FARM MANAGEMENT AND FARMER CULTURE. 431 
ten to fifty per cent of the price he might obtain for what he 
has to sell, but for the impelling necessity of meeting promises to 
pay, he shaves himself worse than most money barbers would 
do the job for him. 
u Borrowing,” says old John Taylor, “ is one of the most 
ordinary ways in which weak men sacrifice their future to the 
present.” Debt constantly tempts to present ease and indul¬ 
gence at the expense of future discomfort and deprivation.— 
He who contracts a debt, mortgages his future self. Pay day 
steals rapidly along, and generally brings no means of relief. 
The money earned before it is expended goes further and pur¬ 
chases far more enjoyment than money spent before itis earned. 
He who builds or enlarges his estate by the steady accretions 
of industry and economy, travels the straight and narrow w T ay 
of thrift—a future of independence, substantial in its rewards, 
is directly before him. He who improves or buys with promi¬ 
ses to pay, pledging his future labors and gains, follows the 
broad and beaten track whose end is dependence and want. 
“-who would fardels bear, 
“ To grunt and sweat under a weary life 
INTEREST. 
Permit me here a digression on Interest. Whatever you 
deem the true policy of legislation on this subject, it is time 
that our farmers, manufacturers, and all business men, came to 
a recognition of the fact that borrowing money, in the way of 
anything like permanent loans, and agreeing to pay such rates 
as money usually commands with us, is little short of pecuniary 
suicide. It did answer to pay twelve per cent., or even higher 
rates, for money, when we could invest in lands at merely nom¬ 
inal prices, and speedily realize a large advance on such pur¬ 
chases. Money did not perhaps obtain, in most cases, more 
than its just share in the speculation; and it was speculation on 
both sides. But that condition of things was temporary—it 
has transpired. Real estate now stands at about its value for 
cultivation—and everything else ranges with it in price. There 
