Norwich bulletin., 1915-06-19
THE WAY WHICH PRODUCES RESULTS IS
 THE BEST WAY

,Cwritten Specially for The BulIetin.)
 I've made a little discovery. That is it's 8. discovery to me. Perhaps some of you other old farmers have made it before, and will wonder why l hadn't found it out in so long.
 It is, in brief. that some farmers idea of progressive farming is sim ply dunn laziness.
 It came about this way: was struggling with patch of what was meant for early sweet corn over in the high end of the swamp lot" when Neighbor Sherman happened along. Nefghbor Sherman boasts himself of his modern ideas and his progressive ness. He uses sulky blow, and a rid ing cultivator, and a side-deivery rake, and hay-loader, and a gasoline engine to work the hay-fOrk as well as to run the churn, saw the wood and turn the grindstOne.
 Neighbor Sherman looked at me in pained silence 8 minute Whats that thing in your hands" he asked.
 'TWhy, they used to call it a hoe" I answered Has it got a, new name latefy?''
 ''U'm, ye-es,'' he responded; T re- member now that's what grandfather used to call it. I didn't s'pose any real progressive farmer like You would everAthink of goin' back to such an old
 
 some rlittIe 7aSperity in his tone. that you can do a great deal better with horse-tools than you can with that clumsy old contrapton
 IooEceoJs at the corn. looked at the ground I looked at a casual cut worm which was crawling leisurely from the hill he had just bitten off towards a,l fresh one on which he had intentions. I looked up at the pitt lessly7 dry sky. I looked back at the ipeslIy little weeds springing up thick 1y in every4corn hill right among the dfScourzg edtcorn shoots.
 Itfss, been a peculiarly Pernfckety spring in my particular neck. of woods. We had a warm and early April, fol- lowed, by a May of constant cold. fre- quent froSts. and no rain. to speak of. Seeds were got in early. They gener- ally came up just in time to meet that cold May when they needed warmth and moisture for their first growth. As a. result, they peaked and dropped 3igrew feebIy: yellowed in the ro1d andNdrouth; became anr easy. prey to insect and grub enemies.
 The only things which grew well were weeds. Why is it. can you tell me-that neither fr0sts nor drouths nor bugs nor .blights seem to make any hindranCesto weeds? When civilized and useful plants sicken ands languish under adverse conditions, the weeds keep right on growing with a. cheer fitness and vfgorsw worthy of a, better cause. s..- .,s
 WeII,- that particular2patch of corn had come up well enough and then had stopped growing had begun to droop and yellow The ground was baked and cloddy. The grass and weeds were thickening all over. We could.1hardly see the rows but, by one man leading the horse and closely peering out ahead, we managed to get through them- We went over the patch twice. both ways, with the ''aggra- vator'-Tas Hank. calls the garden har- how. Then we went over them once bach, way with the Cultivator. Then, Khi1e4GJank with horse and cultivator vents<at the potato field, got out my hoe and started to dress up those un- happy corn hills. Neither aggravatOr 4oT cu1tivator had sufficed to fine the funIpy soil. After I had hood and hand pulled, the weeds out from among ilne hills. I often had to mash up a lew hoefuls of chunks to get fine dirt enough to f1irt in among and between the little cornshoots
 That was the sort of thing was soing when my progressive" neigh DOT descended on me with his reproof aor my old fogy waste of labor and sweat-
 We talked about the thing for per hsps ten minutes. I tried to show him hat on the clay Ioam was working, .he. horse tools left so much undone pr half-done that a. descent regard Tor the welfare of the crop called for supplementary work with hand-tools Ind fingers. He didn't see it that Way. Didn't want to, I fancy. He hadn't used a hoe on his place since ie could remember. he told me Hadn't wen got one, so far as he knew. There was more modern and better Ools which did the work easier and luicker. He wasn't going back to Eranddads ways. No, siree. This vas the twentieth century and we armers had got to use twentieth cen ury ideas and twentieth century tools, itc.. etc.
 And so he left me and went fishing.
 think, while I dug away again at hat poor corn patch.
 That was week ago. Yesterday, I happened to be passing his place. He faTd Of Ioa