 the like;— keep your sons employed in this busi- 

 ness, whenever they can be spared from other la- 

 bor, and I feel confident that you will soon find 

 you have tlie means — ample means — for increasing 

 the fertility of your soil, the number of your culti- 

 vated acres, and doubling the quantity of your crops 

 —and that you will be convinced, also, that tha 



