Norwich bulletin., 1919-05-09

(Written Specially For The Bulletin.)
 Rainy days on the farm
 What do you think of them?
 What are you in the habit of doin on them?
 What do you think of them? find to tackle which will pay either one of you your wages?
 For my part I've always had a soft spot in my heart for that famous old farmerette who was reported to have said that she wished it would rain nights and Sundays-"so the hired men could rest!"
 Of course we need rain We must have it. We shouud die of drouth and thirst if we didn't have 1t.
 Let two weeks of hot summer weather pass without any and we go round with long faces and funeral tones beWailing our need of it.
 But when it comes v.e-re never quite ready for it. That is, the most of us aren't. "Ff it he'd only held off one day moren we could have got in our oats, or hood our corn. or saved our hay, or dug our potatoes, etc. etc.
 And what is there for us to do while it is coming down. when the grass is wringing wet and the soil is sodden and the whole universe drips and ex- udes dampness; when productive work is perforoe halted in it's tracks: when there is positively nothing worth while to be done about the place except out door work which can't be done: when everything comes to a stop for one, two or three days: everything except wages which go right on. rain or shine, and whether they can be earned or not?
 It makes small difference to those engaged in factories or shops or banks or munitions works whether it rains or not. They have good roofs over them and can work practically as well rainy days as fair ones. But farm work which is primarily and chiefly working dirt can't be done when the dirt is not dirt but mud.
 When a factory or shop manager hires an operative by the month he knows that, barring sickness, he will get twenty-stE or twenty seven days work in return during the month. When the farmer, however. hires a heIre" bv the month. he never know whether he will get as much as twelve days work durin@ calendar month. I've known months when the farmer aud his men couldn't work as many days as that, even.
 For it is not only impossible to work while it is being raif,ed on. it is if not Impossible at least Gum fooIishness to work dirt after fl has been soaked and before the mud has had time to dry out.
 When the farmers self-appointed critics are at their beloved business of cGiticiling him this is point which trey might wisely consider for min Ute. From the first of April to the last of September within which period practically all the productive work of inc farm falls there are supposed to be t57 working days excluding Sun days. but not excluding legal hoIiz days" Ike July FoG-;h. Decoration Dav, Labor Day etc.
 But do Nou dear townsman. SUD- pose that the farmer has the effective pee of tho whole 157? Not much. He's pla"i1r in fair luck if he can get any work done on a hundred of them. In deed tH0''e better than he will aver o2o ! think.
 On my own particular ranch we ar r7Dead ID begin work the first Of last E1h-Anrtl 1st According to the @2la9d1r there were supposed to be 26 working days, that month. As q cold matter of fact. there were thirteen iurt one-haf The other thirteen it either rained or sncWed or the land was buried under drifts. We stood around. first On one leg and then on 'roTher, and on which one we felt the wust we couldn't a told! All we knew was that we were net getting anywhere. May opens with a fair promise th1t if will be about as dis Diriting IS April.
 Tn fact, after fairly long experi- ence with New England weather, the year round and year after year, I've come to the conclusion that, so far as