Paper Never Refused Ink
Charlie was my dads neighbor and friend, when dad was a young man farming in new county. Charlie was one of a kind, a devout Roman Catholic, who smoked a pipe and enjoyed a glass of Wild Irish Rose whiskey at the end of the day. He had draft horses, a team of driving ponies and a tractor named “Old Allis”. He was a great farmer, one who knew the land that he worked. He used to help my dad chop his corn, and dad would know that if Charlie was running the chopper you had to check under the silage in the front of the wagon before you turned it on. There might be some pheasants there for supper. Charlie was know for his sound advice. Dad often would tell me when I was a lad, things that charlie had taught him. One of my favorite storys is this. Dad would always be reading some extention report or article in a farming magazine about the “latest advance or practice” that was being advocated. Dad would tell Charlie, “You know, your supposed to do such and such now and it dose such and such.” Charlie would take the pipe out of his mouth and look at dad. “Nonsence, where did you get that from.” Dad would say he read it in the farm mag or an extention bulletin. Charlie would answer, “Paper never refused ink, John. They can write any darn thing they want, it don’t make it true.” How true it was then and how much truer it is today. Paper never refused ink. I’ve learned over the years that if Cornell Coopertive ExtentionExtinction or one of the big ag magazines says one thing, the safest thing you can do is the opposite.
February 13th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
It’s true for sure. I often advise people to read all they can, then go do it however they want to. I tell them, “there’s more than one way to skin a cat.” 99% of the time when someone tells me something absolutely must be done a certain way I say “Bet me.”