Norwich bulletin., 1910-07-02

! tons for me to look after, and as 1 use
| less than hundred a meath, the year
round, 1 had to give the whole thing
up
Here is the most illuminating fact
about that defeated hope: Two of these
neig'hoors, both dairying farmers, told
me they used very little bran-''not a
ton a year. both said, and they were
unwilling to take the risk of buying
and storing a large quantity. Yet one
of those two bought and paid for sew
en- tons of bran in the year following
my fiasco with the carload and the
other bought and paid for over five
tons and a half. I know, for saw the
charges against them on the dealers
books. Moreover, they paid prices run
ming from $3.50 q ton to $500. Those
two men simply threw away about SIS
that year on the one item of BRAN
which they could have saved had they
used more hindsight and foresight.
They are both economical, hard work
ing chaps. But they have got into a
sort of hand to mouth" style of living,
which takes account only of immedi
ate and pressing needs, and cannot dis
count the futures uncertain demands.
When bran went up to 5000 one of
them drove five miles to another town
to get five hundred weight at five cents
a hundred less. He could see that
twenty-five cents he saved, but he
couldn't see the chance he had missed
to save more than as many dollars
When, later. he was told that he used
five tons and a half of bran the year
before. he indignantly denied it as i'm
possible. He knew better. He wouldn't
even believe the dealers books till he
had hunted UP his own receipts. We'll.
l wouldn't never a thought it," was
ali he had to say when his own &C
counts told the true story. He's got so
near to taking a long view now that
he is buying his bran by the ton, in
stead of by the five hundred, as he
used to. But he can't even yet screw
up his courage to tske five tons at
time, and eliminate all middlemen's
profits by joining with others and buy
ing by the carload.
If there is any business on earth
which demands of its adherents pre-
vision and loOk-ahead -ativeness it is
ours of farming. Every spring. when
we break up the soil for our crops, we
are banking on the summer for grow
ing them and the fall for harvesting
them. We are discOunting the future
every time we pull a weed or shake a
hoe-handle. You planted corn on the
freshly turned sward last spring, with
q definite plan for next years oats. and
the following years clover and the
succeeding timothy or red-top. When
you began hauling manure on the
patch in March, 1910, you had a clear
vision of the oats of 1911, and the
clover of 1912. and The timothy Of
day Of last spring you were working
for crop you expected to cut in July,
1913; you were working for that hay as
much as this years morn. There's
nothing speculative or dreamy about
that sort of foresight or longheaded-
ness. Why not carry the same thing
over into other details of your life and
work? Why not look ahead and make
fairly accurate forecasts of what lum-
Der and bran and nails and sugar and
machine oil and the like you're going
to use in the future-and then watch
your chances and buy them on a. low
MARKET There's the barn roof. Say it
will do" little while longer: you're
not compelled to reshingle it right
away. But you'll have to before long;
the old affair won't shed rain much
longer. It's as certain as the coming
of tomorrow that you'll have to shingle
why not keep your eye lifting towards
the single market? If you wait till
the last minute-till the rotten shingles
wash off in some hard shower-then
you'll have to buy new ones at what
ever price the dealer sees fit to ask.
You'll be between the devil and the deep
sea, and absolutely at the mercy of
one or the other. But, between now
and that time, if you have the proba-
biIities always in mind. there may, per
haps, come a drop in the shingle mar
ket which will enable you to save a
few nicl1els by buying a stock in an
ticipation of future need.
The man who waits till he's hungry
before he plants his potatoes will have |
to fast a long time before he gets any
of that crop for dinner The man who |
uses his last fence nail before he or
ders new supply may have to take |
the cIothes-line to tie things together |
with while waiting for the fresh key. |
The man who, in working or playing |
in buying or selling. thinks only of the |
ic oil
mercy of the man who thinks in terms |
of tomorrow.
THE FARMER
OUR FOOLISH RICH.
OF all the fools, when it comes to |