Norwich bulletin., 1921-11-25
DEALING WITH THE STARVED oUT' FARMS

man who made the cards? Do We think we can give nature odds at her game and still beat her? Do We think we can make water run uphill as cheaply and easily
 as it will run down-hill? Are We re- ally presumptuous enough to Set up our way of doing things, soil-wise, against natures way of doing them? Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth 1t What mal1est thou?"
 Is to accept and nurture the powers of bacteria to fix nitrogen in the soil as they have always done since the advent of life upon this earth"
 A bulletin of the Smithsonian Institu- tion devoted especially to a consideration of fertilizers tfhs sums 1t up: "On gen. eral grounds 1t seems quite logical to ex- pect that, inasmuch as bacterial action l is the method followed by nature in pro- viding the nitrogen compounds required i by plants this process speeded up and controlled by man will furnish the ulti- l mate solution of the fertilizer aspect of | the nitrogen problem"
 What other solution anywhere ofYers | itself that gives any promise of perma- l nently solving that imminent and oant- nous problem? We have seen that there l is not enough Chilean nitrate attainable 1 to put more than one drop in the empty l ing bucket. We have seen that the once 1 hopefully regarded electrical process Is at once inadequate to furnish sufficient endorsements and so inordinately ex- pensive as to be prohfbitery in practice. | At the same time, We have been shown | by the devoted labofs of such far-seeing and self-immolating prophets of truth as Atwater and Conn and Esten and others, what natures way of keeping the bucket full is and always has been and always will be.
 On that little reclahned hill pasture nt Storrs under skillfuI human management, the bacterial armies are working might and day, in darkness and in light, in season and out of season, without rest and without cost, to restore it's starved out fertility and render it permanently in dependent of prodigal and extravagant outside help.
 Prof. Esten has set up on that hdH a torch which is a beacon light of hope te hard-driven farmers of the older states To those who are steering an almost 1 hopeless course between the devil of higf fertilizer costs and the deep blue sea ol low prices for their own products,> il shows channel to a natural haven, wllert natural forces, harnessed and trained
 
 ing promise of providing ample future freightage.
 Already the light from the torch has been seen in various parts of the state am told of numerous progressive farm, CTS, right here in little old Connecticut who are today using with profit and pleasure the rules of the new agriculture They are both saving money by letting the bacteria do for nothing what they used to pay big sums for having done and making money by securing increased crops and reyivified fertility. They are the leaven In the lump. Which are you going to be? Leaven? Or just lump
 Of course, there's some work and some trouble and some study involved. AnG some willingness to admit that you anG l don't know 1t all. But farming isnt any Maud Munerish picnic. anyway. I is and always must be chuckfull of werl and trouble and either worry or study
 We're not so much in need of beine told how to make farming pleasant al of being shown how to make 1t pay It no easy climb to the Stars nor even ti the top of Lantern Hial Certainly no to the peak of highest agriculture achievement.
 We've got to work out our own saliva tlon. Playlng around the edges won get us anywhere And when man find
 new and better road; not only find it but shows 1t to. us; not only shows 1
 to Us but grades it and surfaces it an . presents it to us for our own use, : seems to be a little ungracious not eve to say, Thank you" And more tha a little unenterprising not to give tn new highway a try, and see if it rea1l gets us there quicker and slIrer THE FARMER