Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-06-06

a certain railway company OF q
Western state is fortunate enough to
wn o gravel pit where the gravel is
t such a make up and texture that
When it is used for ballastins the road
'ed it gradually settles into an almost
old cement, making the most perfect
atural material we have ever seen for
his sort Of work.
Fourteen million three hundred and
twenty-five thousand hogs were sold
md slaughtered in the packing house
markets between the list of March and
he 1st Of November last year. Allow
ng 20 hogs to occupy one square rod
4 ground. this total number would COW
r 4,477 acres. or % farms of 100 acres
ZACH. This is big lot Of grunt and
crease.
The man who owned good quarter
'ection farm in any Of the northwest
srn states during the past year has
made over $1,000 in the rise in the
'alue Of his farm. In very many cases
t has been more than this sum. Such
farm is still good proposition to
stay by. and many man selling out
1T the advanced prices is finding it q
hard job to better himself
We passed over four miles of graded
highway recently left SO full of holes
and ruts that it was almost impossible.
md we just wondered why the road
supervisor of that district did not have
sense enough to have run drag over
the road a couple of times. There is
no tool so effective for improving the
condition of our dirt highways as a
drag used ut the proper time.
six inches high. without top or bot
tom. covered with piece Of mosquito
netting. will protect the squashes, mel
ons and cucumbers Of any family gar
len from the striped bugs better than
It can be done in any other way. A
pane Of glass laid over these boxes will
be a great help to the young plants dur
ing the cool days of the early summer.
1t is rather discouraging to learn that
The man who made the prize tub of
butter exhibited at the National Dalry
association meeting at st. Paul was
fired by the board Of directors Of the
which he managed while he
was looking after his prize tub at the
convention. This would seem like base
lngratitude and strange lack of ap-
probation on the part Of the men who
employed him.
There are certain plants and grains
which IRE Of great value in the semi
arid section Of the country which real
ly have no place at all In all those sec
lions where the rainfall Is reliable and
plentiful, where clover, corn and blue
grass will grow. Among these may be
mentioned Kaffir corn, bronze grass
and speltz. Where they will grow there
is nothing on earth that will beat clo-
yer. corn and blue grass.
With the most abundant crop of cher
ries we ever saw set on the trees we
are right up against the problem of the
birds and the cherries. There are but
few cherries raised where the writer
lives. and we expect to have all the
birds we want about our place during
cherry time. We will protect some of
the trees with netting and divide with
the birds on the rest, for we will not
Shoot these our best friends.
1t is queer how the vendors of cor
tain patent medicines maintain their
hold on certain territory among the
farmers. OF course some Of the rene
dies sold are good-good as any-but
the fact remains that world Of good
money Is worse than thrown away in
doping up with patent medicines.
When your case is beyond the reach Of
starvation, hot water and YARDS. you
had better call in a skilled physician.
Instead of letting the rosebushes
grow straight up bend over the larger
canes and hold them down with a hook
ed peg of wood. When so treated, new
shoots will start from the whole length
of the cane, and it is on this new wood
that the flowers will be produced. Even
the hybrid. or June, roses. which bloom
but once during the season. treated in
this manner can be made to produce
flowers through much longer season.
We notice that the agricultural de-
partment is making special effort to
find new markets for our dairy prod
ucts. This move Is much to be COM
mended. but it Will prove almost use
less unless some method Of govern
ment inspection Of the butter and
cheese exported is rigidly enforced,
American dealers in dairy products not
being wise enough as yet to see that a
good name Is rather to be chosen than
great riches.
We passed by an abandoned cream.
cry the other day. The windows were
all broken, the doors hanging by one
hinge and the interior used only by the
bats and the sparrows. Thirty-five
hundred dollars was wasted in this
enterprise, and when we learned that