Norwich bulletin., 1919-03-07
EXPLOITING AGRICULTURAL PROBLEMS
Written Specially for The Bulletin.

Written Specially for The Bulletin.
A western paper which gives rather
more than ordinary attention to agri-
Uncle Sans Farm Experts have
found out that the secret of good
yield lies in putting in the right crop.
It seems that various cooperative
experiments have been tried with
wheat, during the past year, at the
stations in North Dakota, Wyoming,
Utah and California. Different varie-
ties of wheat grown under similar con-
ditions in North Dakota produced
yields which varied from 1914 bushels
per acre down to lis bushels.
Different varieties in Wyoming va
ried from 15.5 bushels up to Il BUSH
els. In the same state oats, likewise
grown under similar conditions varied,
according to variety, from 37.S bush
els per acre to 1875 bushels. In Utah
one variety of wheat gave % bushels
per acre, while another. sown beside
it, yielded 23.3 bushels, etc., etc.
Wherefore the experts gravely
| report that it makes a difference what
sort of seed you SOW.
In DR.. Holmes famous verses to the
Katydid he expressed his fondness for
| that somewhat tiresome insect. be-
| cause, as he put it
| Thou say'st an undisputed thing
In such a solemn way
! 1t is undeniably true that the right
seed for any particular locality pro-
duces better crops than the wrong seed
will.
1t is also unquestionably true that
| the sun rises in the east; that it is
| in int in or
that feathers are lighter than lead, and
| that men are usually older at 80 than
| they were at IS.
But we don't need government ''eX-
| perts" to find out any of these stimu-
lating and useful facts for us.
| Everybody knows EN-.
| The idea of spending several million
| dollars a year-or several dozen cents
a year for that matter-to experiment
| and report about such matters strikes
the frugal rural mind as akin TO ex-
tH,a yagance.
It has keen said by those Of Old tire
that the small boy doesn't need tc
teach his grandmother how to such
eggs.
y tcrts in learned judge once inter
ruDted the youngish lawyer VINO was
! painfully setting forth sore primal J
principle Of law: Pass on to the ar
gumenr, Brother Simpkirs. You may
Il assume in this case that the c94r1
knows something"
| have several patches Of grounC
which will grow fairly good Russo
potatoes. l have at least one which
will grow tolerable Early Harvests
Other land, hardly more thar. a stone:
throw distant, will not produce eithel
sort, nor have l discovered any tricl
Of cultivation nor any method of fer
tilization which will make it. Simply
they-won't-grow there. Como u
feebly, spindle and yellow and droop
set a few acorns and die.
Also, have bits OF ground where
can, usually, raise pretty good musk
melons: and acres Of ground where
can no more grow them than | Coult
pineapples.
, And then / have found that nowher
) in my gardens can I get any swee
wrinkled pea to produce as early ant
as good crops as the Surprise. ThI
comes on ten days earlier than Excel
5 sior and yields more than double III
: crop. Yet Neighbor Wright, less th&l
a mile away as the crow flies, raise
Excelsior regularly because, after re
peated trials, he finds it earlier thai
Surprise, or any other variety.
= Every farmer has his favorite seeds
r fayorite because, after summering an
4 wintering them, he has found tina
/ they do well in his soil and his con
ditions.
l If he is really fit for his bushes:
e he is all the time on the Qui vive 70
f varieties that will meet his special re
= uuirements. But he knows as well a
ne knows his dirt that what is on
farms meat may be another farm
poison. He knows that the fact tina
| one variety does well on a lowland i
I Ledyard there is no proof that it wi
= do equally well on a highland in Leb
s anon. Or that the variety which grow
s success on gravel.
t His farm is his farn-not somebod
3 else's; his dirt is his dirt-not anothe
s mans. He must follow where his ow
finely on a clayey soil will prove
S nose points, and not in the directio
Of any other proboscis. The very fir;
, thing ne has to learn, if he is to sue
coed, is what his farm can do or ca
> be made to do; and what methods
: cultivation, what forms of fertilize
ton, what systems OF rotation, whs
varieties of seed it calls for in ordt
/ to do it's best for him. 1t needs /
ghost come from the grave to tell hi
t, this, nor any experts from Washing
= ton or North Dakota. 1t is up TO hi
to find out for himself.
n, Suggestions may be helpful, SOM
times; advice may serve him, once
If a while; but in the end it is the STUD
m of his own soils and his own cond
y tons alone from which he can leal
the real facts and deduce effective
serviceable lessons.
One of the best farm papers in t
country has recently been discussi1
the question of wood ashes as fe
tilizer for Strawberries. The edit
tells me that fully nineteen out of e.
cry twenty strawberry growers fl
the use of either ashes or lime d!
tinctly detrimental Yet for six
eight years my two small strawber
patches have been yielding finely a.
regularly on liberal applications
homemade hardwood ashes - a.
nothing else. Best of all for M
who has plenty of other work to
in the growing season, they have r
newed themselves from year to We;
so that I have not had to reset the
Do ! therefore advise other would