Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 February 1877 — Too Many Farm Implements. [ARTICLE]

Too Many Farm Implements.

No one will for a moment question the value of the reaper, mower and similar farm implements of comparatively recent introduction. They have made it possible to increase the tout product of the country many fold, have lightened the labor of the farmer, and greatly facilitated the gathering of his crops in localities where laborers wefti scarce. But it is to he feared that many men could, if Hey would, traoe-their financial ruin to invest ing too largely in thorn “helps" in Agriculture. In thousands of instances there bBB been a strife Among Neighbors to see who should havp the best farm implements, and more money inks been invested in them than the original cost of the land upon which they are used. The agents for manufactures are generally at hand’ to help along with plausible words the spirit of emulation in such matters, and if the farmer has any credit ft* is lnvttodxln fact' iittporKu.ed, to take Whatever hfWants and pay “ after round interest on the cost of the machines. This credit system is the bane of every agricultural community, and to-day thousands of the farmers of the Western States are struggling to pay the interest on mortgaged Lomes, tuettegltinfaU! resiyt at their anxiety to possess the new labor, saving implements. OThe tlftt debt was so small as to scarcely call for a moment’s consideration, but the Interest must be paid or added to the principal; then the first implements purchased were, or were supposed to be, inferi® tonaefr kinds, and tb keep up with the times the letter were purchased os favorable terms, t. *., credit again, and thus, step by step, debts accumulated until the farmer saw ruin staring him in the face. We are not so unreasonable as to say that a farmer should never ran in debt, for it is well known that ninety men out of eveiy hundred get thCir start in life .by doing so; hut there is a great difference as to the manner in which a man gets in debt. If it is for land which is constantly advancin'; in value, as is generally the case iu all new countries, Jhea tliereus some safety m thd transaction; but purchasing on credit what one can, with a little incou venience, do without, is always bad ■policy., t,-. >Now this Ifc just'ttoff position thjat a vast number of our farmers find themthls time; they have purchased Costly farm implements which could have been dispensed with, and might now be comparatively free from debt had they resisted temptation. It is very comforting to a hard-working farmer to mink what a convenience a nve-hun-dred-dollar reaper and mower will he in harvest-time, and it is an easy thing to write one’s name on a promissory note, but ft is quite another thing to meet obligations oft this kifid, especially if tbe yield per acre and price of products in market do not come up to our expectations. If there had never been a dollar of credit given to farmers for such articles there would be fewer iu use, but the farming community would be many miliions of dollars richer and rid oi avast amount of trouble. We have known more than one instance of faMaers purchasing implements, where the mtprept on the investment would more than pay for the extra labor requtred In gathering the ,crdps for which the implement was purchased. Few men look far enough ahead to cast-up the interest on five hundred dollars or a less sum invested* in a reaper or mower, or the annual depreciation in value of the implement, for if they did we certain many would hesitate some time before giving their orders for articles which could be quite readily dispensed with. * Then again, Wen who are so easily coaxed lnto'runmng in debt are very ftkely to be equally; easy and negligent iu other matters, and after getting an implement on credit will let it go to ruin through' exposure to the elements. In proof of the truth of the latter assertion, we will quote the .remarks of a correspondent of a Western agricultural journal: “In riding ten miles, a few days ago, I saw thirteen harvesting machines lying in the field neglected or cornered in some lot where they could be crippled by cattle or horses, and, in turn, cripple the stock. They did not grow from the earth like weeds, but were put at much cost by the farmer.” Now, we will venture to say that bad the correspondent made inquiries he would have found that eveiy one of the owners of the thirteen implements bad a mortgage on his farm, ana probably paid ten to fifteen per cent, pec-annum pn the money borrowed Onepf our correspondents, writing hs not losm since from the new Btnte of Nebrailka, declares that there are already more implements purchased by the farmers than will be needed lor the next tea year!, if ever, inasmuch as the State is clearly better adapted to raising stock than grain. The same condition of affairs exists all pver tie Western States, and it is high time that farmers should turn over a new leaf in these matters and commence counting the cost of running in debt tor articles which they cau easily do without.— ST. T. Sun. * The largest establishment in the world for hatching salmon eggs is that of the United States, Government on the McCloud River, Shasta County, Cal. It is under the superintendence of Livingston Stone, who distributes an average of 7,000,000 young salmon each year to the F?sh Commissioners of the various States ‘hiving rtvers suitable for their increase. the sun at breakfast intoxicated him so completely that he fell down senseless, and sr t-tr Ass quantity of meat taken in toemoaning during the hot weather there produces the effect of drunkenness. , " * r •—Danbury’s absent-minded man attended church the other evening, and placing his hat on the stove backed up to the cabinet organ to warm himself. Tho sexton discovered the mistake, and hastened to the reset* of .the hat and organ.