Norwich bulletin., 1920-10-01
MUCH cUEss-woRK DONE IN FARMING

mean to say that yeuSe soin' to run this train ever that bfiuge of poles and fence -railsf' The engineer was quick to recognize that 1t was th1roueA-Eo- ing Englishnazn who was addressing him. wan. young man." he slawiy respoad-
 Cd, 'fYe see, in tfis eeustry when they build a bridge we gaess that it's made
 to run over, and we guess that it'll hold us up Sometimes We guess ourselves safe across and sometimes we suess ourselves
 into h., and we nevsf know which it's
 goin' to be til we try it"
 Thers's dseI sf saesstnE rsiHs sa in other occupations besides rasIreadine
 don't know enc where it ie mere een-
 eral or more necessary than in fafn1iAx Sometime, in the far distant future,
 some great philosopher is going to grasp
 the inter-relAtiors of the few things we
 now know about farming and the other things which our successors are going to find out, and combine them into d real science of agriculture. At present, when there ant no such thing" we have to go It biindiy much of the time. we make the best guess we can, and take our chances on the outcome. Sometimes cur guessing leads to great success. Where upon we are apt to plume ourselves upon our sagacity. And sometimes cur glaess- ing results in a potato crop so scAbby that it isn't worth digging. Whereupoa. If we are properly humble, we admit that we made bad guess. that time After all, isn't that About the way of
 nf
 cd on to feel too acute shame when our guess proves a biunder We have tc l work with the tools at hand Pretty near. l ly all our farming tools are clumsy con- 1 tradictions, lacking in the efficiency which we all have an ideal of We do the best we can with them wishing, indeed that they were better, but accePtias them nevertheless, peor As they are, al l the best practically attainabie.
 Similarly, in the planning of farm operations. we have to use sur iE. ! noraHce and our guess-sEerk in the zb- sence of knowledge and certainty. It fl another ease of doing the best we ear with the means available.
 Therein. ts many of ss lies the chic. l charm of farm work. It is hard it is 1 dirty; it is often anresnunerztive it il a weary, weary round of plodding b. uncertain lights to uncertain ends. It |.
 continual taking of chances. But. fol 1 that very reason, it has an attraction for certain of US which no occupation l based on assurance certainties could pos 1 sibiy have.
 If you pour strong vinegar on sod. 1 1t will effervesce 1t will always d, 1 50. There's no doubt about it m result is as assured as the operation il
 simple
 And can you imagine a man hndini real comfort and satisfaction in taking up i as life-work, the mixing of ecda ani 1 vinegar to see them f1z?
 1 But when we farmers blew and pIAn ! and cultivate. we're playing a big gam, 1 the results of which are by no means as I sured. We may win; we may lose; al i we can do is to play the game the bes we know how and watch what happens
 What pleasure can a great chess ex I pert find in sitting down to game witl
 an amateur? The expert. knows, frsn the first move of the first pawn, tha
 he's going to checknake the other fel
 low in about 50 many plays. But whel
 you and I sit down to a game of back
 gammon, neither being experts, we hay got either of US any certainty who's go