Keep the Track

Keep the Track. BY PROF. J. C. HOGENSON, OF THE UTAH AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. One hot and sultry summer day down in Arizona, a weary tramp was slowly making his way along the railroad track. He was anxious to get to California, the land of "milk and honey," so-called. He had no money to pay for his transportation by rail, so he had to walk. On either side of him was nothing but boiling sand; in front and behind, nothing but the two rails stretching along as far as the eye could see. He was warm, tired and thirsty, he longed for a rest in the shade by a cool, babbling brook. He seemed to be half dreaming. Suddenly trees began to rise out of the desert in the distance, houses, church spires and waving fields of grain. He could almost hear the running water as it leaped from rock to rock down the wonderful mountains that he could see. He stood amazed with wonder and thankfulness. He had not thought of finding such beauties and comforts in the desert. He knew the danger of becoming lost in the desert, and the thought came to him : should he stay with the guiding rails that were sure to take him to his destination, or should he leave them and seek refreshment in the city, rest in the shade, and quench his thirst in the babbling brook? The temptation was too strong, he left the guiding rails, and wandered off :into the desert towards the wonder and comforts which he saw, only to find that he never reached them, for they were only mirages, and to be found only in his own imagination. He wandered on and on, and became lost in the desert. To-day his bones lie whitening in the hot desert sands. He never should have left his guiding lines, the rails, — there alone was safety; for if he had continued on as reason should have suggested to him, he would soon have safely reached his destina- tion. The rails were often warm, and the way long and wearysome, yet they alone could have kept his way to safety. They alone could have prevented him from wandering away into the trackless desert.

KEEP THE TRACK 37 This little story can be readily applied to the farmer. The careless, non-methodical way of farming, is the trackless desert, because no definite way is followed. The track with its two lines stretching out before and behind is the methodical way of farming that experience, experimentation and reason have pointed out. The one rail representing the upper limit and the other the lower limit, beyond which it is not safe to go. The man Is the farmer. The mirages in the desert are the pictures he sees in his mind of the great returns he is going to get by continuously cropping his land, getting out of it all that he can, and returning nothing, of getting large returns and not working his land much; not plowing deep, not harrowing at the proper time, not keeping the weeds down, not treating his seed grain for smut, not sowing good seed (because it costs a little more than what he has). All this takes labor and the outlay of a little cash. He sees in his mind large fields of wav- ing grain secured with but little outlay, and very often the tempta- tion is too great and he wanders off, only to find that sooner or later he becomes lost in the desert of neglect and poverty, and a mortgage, or the entire loss of his home and farm, is the result. He failed to remain within the safety limits of proper clutivation, to conserve the moisture, good, clean, well-selected seed, proper rotation of crops or summer-fallowing, and the addition of manure to maintain the fertility; so that his land became run down, and each year produced smaller and smaller crops until finally nothing but weeds would grow. Had he farmed properly, his land would have been more fertile to-day than when first cultivated, and his crops would have increased proportionately, and he would have safely reached his goal of a prosperous, happy and contented farmer. How many of the farmers of Utah have left the safety rails pointed out by the Experiment Stations and experience, and are following a mirage that leads finally to despair? I hope not many are doing so. I know most are following 'safely between _the proper limits, and are doing good methodical farming, yet some have yielded to the temptation, and are careless in their farming opera- tions, not caring how or when they are done. Let us all keep to the track, and prosperity," happiness/and abundant crops will not only be ours, but will also "come to our children and our children's children, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Logan, Utah.