Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-01-14


Government forestry seems to be
success in India. The inspector-gen-
eral of forests for India is now in this
country and he gives an interesting
account of the management in that
country. He says it has taken eighteen
years of legislation to get the kind of
laws needed, but they have succeeded.
Now the permanency of the big
forests is assured and the government
will get handsome income from them.
The government is gradually obtaining
possession of all the forest lands and
now has $4,000 square miles of wooded
country under supervision. The gov
eminent at intervals gives notice that
it intends to take a certain piece OF
forest land so many miles in size, and
claimants have six months in which to
appear and prove their claims. An in
dividual or town, probably, has a de-
scriptive right to take building timber
from the forest in question. That
right is proved and settled perma-
nently, and thereafter only such trees
as are marked by the inspector can
be cut. In Burmah alone there are
over 1000 different kinds of forest
trees and the study there is to propa-
gate the valuable species and weed out
those that are not.-Rural Life.
Tillage and Fertility-The fact that
the rocky particles of the soil are the
source of phosphoric acid and nitrogen,
and that they are derived by dissolving
of the rock, makes tillage a source OF
fertility, since it tends to the more
rapid disintegration of these rocky par
ticles. If these particles We're as easily
dissolved as the grains of sugar or
salt, our soil resource would sooner be
destroyed by excess Of moisture or by
too frequent cultivation. One of the
great sources of depletion of soil is the
too frequent cropping, which means
double or triple depletion. First, the
crop, be it hay, grain, wool, meat or
milk, taken from the farm, removes
fertility. Second, the tillage unlocks
the phosphoric acid and potash from
the rock, and makes a larger portion
available for the plants. Third, the
land left bare much Of the year declines
in the per cent of nitrates. This last is
a more important source of loss than Is
commonly understood.
Fill Up the Holes.-Has any reader
ever tried DR.. Braden's plan for i'm
proving muddy roads by covering the
low places with straw, coarse hay,
weeds or other such trash? We thought
the idea worth trying in places where
marsh grass abounds, on the borders Of
sloughs. A large amount of such fill
ing could be applied very easily and
cheaply there, and IL it is found to
do the work satisfactorily, as we think
it will, it would be another case in
which nature provides an easy remedy
for the ailments she permits to befaii
us. The plant whose root cures snake
bite is said to grow always in places
where venomOus serpents abound.
Where bad roads arc apt to be in their
worst condition, in the low ground, the
reeds and the tough, coarse grasses do
most abound. Let us give this cheap
road material trial before we laugh
at il as foolish to think seriously about.
Indiana Farmer.
Profit in Apples.-Apples pay If the
producer can get 20 cents bushel for
them on the tree. The only hope of
making the raising of fruit pay is to
ship it to Europe, where good apples
are scarce. For this purpose the ut
most care must be observed in packing.
The rest of the crop that cannot be con-
sumed at home and made into cider,
cider jelly and vinegar can be fed prof
itably to live stock. Apple-fed pork is
a delicacy. The people of the United
States, too, ought to eat more apples
than they do. Nothing is more con-
ducive to health and long life. This
year they will have chance to indulge
their appetities with the choicest fruit,
which is abundant.-EX.
Cultivated or Uncultivated Trees
The Nebraska agricultural sta
ton has issued a bulletin from
which the following practicable con-
illusions are drawn. Trees in cultivat-
ed ground have darker and more Wig
orous foliage than those in sod ground,
with less following, dropping OF leaves
or willing in hot, windy days. Apples
averaged fourteen per cent greater
weight on cultivated than on pasture
land, and II per. cent greater than on
moved land. AS to moisture, for every
100 barrels OF water in twenty inches
depth of soil or sod land, there were 140
in cultivated land. Evaporation, as
anyone might suppose, was found pro-
portionate to the velocity Of wind.
Apples in Missouri. Missouri
is claiming to be formidable rival to
the best known apple growing states.
Apples are surer growth in Missouri
than in either New York or Michigan
because Of the milder climate, it is
asserted. In the Ozark country the Gro,
has failed only three times in the pas
twenty-five years. This year Missouri
alone will furnish from Sl2 100000 to
$15,O00,000 worth. Orchards of hun
dreds OF acres are no great novelty in
the prolific Ozark country. Ex-Secretary
OF Agriculture Norman j. Colman has
5000 pear trees and 1000 apple trees,
the latter bending under the heaviest
yield they have ever borne.-Ex.