WHERE TO FIND OUT HOW 53 



of this truth; they discouraged flights of fancy, 

 saved me a lot of waste motion. They even revealed 

 that, on occasion, sloth and indolence can pay off. 

 For years I threatened to get in the woodlot, clean 

 up the undergrowth, put the timber under inten- 

 sive cultivation. But there was always something 

 else to do; I never got around to it. Ultimately the 

 course in Farm Forestry revealed it would have 

 been precisely the wrong thing to do. 



State and federal publications cover "every con- 

 ceivable subject," as the old-time encyclopedists 

 said of themselves. At first I tried to pick out of 

 the indices all those I thought might be useful. 

 I soon found, however, that where these agencies 

 can help most is in the solution of specific prob- 

 lems. Today, instead of trying to pick out the 

 proper pamphlet in anticipation of a problem, I 

 write a letter when the problem turns up. The 

 answer always includes at least a reference to the 

 most useful bulletins on the subject. For example: 

 I have a number of cook books that tell how to 

 make dill pickles. Year after year I tried to make 

 them because cucumbers, like a lot of other farm 

 produce, come in bunches: unless you pickle them, 

 a lot may go not to waste to the pigs and chick- 

 ens. But evidently none of the authors of my cook 

 books ever made dill pickles because they do not tell 

 how to preserve them after they are made; within 

 a few weeks, if left in the open brine, they go soft. 



