Norwich bulletin., 1922-03-10
MANY OF THE sIMPOSSIBLEs" ARE POSSIBLE
AND FEASIBLE.

almanac. don't happen TO know Just
how many bushels there are In carload
Of potatoes III have to make guess,
and say Ave hundred Is thai anywhere
near 'tne t-uth2 As l don't hear any OBJ
lection. wen assume It. for the sake Of
the argument Two hundred and thirty
i've carloads Of Ave hundred busheis
each would be ll7.5eo bushels. That's
quite q bag Of potatoes. And 4 m1isf be
Allied fifty 7Cwo times a year. Il would
! take quite a patch Of ground to grow
them You don't mean to insinuate thai
| there'd be enough farmland within two
| hundred and fifty miles Of New York TO
grow ell tiaose potatoes and leave any
over for henyards?"
Les's look At the figures before We
answer too fatty. Take New Londea
county, to begin with. How much could
that one Of Connectbcls's eight counties
contribute towards the staggering total?
! The soil experts already surveyed the
] arabic land OF the county, and found
that its two principal soils. capable Of
cultivation and reasonably productive,
amount to 275,Oo0 acres. Nov, LET'S
! s'pose again, just for the sake Of argu-
ment, that these 275 600 acres were all
lput into potatoes. Under such circum-
stances how many days or hours could
New LONDON county supply NeR York
city with potatoes2
Say, don't you rather like to vrastle
With big figures? Really big. mouth
4 filling ones2 Most people do, and warn
you there are a few ahead OF you. II
you've read thus far.
Two hundred and serenity five thousand
acres OF potatoes. Begin with that. How
many bushels, per acre, would the coun-
ty pan out? One hundred? TWO hun
dred? Oh, 90 slow! You and 1, being
unusual and rather remarkable farmers
perhaps could raise that amount. Bui
we're exceptions, and we know It. Vel
cut that smallest estimate squarely II
two. Wen allow that the county coul6
average only fifty bushels to the acre
and see where that will bring US. A,
|. I figure 1t my slow, old-fashioned way
that would give total yield for thu
! county Of fifty times 275,ooO. or 1880,
zoe bushels. New York city would wan
: III, 500 bushels q week. Now on n,
! slate lI7.500 goes into" 1880 900 abou
: one hundred and seventeen times. LIE
the lad take his pad and pencil and tel
me how near I've come to It.
j That is. New London county, II an IL
cu.tivable land were put into potatoe
and they yielded only fifty bushels pc
n | dSlS Va luDeIS HOutQ, new
Z ertheless. grow enough in a single sea
. son to feed New York city for one hun
: dred and seventeen weeks, or two year.
] three months and one week.
: This would seem to indicate that v
, should have TO send more than half tn
s potatoes to Philadelphia, Boston. Prov
; dence. Hartford and Fishers Island I
e get rid OF them, or feed them to tn
3 pigs and so grow pork enough to sur
: ply the big city's demands for hams an
i bacon
e And the other eight counties Of "Lstti
Old Connecticut" could be set apart I
= rase the radishes and lettuce and spir
/ aeh ana cucumbers the big town want
3 Thus It appears that, so far Is so
/ and climate and land are csncerne e
q one single county Of one small stat
e could, on only half It's possible cult
. vable acreage, raise all the potatoe
3 NeW York city can eat IN a year
u need put only half Of It's 275, 600 acre
e to the task Of growing New York pots
q toes, and use the other half to grow 4
2 own requirements. And we've alread
J. discovered, as shown In a former tar
l. that that leftover half would be gti
d about four times bigger than Is absolute
l. ~ required to take care Of all the loo
lie home demand.
~ It may seem to some Of you . rsth,
>, silly thing to waste a whole lot Of Will
" paper and perfectly good black ink
o imagining an impossible developmen
But, good gracious What is there in az
y of this which Is Impossible. % The
:. are quite too many things called an
:, possible which are not only possibl
=, but feasible. Fifty years ago, yor
- grandfather would have set you down
81 lunatic N need Of a ,straight-jack
Z II you had told him~he could talk, eas!l
:, freely, and distinctly with his hrothe
in-law in Chicago-talk as easily, FIRE
= IL and distinctly as II said brother-i
law were just in the next room Y
he could have done 1t, right then, IL on
g be had had telephone. There ";
y nothing whatever in nature to forb!
10 him. The natural forces which carry h
q voice . thousand miles as IL they ne
- only step were existent and active. tn,
O as now. Only no one had yet started
with sufficient determination and D
- thence to find them out and learn ho
y to use them.
Of We've all heard Of the stubborn En-
OF lIshman OF a hundred years ago. vi
declared that It was just silly idiocy (
W Stephenson TO assert his neB-fangled /
Is. connective could draw a coach twef
3 miles an hour. IF It can, III eat II
kz he shouted.
Later he changed his mind.
be THE FARMER