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Editorial
March 19, 1791
The New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser
Portsmouth, Rockingham County, New Hampshire
What is this article about?
The editorial provides practical advice to farmers on efficient work habits, emphasizing doing one task at a time, maintaining tools, avoiding debt for land or rum, and completing projects fully to ensure prosperity and avoid poverty.
Clipping
OCR Quality
98%
Excellent
Full Text
The PROMPTER.--No. XI.
To the Prompter.
SIR,
How should I work it?
A. Z.
According to what is to be done. If you would do a great deal and do it well, write in large letters and paste up over the fire place of your keeping room, the following maxim of the great De Wit, Pensionary of Holland, do one thing only at a time.
Are you a farmer? keep each kind of work, as much as possible by itself. Don't run to half a dozen fields in a day and work a little in each unless necessity obliges you to do it. That work which may be done at any time, should be done in winter or when you have leisure. Get wood in winter and cover it--if I see a man, in midst of harvest, forced to go after a load of wood, I am sure he has not worked it right. Keep a complete set of instruments or tools When I see a man running to one neighbor after a sieve, and to another after a shovel, I set him down, not only as poor, but as doomed to be poor. His neighbor's sieve or his shovel will do for the present, but the occasions for them occur often, and how much time and labor are lost in going after them? If you would work to advantage, keep a complete set of utensils for your business keep them housed, that they may last long; and in their place, that you may easily find them.
Do not run in debt to buy land. Land will not generally support a family, and pay taxes and interest on its value. If you have but a small piece of land, cultivate it well, make it produce as much as possible, and if you can get more than will maintain you from this little farm, lay out the surplus in buying more. If you cannot get more than a subsistence, it is time to think of lessening expenses, or selling out and buying new land. Depend on it, farmers who pay interest, do not work it right.
Never do work to the halves. If you build a house or a barn, lay a plan that is within your power and then finish what you begin. For want of the last half, the first is often totally lost.
Never buy rum on credit, nor until you have laid up money enough to pay your years taxes. Then a little rum will taste good. The man who drinks rum before it is paid for, does not work it right. His appetite runs away with his purse and his judgment too.
To the Prompter.
SIR,
How should I work it?
A. Z.
According to what is to be done. If you would do a great deal and do it well, write in large letters and paste up over the fire place of your keeping room, the following maxim of the great De Wit, Pensionary of Holland, do one thing only at a time.
Are you a farmer? keep each kind of work, as much as possible by itself. Don't run to half a dozen fields in a day and work a little in each unless necessity obliges you to do it. That work which may be done at any time, should be done in winter or when you have leisure. Get wood in winter and cover it--if I see a man, in midst of harvest, forced to go after a load of wood, I am sure he has not worked it right. Keep a complete set of instruments or tools When I see a man running to one neighbor after a sieve, and to another after a shovel, I set him down, not only as poor, but as doomed to be poor. His neighbor's sieve or his shovel will do for the present, but the occasions for them occur often, and how much time and labor are lost in going after them? If you would work to advantage, keep a complete set of utensils for your business keep them housed, that they may last long; and in their place, that you may easily find them.
Do not run in debt to buy land. Land will not generally support a family, and pay taxes and interest on its value. If you have but a small piece of land, cultivate it well, make it produce as much as possible, and if you can get more than will maintain you from this little farm, lay out the surplus in buying more. If you cannot get more than a subsistence, it is time to think of lessening expenses, or selling out and buying new land. Depend on it, farmers who pay interest, do not work it right.
Never do work to the halves. If you build a house or a barn, lay a plan that is within your power and then finish what you begin. For want of the last half, the first is often totally lost.
Never buy rum on credit, nor until you have laid up money enough to pay your years taxes. Then a little rum will taste good. The man who drinks rum before it is paid for, does not work it right. His appetite runs away with his purse and his judgment too.
What sub-type of article is it?
Agriculture
Social Reform
What keywords are associated?
Farming Efficiency
Work Habits
Debt Avoidance
Tool Maintenance
Temperance
Agrarian Advice
What entities or persons were involved?
De Wit, Pensionary Of Holland
Editorial Details
Primary Topic
Efficient Farming And Work Practices
Stance / Tone
Practical Advice For Prosperity
Key Figures
De Wit, Pensionary Of Holland
Key Arguments
Do One Thing Only At A Time
Keep Each Kind Of Work Separate And Do Seasonal Tasks In Leisure
Maintain A Complete Set Of Tools To Avoid Borrowing
Avoid Debt For Buying Land; Cultivate Small Holdings Well
Never Do Work To The Halves; Finish What You Start
Do Not Buy Rum On Credit Until Taxes Are Paid