Thoughts of a Farmer, III. Fertilizers: Uncertainties

THOUGHTS OF A FARMER. BY DR. JOSEPH M. TANNER. Ill —FERTILIZERS— UNCERTAINTIES. Inside the wire fence which encloses my field, is a crop of growing grain. I am watching its growth and asking myself what its yield will be . I have some idea from its appearance about how many bushels to the acre I have a right to expect, from present appearances, and yet I know that something depends upon future rains and sunshine. It may ripen too soon, or its ripening may be delayed. There may be an excessive rainfall, or there may be a drought. In estimating the yield of the field, I am figuring on chance, am therefore dealing in uncertainties; my mind is never free from a state of anxiety, and I ask myself the question: ''Is it well for man's happiness and welfare to put him in such a frame of mind?" Anxiety, of course, means care; it is troublesome to bear, but it is a part of the daily lot of man. I ask myself then: "Is all this anxiety in life, in its multitude of forms, mere accident, or is it a part of our education, and ordained of God for the best and highest training of the human soul?" I do not mean to say that this anxiety is confined to farmers alone, but it is peculiar to them, in that they are always anxious about things over which they have and can have no control. What can the farmer do about the rain and the sunshine? Absolutely nothing ; and yet he. gathers up from the experiences of the past, a knowledge that gives him some assurance; and so he works on, actuated by his faith in the general outcome. The things about which the farmer, however, is anxious, are not all wrapped up in rain and sunshine . Along with the uncertainties of nature, there are the uncertainties of what he is doing.

THOUGHTS OF A FARMER. 167 Did he plow deep enough and early enough? Did he prepare a seed-bed that justified the highest expectations? The crop of growing grain is daily teaching me a lesson. It tells me that I must co-operate with nature ; it tells me that I must put myself in conformity with nature's laws; it tells me that I must do not only the right thing, but that I must do the right thing at the right time. How shall I know what is the right thing or the right time? I have my own experiences, but they are not enough; I need the experiences of others ; I naturally look about for some higher authority whose guidance I am willing to follow. Again it is that anxiety which creates high tension in the nervous forces of man's nature. The nerves, like the muscles, must be exercised, and indeed any exercise of the muscles, without the presence of nervous energy, is a sluggish one. Such work reduces man to the level of a machine, to the lot of the toiling animal. Nervous energy on the farm, then, is one of the best assurances that physical energy will be there justly employed. While I am watching that crop of growing wheat, I am not idle; I am preparing the land for another crop. The anxiety created by my uncertainties, I am putting into the soil for another year; anxiety is a sort of fertilizer; it increases the productive qualities of the land. Some people imagine that anxiety is a source of pain. The truth is that we could not have any real pleasure without it; and the question whether anxiety is to form excessive pain or pleasure is a question to be solved by every man in the exercise of the duties of his daily life. It is certain that the man who shuns anxiety, who would be free from it, must surrender some of the highest possibilities of his life. I cannot imagine anything more undesirable in the business of life than that which reduces man to the level of a dead certainty. A dead certainty is not a commonplace phrase ; for men really die when they become certain, and if they simply die, perhaps that would not be so great a misfortune as that which accompanies their death. The Savior gives us a beautiful illustration of a man of certainty; the man whose barn was well filled; who had provided himself against all emergencies, he could eat and drink and be merry. Of him the Master said: ''Thou fool, tomorrow thou shalt die."

168 IMPRO VEMENT ERA . Somehow, I have always thought it better to deal with uncertainties of nature than with the uncertainties of human conduct; at any rate it is easier to be reconciled to the disappointments of the sun and soil than to the disappointments of human nature. It has always seemed to me easier to reconcile one's self to the misfortunes of the rain or the sun than to the misfortunes of misplaced cofidence in human nature; and nature says to you, in a lofty tone of her voice: "Go on, trust me again; sift out of your disappointments your present good and your future possibilities." Nature is a consistent friend; if nature were a routine factor in our experiences, and reduced herself to the level of a certainty, she would rob us of that vitalizing energy which anxiety puts into our lives. It is a mistake, then, to say that the farmer is the most independent of men; the reverse is true; he is the most dependent. He is constantly made to feel his dependence, but it is that sort of dependence that creates noble and inspiring faith. Again, it gives him some true idea of the proportion of things when he sees, in his growing crops, so much done by a high power, and so little done by himself. The farm levels the egotism of man and establishes him more perfectly in that true relation which he occupies to the rest of life. Alberta, Canada.