Norwich bulletin., 1913-10-25
TACKLE THE TASKS RIGHT AT HAND

(Written Specially for The Bunetin)
 I've little use for chronic gad- abouts. As between the fiittering-
 1uttering butterfly and the clam which is too impassive to do anything more towards getting its own dinner than open it's mouth for the tide to
 flow through there isn't much choice. Neither have any very high value to the common place world. The clam is rather the less superfiuous, because one can make chOwder out of him.
 As a general rule, there is quite enough serviceable and useful work for all of us right at home within reach. of our arms. The duties which stand at our doors and in our gardens and on our farms are usually fully as numerous as our capacities are equal to- Of course, if one isn't concerned about his or her duties,-is actuated by no sense of moral sponsibility,- regards life merely as a hunt for gold at the end of the rainbow-of course @1ch a percon may be expected to turn into gad-about and sort of cosmic stra p-hanger. But very few of us farmers are of that sort We've much more liable to get stuck in the mud than to get lost exploring new horizons What we need is not so much preaching against vagrancy as 2, warning against stagnation.
 if farmer is worth his saIt he inevitably makes his farm a part of himself: becomes himself a part of the farm. In course of time the union becomes so close that a separation is too much like an amputation. It hurts.
 Now that isn't a good condition to be in. Some versifier once remarked upon
 How much the dunce who has been Excels the dunce who has been kept
 at home"
 A little roaming abroad. strange countries for to see" is not only wholesome, but it is rather essential fe our growth and progress. To our growth and progress as farmers, I mean. I'm not referring to such in- tangible things as culture and "savoir faire." Pm thinking of such things as getting out manure and cul- tivating potatoes and spraying apple trees and the like.
 The county fair affords one oppor- funity for getting out of the home rut. But the farmers one meets there are generally more or less fixed up. They have on their best bibs and fuckers and they often have blacked their shoes and washed their buggies before they started. Also, the pro ducts they exhibit are not fair samples of their years work, but picked exceptions.
 A day at the fair ought to give any 'pbservant farmer-visitor something to admire and ought to serve as a stim- ulant to his ambition. But an oc- casional day in the barns or out on the fields of another farmer watching his methods of everyday work and studying his successes and his fail ures as they lie exposed to the expert eye on every side,-I think such an outing would, sometimes, be of even greater helpfulness.
 During this last discouragng sum ner it has happened that l have been compelled, regularly once a month to lake a trip by wagon or auto, to a city twenty-five miles away. My route has lain along the main road, bord- cred all the way by farms and gardens. | ] have had no time to stop and make @ study of any farm methods. My observation has been limited to what a curSOry glance might disclose as we whirled past one farm after another. ] But even that little glimpse into the situation of other farmers has made each trip a lesson and an inspiration 10 me. It has given me several hints as to the way in which other farmers 1 were fighting the prevalent drought It has given me suggestions about the sort of crops and the character of lands which were beyond reach of help, and those which intensive cul- tivation and mulching might assist. ! It has encouraged me by showing that I was no worse hit than hundreds of 1 others. It has braced me up, when I 1 have seen others struggling manfuIly l against worse conditions, to renewed | efforts.
 These little trips have not only put | ideas into my head. but sand into my | gizZard.
 It very often happens that fellow | can't get a true view of his farm 1 merely from watching the dirt his | plow-share turns over. Not but that l he ought to do this; ought to watch it | and study it and ponder over it. But i a furrow-slice is only a small part of | a hundred acres. To get anything like | a clear idea of his farm, as 9. whole, he may often have to go off the farm and climb a hill on somebody else's land from which he can get a birds eye view of the whole ranch. We must attend to small details. most of the time, and keep our eyes peeled for