AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
11 
BARGAINS AND TRADE. 
L. T. E. gives the following hints, in the 
Michigan Farmer, some of which are worthy 
of special remembrance : 
Every farmer ought to be so much of a 
business-man as to turn his earnings to good 
account. Some are always “ under the 
weather,” not so much for lack of industry 
as of calculation. Some others have fre¬ 
quent difficulties with those with whom they 
have business, and arrive at the conclusion 
that the whole world is dishonest, whereas 
the fault is mainly with themselves. Yet a 
few examples, thoroughly observed, will go 
very far towards helping any one to do his 
business in a way that shall be satisfactory 
both to himself and others. 
1. Try to have every thing you would sell 
of the best quality. Your wheat well cleaned; 
your pork and beef well fatted ; butter well 
worked and sweet; and cheese so yielding 
as not to break a hatchet in cutting it. Try 
to get and keep the best horses, cattle and 
sheep, at least of the common kinds. 
2. When you sell, tell the proposed pur¬ 
chaser just what the good qualities and de¬ 
fects of the creature or article are. In nine 
cases out of ten it will save you both time 
and money. A man of sense, who is sure 
that he knows precisely what he is buying, 
will pay a round price ; whereas, if he sus¬ 
pects that in some way he will be deceived, 
he will either refuse to buy, or guard him¬ 
self by offering a lower price. “ Honesty is 
the best policy.” 
3. Unless you are really a far seeing, in¬ 
dependent farmer, who, if you please, can 
hold on one, two, or five years even, for your 
price, sell when you can get a fair price and 
sure pay. It is bad policy to sell on credit 
to a slack or doubtful man, and the history 
of forty years will show, that two lose to 
where one gains by holding on in order to 
gel the very top of the market. If your 
neighbor does this, and beats you this sea¬ 
son, never mind it, keep cool, and in due 
time the tables will be turned. 
4. If you fnean to be a substantial farmer, 
beware of getting the name of being “ keen 
and sharp for a trade.” Now, young man, 
my head is gray, and during the last forty 
years I have become acquainted with many 
business-men. I will not now argue the 
morality of my position. This you admit. 
I now present it only in the light of comfort 
and profit. Never get the name of being 
sharp for a bargain. I will tell you. A 
sharp fellow often loses a dollar while con¬ 
triving to get a sixpence. The time he 
spends in trying to secure something beyond 
the just and fair thing, is worth more than 
what he gets. When you have cut to the 
quick a few of your neighbors in this way, 
you will find that, somehow, they neither 
care much for you nor your trades. My 
rule, and that of thousands, is, when I have 
once been taken in by such a man, never, if 
I can avoid it, to deal with him again. A 
sharp fellow, before he is aware of it, is a 
marked man. He loses vastly more than he 
gains. 
5. Be careful not to be higgling and mean. 
You can not take too much pains to become 
a judge of the quality and price of every 
thing that you have occasion to buy or sell. 
When you have learned this, then if you 
purchase you will not be imposed upon. 
When you sell you will know what price to 
set, and not fall from it. But when you 
have sold a cow, for all she is worth, do not 
make the purchaser pay you a shilling for a 
rope to lead her. Do the “ fair thing,” so 
that he will not be afraid to call again. 
6. Never partly make a bargain, and leave 
it unfinished or doubtful as to your inten¬ 
tions. I have known men to say just enough 
to claim a bargain, if times go favorable, or 
to have an excuse for backing out, if they 
choose. If there be an offense for which I 
would send a man to work a month on the 
tread-mill, it is this. Says such a man, “ I 
like your horse, and have pretty much con¬ 
cluded to take him at your price, but—I will 
see you again.” “Well, I am to be seen, 
but if I have an offer before you are out of 
sight, I shall sell him.” “ Well, won’t you 
keep him for me, unless somebody will pay 
more V' “ No sir—I ask only what my ani¬ 
mal is worth. I do not want any more ; and 
shall sell him the first opportunity.” Now, 
my young friend, shun all such tricks as 
you would the cholera. If you have a 
thought of thriving by higgling, and trickery, 
and meanness, you may conclude that, as it 
is mean, you can not respect even yourself. 
It is wrong, and whatever you may hope, “ it 
will not pay.” 
