Buying Machinery. 
“I bought a new machine, yesterday,” 
said a farmer in our office the other day, 
“and I could have got along without it 
first rate for a year longer, and perhaps two 
years, with a few dollar’s worth of repairs. 
It was against my better judgment to buy 
now, but I was fairly bull-dozed into it. I 
wish you would say something about this 
in the The Farmer.” What can we say? 
We know the agent. He is a good fellow, 
can talk you blind, and make you believe 
that he is working disinterestedly for your 
individual benefit. Give him half a chance 
and he will work up your feelings and sym¬ 
pathy to such a degree that you can not 
refuse to order a machine for fear of offend¬ 
ing him. But all the time he is working 
for himself. He must take so many orders 
each month or he falls below par at the 
office. Don’t you see? It is his business to 
get orders, and this business is one of the 
fine arts, The modern agent has “got it 
down fine.” He is sharp. He will take 
your measure in ten minutes after calling 
upon you, and all the time you think he is 
the most innocent, ingenuous and friendly 
man you ever saw. He makes friends of 
the children and conquers your wife by 
dandling the baby and soothing it to quiet 
slumber. He praises your farm, crops and 
buildings, and the good wife’s cooking— 
for of course he takes dinner or supper with 
you—and when he has you wound up to 
the right place, he broaches the subject 
nearest his heart. He doesn’t get your or¬ 
der this time. He doesn’t ask for it, and 
he doesn’t give you a chance to refuse it. 
He simply starts the ball a-rolling. He 
knows how. He has learned what string 
to pull on, and he pulls it. By and by he 
comes again. You are really glad to see 
him. He doesn't skirmish so much this 
time. He gives you a dose of taffy—tells 
you he don’t want any money, your note is 
as good as gold, and the company will wait 
on you till you can pay. ’Squire Jones has 
bought a new machine. Deacon Smith, on 
the other side of you, gave his order to-day. 
You don’t want to be behind, and you can 
afford it as well as they can. The upshot is, 
he gets your order, taking the old machine 
as part pay. You give a note, and in a year 
you walk up and pay it with interest. 
Now for the other side. We do not make 
war against the agent. Oh, no! He is a 
necessary evil, He is sharp, but he employs 
only legitimate methods. It is his business 
to induce you to buy. It is your business to 
buy if you need the machine, and to refuse 
if yon don’t need it. He looks at the trans¬ 
action from a business standpoint. So 
should you. It is a most excellent adage to 
remember that “there is no friendship in 
business.” Keep this in mind and you will 
often escape the blandishments of the seller. 
If live dollars, or ten, will make the old 
machine do as well as a new oue for a year 
or two longer, it is the part of prudent 
economy to keep the <old machine, and es¬ 
pecially if you have to go in debt for the 
new one. Look inside the house. See 
if the wife needs any conveniences. Con¬ 
sider whether your boys and girls would 
be deprived of necessaries and privileges 
they ought to have. Then govern yourself 
accordingly. If you really need the new 
machine, and upon careful consideration 
think it better economy to buy than to re¬ 
pair, then buy. We appreciate the advan¬ 
tages of good machinery on the farm, but 
we believe it is costing too much. It should 
be taken better care of and made to last 
longer than it does, and the farmer should 
have back-bone enough to stick to it until it 
is really unprofitable, even if assailed by all 
the agents in Christendom .—Ohio Farmer. 
<0^1 4 Over 301. Actual Agents’ Names, 
8 postpaid Si W. E Haley. Green Bay. Wis. 
Grind your own Bone- 
Meal, Oyster Shells A Corn 
in the $5 HAND MILL, (F. 
Wi’son’s Patent.) 100 per cent 
more made in keeping poultry. 
Also Power Mills and Farm 
Feed Mills. Circulars and Testimonials sent on 
application. WILSON BROS., Easton, Pa. 
8—1 Mention Seed-Time and Harvest. 
