Gloucester County Democrat., 1908-12-24
THE GRANGE
Conducted by
j. w. BARROW. Chatham. N. Y.
Press Correspondent Nsao York. State
Grange
A GRANGE STORY.
The Legend of the Blind Man and the
Cripple Applied to Farming.
Especial CORRESPONDENCE !


corn and why we cultivate it? Yes.
| think | can, for have made mis-
takes a-plenty in my life because Of
not knowing the why. Yes, the how
and the why of things is something |
nm qualified to speak of from expert
ence "A burned child breads the
ire and have been blistered times
enough for not knowing the why, and
that at times when l was very cocky
in knowing the how I now handle
frebrands with great circumspection
1t is from fullness of such expert
ence that ] am able to answer your
question.
Yes, | know Sol Davis. You are
right-he is good cultivator, | grant
mean as rule he has, but he some
times slips a cog and his crop fails to
come up to his average. Not knowing
the why of his failure, he is liable to
repeat his mistakes He knows there
are cogs. but he does not know what
they are for. and he is apt to overes-
| timate the value of some and under
estimate the Importance of others.
Now, there is Soils wife, as good a
housekeeper as ever toted a pan of
baked beans to a grange feast. Yes,
those raised biscuits that she brought
the other day were fine-good enough
to take first premium at the county
the first time trying The first batch
she kept at home 1t was good enough
for the family and for the children's
lunch to take to school, but happened
to be just little off for public in
spection. She, too, failed to under
stand all the cogs in her baking She
did not give the proper emphasis on
some and too much on others.
| When boy I got no further thar
seeing the street parade when the cir
Gus came to town. To me the most
wonderful man in the procession was
the driver of the band wagon. with
! six or eight horses | was able to
handle two lines on one horse and feel
the bit, but to hold six or eight and
not be too slack on some and too
tight on others was marvel
The agricultural world is getting be
yond the one horse stage and requir
ing men who are able 70 handle more
problems and their remedies and moi
oyerdo in some things and underdo il
lothers.
The conditions are different now
from in pioneer days and more in de-
mand Of men now than then. There
are several qualifications in the test.
but the greatest is to know the why
Sol Davis. the man we have JUS
been speaking of. ruined the hen ma
nure of one winters savings by mixing
| it with something else. He salted his
corn ground one year, and it so hap
pened he had good crop, which was
| due TO other causes rather than the
salt Next year he put on salt again.
He reasoned if a little salt was good
| thing a lot would be better. and he put
on so much as to be to the detriment
| of his yield
Yes, | think | understand your ques-
| ton which is whether farmer like
Sol Davis, who knows the how but
not the why. is better man than
some of those mouthy platform talk
ers who know the why and are not
able to raise a hill of beans. That is
| easy to answer Why. Sol Davis, of
course. Each man alone is like sin
gle blade of shears-not much good
when separate, but a full team when
joined together.
You have heard the story of the part
nership between the blind man and the
cripple, haven't you? One could walk
and could not see, and the other could
see and could not walk. They were
stranded by the roadside until the
blind man took the cripple on his
shoulders, by which means one could
| furnish eyes and the other legs. In
| farming the how and the why should
be Joined together like the blind man
and the cripple.
There, | hear the gavel. Grange is
being called to order I'll keep the an
nual word at my tongues end and not
stammer with stage fright when / am
called to give it. Come back just
minute. Let me tell you what | am
going to do. When the lecturer has
her program III ask the members of
| the grange to tell me why water puts
out fires. Some will say because it's
wet but that is no reason. Whisky
viii wet whistle. but it will not put
out fire. UNCLE JOHN
| m oon