7. Cheap penny-worths obtained by run¬ 
ning from store to store, to make cheap pur¬ 
chases, beating down prices, and telling 
what you have done, or can do, at other 
stores, will not pay. Merchants are used to 
all this. If you are a troublesome customer 
they will accommodate you by setting prices 
for you or your “ better half” to beat dowm, 
and intend not only that you shall pay as 
much profit as a quiet customer, but that 
you shall also pay them for their extra 
trouble in suiting you. If you find a mer¬ 
chant who deals honestly and fairly by you, 
though you do sometimes pay a half cent a 
pound more for brown sugar or saleratus, 
never mind, you will find it most profitable 
in the long run, to deal with him. But if he 
is not honest, never flatter yourself that you 
can keep him straight. Leave him quietly, 
and try elsewhere. Never “ Jew ” or banter 
your merchant. If he be the right man he 
will ask the fair price at first; and if not, 
leave him. This rule, of course, has its 
limitations ; but my experience for many 
years, of taking or leaving, and never “Jew¬ 
ing,” has saved both me and the merchants 
much vexation ; and I have been able to pur¬ 
chase as low as the sharpest and shrewdest 
and —a little lower. 
A farmer in south-western Ohio being 
asked if the rain had done much damage, 
replied—“ O yes ; the ears of corn are now 
so long and heavy that they reach entirely 
across the rows, very much impeding navi¬ 
gation in the fields, and will break our backs 
to get them into the wagon.” Truly the 
country is in a dreadful condition. 
HOG POPULATION OF CINCINNATI. 
What crocodiles were in Egypt, what cows 
are in Bengal, or storks in Holland, pigs are 
in Cincinnati, with this trifling difference, 
their sacredness of character lasts but as 
long as their mortal coil; and this is ab¬ 
breviated without ceremony, and from the 
most worldly motives. In life, the pig, if 
free, is honored ; he ranges the streets, he 
reposes in thoroughfares, he walks beneath 
your horse’s le^s, or your own ; he is every¬ 
where respected ; but let the thread of his 
existence be severed, and, shade of Mahomet, 
what a change ! They think in Cincinnati 
of nothing but making the most of him. How 
many of his kind perish annually to cement 
the vast prosperity of the city of hogs can 
scarcely be told. About 20 years ago 
Cincinnati contained only one-fifth of its 
existing population. A few bold speculators 
began the trade. Selecting the hams and 
sides of the animals, they made picKledpork; 
of the rest they took small account. Soon, 
however, the idea occurred to one more acute 
than his fellows, and the head and the feet— 
nay, even the spine and the vertebra?—might 
be turned to account; trotters and cheeks 
had their partisans, and these parts looked 
up in the market. About this time the 
makers of sausages caught the inspiration. 
They found these luxuries saleable, and so 
many pigs were to be slaughtered that the 
butchers were willing to do it for nothing ; 
that is to say, for the perquisite of the en- 
trials and offal alone. The next step was 
due to the genius of France. A Frenchman 
established a brush manufactory, and created 
a market for the bristles, but his ingenuity 
was outdone by one of his countrymen, who 
soon after arrived. This man was deter¬ 
mined, it seems, to share the spoil; and, 
thinking nothing else left, collected the fine 
hair or wool, washed, dried, and combed it, 
and stuffed mattresses with it. But he was 
mistaken in thinking nothing else left. As 
but little was done with the lard, they in¬ 
vented machines, and squeezed oil out of it; 
the refuse they threw away. Mistaken men 
again. The refuse was the substance of 
stearine candles, and made a fortune to the 
discoverer of the secret. Lastly came one 
who could press chemistry to the service of 
mammon ; he saw the blood of countless 
swine flow through the gutters of the city ; 
it was all that was left of them, but it went 
to his heart to see it thrown away : he pon¬ 
dered long, and then, collecting the stream 
into reservoirs, made prussiate of potash 
from it by the tun. The pig was thus used 
up, and nothing else was left to turn to 
profitable account. A large trade is carried 
on in sausage-skins ; the entrails and blad¬ 
ders fetch a good price. The congealed 
grease, forming the lard of commerce, is in 
extensive use lor culinary purposes, for 
perfumery, ointments, salves, &c. The oil 
expressed from lard is chiefly used for burn¬ 
ing, for lubricating machinery, and generally 
as a substitute for olive and other oils.— Mr. 
P. L. Simmonds, in the Quarterly Journal of 
Agriculture. 
To leave your son a fortune—educate him. 
