COMMERCIAL FERTILIZER

Today many commercial fertilizers are available to put nutrients in the soil. Farmers have only to go to a huge fertilizer plant and get their requirements or have someone else truck it to the field for them. Then it is sown by machine.

A WRITER TELLS HIS — MEMORIES OF A MILKING STOOL

Antiques are more than ever in style. People rush madly around searching for things from the past —— old furniture, ox yokes, harness medallions, etc. Soon many once familiar farm fixtures may have places of honor in the homes of the well-to-do. Maybe they are meant to recap- ture the spirit of happier times, maybe they give a sense of continuity and reality; maybe they’re even status symbols. Anyway, they’re in demand.

But most antique - hunters have overlooked one item: a victim of mechanization almost ousted from the farm scene —- the milking stool. There were many varieties: two-legged, three-legged, four-legged and even one complete with a milk pail holder. But I never cared for the complic— ated ones. I didn’t find anything else as satisfactory as the one—legged type. Balanced on the narrow base I could achieve a rhythm not possible with more rigid stools.

A stable full of contented cows, the close contact with living crea- tures, induced a feeling of harmony and well-being. No drugs were needed to loose the processes of creative thought. Relaxed, the mind ranged freely, solving homework problems and going on to explore the mysteries of life.

One lesson I learned in this setting was about the connection be- tween cause and effect. If I were cross or impatient, the cow soon would be. Her milk would refuse to come down; the harder I worked at it, the less co—operative she was. It didn’t take long to learn that gentle treatment paid off in an easy rhythmic flow of milk that made bright music as it

struck the pail.

Our contacts with the outside world were friends and neighbors. newspapers, magazines and books. Compared with today’s youth, I had one advantage over them — plenty of time to think about new findings.

With me, at least, the lowly stool rates a high priority among the treasured relics of the past. We might nail a milking stool over the door- way, replacing a symbol of superstition with one of contemplation. It could remind us to set aside a few minutes each day to relax and consider what our rushing around is all about.

ONE LEVEL MOUTHFUL

To talk too little bores the ears about us, To talk too much may cause the world to doubt us,

How wonderful if we but had the power To measure speech as housewives measure flour.

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