16 The Farmer's Business Handbook 



little interest and then have required the trades- 

 men to carry him for a year or more, deceiving 

 himself in the belief that he had really saved 

 his interest and indirectly gotten it out of the 

 merchants. But the merchant always knows the 

 difference between a cash and a trust customer 

 who pays when he gets ready, and more than 

 makes up the interest in higher prices, or poorer 

 quality of goods. To pay for everything when 

 delivered is to secure sound sleep and often 

 from 10 to 15 per cent saving on purchases. 

 Then, too, a man always walks more erect when 

 his heart beats against a roll of Uncle Sam's 

 I U's, be it ever so small, than when he finds 

 only keys, a pocket-knife and unpaid bills 

 when his hand goes down in his pocket. There 

 are two kinds of dangerous debts: those incurred 

 for improvident living and running expenses of 

 the farm; and debts too large to be justified by 

 the man's business or by his experience and busi- 

 ness ability. 



"Little boats should keep near shore, 

 Larger ones may venture more." 



There are ten-acre, forty-acre, one-hundred-acre 

 and five -hundred -acre farmers. The man is 

 always the greatest factor in any enterprise. 



In many cases the farmer would better not 

 own the land he tills. He might properly adopt 



