Norwich bulletin., 1911-08-05
THE UNCERTAINTIES MAKE FARMING LIVELY

lf1E UNCEK IAIN IlEO (Written Specially for The Bulletin.)
 l think I've talked about the general uncertainties of farming, several times. But every new season gives me new illustrations of the thing, and l can't help reverting to it.
 What on earth do you suppose a New England farmer would do, II ne could only plan out his work, in ad- vance, and have it turn out. as planned? I think he would come mighty near being scared to death, if anything like that should happen.
 The most striking part of it all is that old farmers of long experience don't seem to know much more about the way things are going to act than youngsters or agricultural college graduates There are so many things that may happen-so many different arrows and boomerangS in Natures S quiver, that the longest life isn't long enough to exhaust a single round of them. Thus far, the general order of the seasons has been fairly preserved. Winter and summer follow each other with much regularity. We can depend on having cold weather in January and warmer weather in July. Beyond that, it isn't wise to be too sure of any thirg. When l was younger I should have promptly said that it would be impossible 10 do having in February, or to cut ice from the ponds in Au- gust I still think either of these chances quite improbable. But I'm not going to say that we or our children may not yet do one or both of these very things.
 After years of experiment and prac- tice along certain lines, we old hay 1c anff h 1fr3ly can predict about how things are go- ing to come out And then, some fine morning, we wake up to find that, dur ing the night, Nature has executed a right about face" and she and we and our crcps and our hopes are all wrong end to and 'tother side up and head ing the Lord knows where. There upon, if we belong to the G. G. bri = sade-the Grunters and Growlers-we e forthwith begin to grunt and to growI; ; also to whine and to whimper, to weep and to wall, to scowl and to squeal. Thereupon, also, We others who be- long to the real Farmers army-those of US who are farmers because God made us so and were where we be- lonS-we clap on our hats, pick up our hoes, scramble out of the back door into the midst of the elemental circus, and elbow our way into a place in the procession. Whichever way it's head ing, we're going along. That's all there is to it. When the parade ar rives, we'll get there, too. We don't feel sure which way it's moving, nor where it's going to. but we're in it, and the new road is interesting, even when rough. Moreover, we may catch some larks if the heavens finally fall.
 That's the true spirit of the real farmer man. To take things as they come; to make the best of them: to hn q for. r expect the unexpected, and to accept the impossible as a matter of course If we can't do that we're going to find our Jordan a mighty hard road to travel. But, if we can do just that, its surprising how much amusement we can can get out of our own frequent discomftures. If we can't afford an aeroplane to do our marketing from. then we must take what comfort we can when some cyclone picks us up and carries us a mile or two out of our way at a speed rather above even the bird-men's average. In either case, somebody is going through the air without any effort. And-judging from : the records-the landing is about as safe one way as the other.
 For years. l have started few ex- tra early tomato plants in window box during February relying upon the March-sown hot-bed for the larger |, number. For years my experience has been unvaried; those early ones, pot ted and re-Dotted and set out at the same time with the hot-bed grown plants, have developed fruit just about ; a week ahead Of the latter-never much more than that nor much less It has been a small gain, but it has ena bled me to get ahead of the mark ct with a few boxes for which I got whopping prices. But this year, while tn1 ~Jov sporadieally for two weeks. the hot bed plants haven't yet shown trace . of reckoning, nor is there any indi- < cation that they will for fully two weeks to come. The season fatly negatives all my tomato experience of the past eighteen years.
 For many summers have found that : my second-early sweet corn, the white Cery, and the yellow Golden Bantam Jnatured practically on the same day / As soon as I found either one ready to break, I knew the other was, too and went to it with my baskets with assurance of filling them. This year my Cory is now about stripped oi marketa ble ears-and there isn't one on the Bantam patch yet big enough tc feed a chicken
 For generations we farmers have considered dry ground rather the best
 
 drier soil than most other This veal a part of my first early ran down into a bit of swampy land. We didn't ex- 'pect corn off those hills planted in the mud, but thought we might get some stalks and so filled out the corner That bit in the swamp has yielded this summer, twice as many ears as any other part of the patch of eoua area. Moreover, they are bigger anC came to breaking condition a day ol two earlier than any on the better corn land.
 It may be explained, about the corn that this seasons drought made the wet land dry enough and parched the dry land. But the explanation, whilt reasonable, IS of no help to anybody For we didn't know. last spring, tha there was going to be a drought, nol shall we know. next spring. whether there is to be one or not. If the ex- pianation be correct, then the thinE to do is to plant corn on the ridge: when q wet season is coming, and il the swamPs when a drought impends
 But who is going to tell us, in May what the weather is to be during July and August? Whats the special valu, of knowing what a drought will do, i we don't know. at planting time whether the drought is coming thi: year or year after next?