Norwich bulletin., 1911-07-08
WHY FARMING MAKES THE WISE FARMER

istence. we shall know how to nip
him in the bud''-as Boyle Roche said
he would treat the hgurative lion he
imagined he heard roaring in the lob
by. We shall not need to poison him,
because we shall be able to stop him
before he gets started, to kill him be-
fore he comes to life, to remove the
cause of his existence before he comes
to have an existence. When we know
why" the potato-bug is, We shall al
so know why he needn't be at all.
And that day, when We attain that
knowledge, will see the finish of Mr..
Bug.
That's only one instance. The same
thing is true in every direction and
in all our labors. Why is cabbage?
1t sounds as silly as the famous old
why is hen?' But it isn't. There
is a reason for even cabbage. for its
being cabbage for it's being a good
cabbage or a club-rooted bunglefica-
ton. Nobody has ever yet been able
to find out just why it is cabbage
and not a cucumber. But a good many
things have been found about it, never
theless, by persistent questioning of
great many generations Of cabbage
heads. And a good many more re-
main to be found out 1t is one part
of our business to find en-. Why does
it do well on my 'old garden, and
uZZ1e Out W VI lIlIcSSiS Ol MY dppdI C1ib-
" richer Wilbur lot? One man finds
that his cabbages are better when the
ground is filed with stable manure.
why o. Another finds that his grow
better when literally dosed with kahn,
it or wood ashes. 'Why2" There's an
answer to every one of these questions,
and the man who can answer the most
of them will, invariably and infa1li-
bly,, raise the best and the most ca
bages. Isn't the question worth ask
ing. over and over again, till at last
we get the answer?
Right here, talking about cabbaoes,
let me tell you of perfectly simple.
easy and safe little scheme 1 worked
last season to fight the dirty green
cabbage worms. It's nothing but
strong soap-suds, freshly made and
generously applied on the rows, after
sunset, from a common sprinkling-
pot. 1t kept my cabbages perfectly
free, last season. What it will do,
this summer, I can't tell yet But I'm
going to ask the disgusting green
things if they like it, again.
As the term is commonly used, GU
riosity is not a wholly cemmendable
habit. We are accostumed to apply
it to those who are inquisitive about
their neighbours affairs,-who are all
the time poking and peeking into other
the SORT of curiosity I'm talking about.
We farmers have to do more with cat
tie and corn and sheep and grass and
pigs and potatoes and worms and
weeds than we DO with human critters.
We can't have too keen and prying
curiosity about these subjects and OBJ
jects of our daily work It's not only
of much more Importance to us to
know the why of our crors than it
is to know the why Of Samantha
AIMS sudden refusal to sing any long
er- in the choir: it is also a mighty
sight more Interesting and worthy of
our alleged inteIIects.
Why do plants have both roots and
leaves? There's a reason for both.
Why does aspara gus have big horizon
tai roots and clover have long div
ing tap-roots? There's a reason for
both. Why docs sorrel grow on one
patch and die out on another? There's
a reason for both. Why do cut
worms nibble off just the stalks, and
flea beetles eat just the leaves?
There's a reason for both. Why does
my black horse. when I'm batting"
him in the farm lane, eat grass and
danGelicns and pigWeed, while you
can't get him to swallow a fragment
of a p1aintain or butterCup leaf? Now
don't say that the plants and the
worms and the horse act that way
because it's natural for them to do
so. That's no reason; that's not the
why" of it. It's that sort of answer
that I am trying to suggest we farmers
should never be satisfied with. Our
part is to find out why it is natural
for them to do as they do. Then
we shall know something worth while
something that we can tie up to and
tie our truck-carts to.
From the minute | open my eyes of
a morning to the squaliing of a cat
bird on my grapevines,-"why' should
he screecl like a beast in the morn
ing and sing like a chorister of par
adise in the evening? there's another
contamination that minute till I
slide off into tired slumber at night,
every hour of the day and every
change of my work about my little
farm is plugging a fresh question at
some way Or other. Now isn't it de-
sirable that 1 should be able to
answer them tie right way? And
how in common sense can I do it IN
less I know the why of them?
No farmer would ever raise pota-
toes if he spent all his days sitting on
the fence wondering why and never
tranSlating Sucn partial knowledge
as he has into hoe work and sprayer-
work. Sitting on the fence is poor
way to carry on farm, anyway But
one can think and canvass and de-
duce and reason out with his mind at
the same time that he's slathering the
weeds with his hoe or dosing the bugs
with his sprayer. It's the great com
fort and blessing of the farmers life
that he can use both his Drawn and his
brains at the same job. The truer to-
epp VIC I71a