Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-04-04

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80 III. sgO
The farm separator and the skimmilk
calf make whole team. y is the best
dairy combination yet invented.
Make a note of it that another Dane
wins first prize on best butter at the
late national dairy convention held at
st. Paul.
A mixture of one-third gumbo and
fwo-thirds gravel makes very excel
lent prairie road, one fully as good as
though it were all gravel.
1t is said correctly that eating
onions will promote sleep, but they do
not always work that way where there
are two persons in one bed.
There is this to be said for the China
man: He never lets weeds grow in any
crop which he raises, even if he has to
work Sundays to pull them.
Every farmer owning good fertile
acres is the possessor Of gold mine
which he can work without fear of
being assessed for operating expenses.
If the finG buildings on WORKOUT
eastern farms could be exchanged for
their value in good western soil. both
The east and the west would be bene-
flied.
The moon is to be credited with fur
nishing man with about 500 hours of
moonlight each year. There is a good
deal Of sentiment and cussedness de-
veloped during these 500 hours each
year.
We lately measured white ash tree
20 years planted which was 16 inches
in diameter two feet from the ground.
and balm of Gilead tree 30 years
planted which was 81 inches in di-
ameter.
No one thing is palmer than this
men owning good farm lands had much
better hang on to them than let go of
them. Such lands are the safest and
best investment for money there is to
be found today.
The first of our northern birds to nest
in the spring. always excepting the
English sparrow. is the road lark. We
have found its nests. with young birds
In them. when the snowdrifts We're still
piled up in the highways.
We are asked by a young reader why
1t is that the birds which migrate to
the south to spend the winter do not
breed there. where it is summer time
all winter long. No one can tell. They
might, but they don't. We are glad
that they don't.
The legislature of the state of Mime
sofa is discussing the matter of re-
strictiye measures to prevent the
spread of the oxeye daisy in that state.
The west is greatly indebted to the east
for many good things but the Canada
thistle and the daisy are not among
them.
The first work on agriculture ever
written admonishes the farmer thus:
In the morning sow thy seed and at
evening withhold not thy hand.'
Which, being given twentieth century
application, refers to the sowing of clo-
yer with all small grain wherever clio
yer will grow.
A fat brown bean is used extensively
In England as food for horses. 1t is
ground into meal and fed with oat
chaf and makes e very nourishing ra-
ton. This bean is an upright growing
variety and is easily cared for as a
field crop We have never seen it tried
in teis country.
An acre of Jack oak can be cut over
about Once every % years and 40 cords
of four foot wood obtained therefrom.
AS this wood would be worth not to ex-
coed 800 in the tree it is easy to see
that it does not pay TO grow this sort
of timber as an investment on any
good arabic hand.
Times are no better for the poor man
than they used to be. The Romans
used to lease land on share rent, the
landlord being satisfied with one-tenth
of the crop of all cereals and one-fifth
Ofthe product of the orchards and vine
yards. Now he demands and gets
from two-fiftns to one-halt.
Frosts. especially early spring frosts,
are, great pulverizers of refractory
soils, beating any tool yet invented
for this purpose. Soil thus commin-
uted and pulverized liberates plant
food. and this explains why fall plow-
ing Of the land will in most cases pro-
duce better crops than land plowed in
the spring.
The right time to buy is when every
body wants to sell, but few do SO. Once
in awhile some wise man will act upon
this theory and always makes money.
IA safe rule to be governed by is this: