60 WE FARM FOR A HOBBY 



mention. I am entirely willing to concede that a 

 lot of it may be wrong. Nevertheless I lend an at- 

 tentive ear to tradition, old wives' tales well, su- 

 perstition, if you insist. The data of science are 

 at most the accumulation of a few thousand years. 

 Superstition is the sifted wisdom of fifty, a hun- 

 dred, five hundred thousand, years. A lot of it can 

 be wrong because it is carried from one country 

 and climate to another, without modification. 

 There are, for example, people in this section who 

 plant only one main crop of potatoes, instead of 

 an early spring and a late fall crop which can be 

 grown here mainly because one crop is all that 

 can be grown in the short hot summer of north 

 central Europe. But when the tradition applies 

 to something as definitely American as maize, 

 then it is worth heeding. Perhaps there is no sci- 

 entific basis for the belief you should not plant 

 corn the first three days of May. All I say is, if you 

 take no stock in it go ahead and plant your corn 

 on the first, second, or third of May. As for me, 

 I shall continue to pay respectful, if critical, atten- 

 tion to the teachings of the red gods. 



