Norwich bulletin., 1920-01-09

error of ten acres in which would re- suit in a total. error of thirty millions of acres.
 Then 1 am asked to "eive the amount for which this farm would sell" Great Caesars ghost! I have never offered it for sale. l do not in l tend to, have no more idea what it would sell for than have what yours would. I know of a farm. not nearly sold recently for $6.000. know of another. easily worth ten times as much as mine. for which the owner, who really wants to sell, hasn't had an 1 offer of over $6,000 in seven years. Farms, in my part of the country, haven't any outstanding value. They sell for what the owner can get. And 1 that's wholly a matter of luck. If some chap with lots of money and an J ambition for a country place" should | happen to take fancy to the s1rua- | ton of mine, he would perhaps give me five times aS much as some hard headed fellow farmer who would have to make it pay for itself, after he had bought it.
 Whats the use of asking such un- answerable questions and then bunch | ing the wild guesses made in response and calling them statistics? ?'
 I turn over the sheet and come to 1 the dairy section. Now, there are dairy farmers who keep records and know just where they are at. There are other dairy farmers. who do not keep records except in the crudest sort of way, but can make tolerable who have only one or two or three cows, mostly for home supply. who keep no records nor pay the slight est attention to the milk and butter output They have enough butter for the.r own tables and to supply a ne 'ghbor in an emergency: enough milk for drinking and cooking and feeding the pigs and hens and, occa- s.onally supplying a ncighbor with his own cows are dry. That's all they know or care. I'm one of that numer- ous class. happen to have two COWS | just now. Don't mean to keep but one but have raised a heifer. can't sell the old COW for what she's worth and so have both on hand. Well, I'm asked to report the total amount of milk produced in. 1919. including all milk used on the farm. fed to animals, or sold. And this in "gallons!" I've heard of people selling milk by the hundred pounds and we've sold some little by the quart. Personally, I new CT heard of any farmer reckoning his
  pass. We've sold some little milk to neighbors. temporarily without their own supply and, more by accident than of set purpose have kept a rec ord of the receipts. Knowing the price paid per quart, I can, therefore work out how many gallons" we sold and what it fetched.
 But how much was consumed on the farm? How much was used in nak- ing butter? How much to make cot tages cheese? How much was fed to pigs and hens How much went into pies and cakes and bread? How much did I drink when was thirsty and 1 craved something other than pump water? I have just about as much idea as I have how much water runs i under the bridge in the course of the year.
 have never measured a sinuIe ! milking in all my life. I don't even know how much the milkpail holds. I am not a dairyman and keep cows solely for family and farm Aconven- fence. If that convenience is satis- am, too. All we're locking for is butter and cream and cottage cheese and milk enough for the home needs Some days, when she's fresh" the old COW gives the milkpail running over full. Some days. when the per- iod of lactation is nearly over and the weather is extra cold and neither roots nor stover nor hay seem to fill 'em up both cows together won't give two quarts at a milking. And yet I'm expected to set down in black and white, on an official form, the total amount of milk for the year 1919!
 Same with butter. We make what We want and use it as made. We sell almost none and weigh only the very few pounds which are sold. actual ly can't tell within fifty pounds how much butter we made in 1919 Yet I must answer that question. The off, cial sheet -peremptorily orders me to. It says: Inability to obtain exact data does not justify failure to an swer question. If records are not | available. careful estimates should in all cases be obta med and made. <" Careful estimates" indeedl A week l ago I asked three men. all hog grow 1 CTS, to estimate how much my small ] pig would dress. One said 80 pounds: one said 120 pounds: one said from go
 to 100. When he was butchered he dressed 131 pounds. with the hide off | When three hog experts are as wild as that in their "estima tes'' of the
 weight of beast right before their ! AASW 6Al0 are l1A6Iy to De the
 estimates" of even the best meaning
 farmer on the unmeasured, unweigh-
 ed yield of milk and butter from tive
 COWS during full year?
 There are just twelve question.
 about trucking. my speciality. These
 so far as regards value of crop sold II can answer with absolute accuracy
 But I am also required to state the fractional part of an acre devoted tf I each crop. I have no idea of a sin gle one. Again I must come down tc
 the merest guessing. I don't remem
 Der anything about how many row;
 Of peas had nor of beans nor of let.
 tuce nor of onions. nor how long tho
 rows were nor how far apart. Tn,
 ground is now covered with SHOW anC
 cannot tell where one crop ended l and another began, even if I should gC
 out with tape line and try to meas.
 ure each one. I don't even know ac, curately how much land had in veg,
 etables, all told. It is in severa
 patches. and almost all of them o,
 irregular shape.
 Of course, l can guess at 1t and al the various subdivisions And IT ' guess as closely as know how.
 But when I think of how wild som,
 of my best iutentioned guesses may perhaps. be, and Of the millions o-
 other farmers who are compelled tt
 do equally wild guessing on thes,
 and other questions I can't help won | dering what's the use of if aff