Still others may be deliberately dishonest and, after getting as large advances as possible, abandon their crops leaving both the landowner and the merchant in the lurch.

These creditors must then either attempt to harvest the crop by hired labor, with the hope of reducing their loss, or else charge the whole to profit and loss.

The illness or death of the debtor may also prevent the proper cultivation of the crop he has planted.

For these different reasons every country merchant is likely to accumulate many bad debts which may finally throw him into bankruptcy.

Those who succeed are exceptionally shrewd or very fortunate.
The relation of the tenant to his landlord varies in different parts of the South.