Norwich bulletin., 1914-05-30

(written Specially for The Bulletin.)
 Tn its desire to cover all the statis- ties of the country, the census bureau has brought out one highly iiluminat- ing fact about farms and farmers.
 M the sss faass on aprl 15 1910, 1t got answers from 5.fs4.768. or from ninety-one in every hundred, telling how long they had lived on their farms.
 gThess answers disclosed that, in the south, only forty-one in each hundred had lived on their farms So long as five years; in the west, only forfy-four, and in the north and east, only ,fifty-seven- In the south thirty four out of every hundred had lived on their farms only single year; in the west twenfy-se seven; in inc north and east twenty-two.
 :. Considerably more than million fArnsrs had lived on their farms less than . full year.
 The census bureau very pertinentiy shpossfs that herein may be found cn4 reason for the decline of rural prosperity. It remarks that it re- Quires three or four years for a farmer to become acquainted with the various conditions on his farm, such as soil, climate, etc. and put 1t IT. condition for raising crops'
 Amend that last clause so it will read put it in condition for raising the best crops ana you've come
 Add to it land thirty or forty years are none too many to learn any farm thoroughly" and you'll be still closer to the complete truth
 Hsss and there is to be found a farmer who is a genius in his voca- tion. He seems to be aware. instinc- lively. Of just what a certain field needs, and just what it can be made to do. He jumps to conclusions, and right conclusions. at that He can walk across farm he never saw be- fore and decide, offhand, that one field wants more potash and one more lime and one less stable manure and more phosphate and one years fal- lowing. He can predict that corn will do well on one lot and cabbage well on another.
 But such man is a rarity,-a sort of white blackbfrd. The most of us have to learn the A B c of farming as ws learned our primers, slowly and with much painstaktng. We have to try things ort, and to discover the :!uth more often by failure than by drst-hAnd success.
 Of the 6,361 ,502 farmers reported, it ls highly probable that at least 6.360,- 300 are of this last class: not geniuses In any sense of the word; just com A and common abilities, compelled to learn what we know by the conon rule of trial and experience.
 What can most of us expect to know walk across it? or from single years experience with it?
 Of course. there are a few genera rules. which govern all land. We know that it is best to SOW most better for grass than for corn; that a clay subsoil holds moisture bette, than 6 gravel; that Paris Green will kill potato-bugs; and a few simila- things. Unite detail and coming under the operations of almost every form of natural law, known and unknown.
 The soil of one field differs if pm that of another! nay. the soil of one square rod in field may differ from rame field. Their exposures ar, 6lf- lerent- Their natural aptitudes are hifferent One patch may b.. just crazy to grow cabbages and have an eternal incapacity for growing any thing else. except under compulsion and in a half-hearted way Another patch may be less cranky, and sseni good naturedly willing to produce al- most anything-if you'll only keep the cultivator going all the whiIe.-anG then some more. Still another pa ch will raise timothy, of a sort: but it will take you> ten years of constant experiment and butter before you can lind out how to make clover catch"
 Moreover, as each soil ditfe-.th from another in whim, so each season dinereth from another in meanness A certain crop may do quite well on