Norwich bulletin., 1918-06-01
OUR EMPIRE OF THE WEST

before they received any. I wish they
 could understand the difference in the
 situation There is always some SUD
 stitute fuel to be found in the east
 and there are few days when teams cannot go out to deliver it. In the Northwest, there is no substitute for coal in the winter. There are no na- tive trees, except along the rivers, ana those small and useless for fuel; and these may not be found for many. days
 ride apart Most of the farmers live from ten to thirty miles from a coal yard, the roads are bad and in many | places unfenced. and through much or the winter, man risks his life every time he drives to town; and nre must be kept-it is a matter of life and l death to the farmer.
 l Every winter we hear of families 1 being found frozen in their homes, aft- 1 CT burning their furniture and loose
 parts Of the house. Only a short dis 1 tance from here last winter, a. man 1 who lived alone was found, after
 blizzard, frozen in his bed, with every bit of clothing in the house over him.
 He. had put off going for coal, was sur pr-sed by an early blizzard, and after burning his furniture had gone to bed and covered himself with all the l warmth giving things he could find. l He hoped to live until the storm pass l ed-and it was sure death to go out l in it. And even a partial lack of fuel means sickness or death to the feeble and aged And many times man liv- ing fifteen miles from the town and coal yard must spend two days on the road With four horse team to get
 one and half tons of coal home. He l dares not allow tie winter to find him
 without a well filled coal bin.
 And there is another thing which
 amuses the western farmer. even
 while it arouses his anger. That is the
 proposition that he shall hire high
 school boys and idle town men to helr
 in harvesting and other farm work
 The farm where l am staying is not
 a large one. as farms go yet no hand work is ever done, except in the gar demand very little there. All work is done by machines which are drawr by four horse teams of big Percheror , horses. Now machines Of this sizt , for blowing, narrowing, discing, seed l ing, reaping, moving, and stacking } are complicated, and a slight mistake Z or lack of care, may break the ma l chine and injure the horses. And i , E'tallcs a day or two to go to town fo
 repairs-sometimes it takes longer 3 and another journey.
 : Can you fancy the pleasure on g feels when he is told to hire unskilled g irresponsible boys and men to landl s such valuable teams and machines = There IS no trade which requires nor ] skill, practice and good judgment tha : farming ard long apprenticeship . necessary to give good results }. Wouln't it be better to leave the skill t ed worl1men on the farms. to do tn ;, work of feeding the world, and talk e the unskilled, useless town men to d = the work of the army?
 n It was unfortunate for the Dakota y and other senli-arid states that tn r first settlers believed that trees coul e not live here. This belief was con
 firned by the fact that the few tree d which were set out were unsuited { e the climate, and soon died. They hay $. found now that many varieties l, trees do we'll here, and they are st e out on most farms now. Some of thes 1T are already excellent windbreak it When the country is we'll covered wit l, groves and trees to break the wind u e furious storms of the present will | is known only in stories of the past. l. know prairie in Minnesota which wf n bare and winds wept when I first sa ,r it. The first settlers were from Ne ,s England, and set out trees at once. d late visitor remarked, q was surpri: T. ed to find this was once without tret > there are, so many groves and tre' a everywhere, I supposed it was once Id forest" And storms have decreased ss number and intensity since the vii ie breaks because well grown It is prol d able that the same result will folio
 tree-planting further north.
 st ANNETTE M. LOWATER all North Dakota,