Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1901-07-04

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Illustrating railway methods in Eng
land as compared with those in this
country, we note that the freight trains
on the London & Northwestern rail-
way one of the big roads of England,
only haul on an average So tons, while
the freight trains on the Pennsylvania
railway in this country average $50
tons as a trainload.
The old Bohemian oats swindle,
which was one of the longest lived and
most successful fakes with which the
farmers of the country were ever work
ed. has died a natural death at last, and
we hear no more of IL. The ancient
lightning rod swindle still lives and
will live we suppose, so long as we
have thunderstorms.
A newspaper man once essayed to
write an agricultural item and said,
having in mind the Darwinian theory,
that, If the farmers persisted in remov-
ing the horns from their cattle In the
course of time all cattle would be born
without horns. He was embarrassed
when we asked him if he had ever seen
a calf born with horns.
We noticed a late Chicago quotation
of - cents for packing butter and 20
cents for creamery extras-a difference
of cents per pound. Just why there
should be any packing house butter at
all is one of the unsolvable dairy prob
lens All enterprising agricultural
communities have quit making II cent
packing butter.
| The rose-breasted grosbeak has a
wonderful liking for peas, sort of de-
PRAYED appetite in this direction. Not
content with stripping the peas from
/ the pods when they become large
enough to eat, he likes to nip the tender
shoots from the vines just about as
soon as they appear above the ground.
This is a trait peculiar to this bird
alone
| We notice that cows which have
supply of rock salt in the pasture APP
pear to be Just greedy for a handful
of barrel salt as though they did not
! have access TO the rock salt. Try and
see if il works that way with you IL
this is a fact, it suggests that the dairy
COW should be supplied with larger
ration of salt than she gets in the pas
ture
In France the vineyardists are using
cannon to keep off untimely frosts and
dispense and break up threatening hail
storms, while in Algeria the firing OF
cannon is used successfully to scatter
the swans of grasshoppers. This is a
modern paraphrase Of the old prophecy
that the sword shall be turned into
plowshares and the spears into pruning
hooks"
We saw a man with a load OF shelled
corn. the other day, which he had haul
ed into market from his farm. He had
scattered about three bushels OF corn
ON the highway between his home and
the depot, all for want Of a cloth to COW
err a crack under the end board of his
wagon box. We knew a man who had
stolen load of wheat to be trailcd and
caught by just such trick
We turned over some blue grass sod
a short time ago which had not been
disturbed for years. Inside of ten days
we found squrreltail grass, pigweed,
foxtail, purslane and other weeds grow
ing upon the surface of the inverted
sod. Where had those seeds been all
these years, and why had they not ger
minated before? Is any one wise
enough to answer this question ? We
are not.
In the sharp competition between the
waterway and the railway for the
freight traffic OF the country the water
way is getting the worst of it. I'm
provements yet to be made In railway
transportation will still further reduce
the cost OF carriage, and the vast sums
being spent by the general government
in the attempt to make the rivers OF
the country navigable is likely to be
money thrown away.
Instinct VS.. Intelligence.
There are not a few men working
farms in this country who would make
a good trade if they could exchange a
little of their human intelligence for a
like amount Of animal instinct. The
instinct OF animals and birds leads
them to cooperate for mutual protec-
ton; il teaches them never to make
war ON each other: to provide in sum
m,r the food which will be needed in
winter or migrate at the proper sea-
son. This same instinct is a sure in
dicator of changing weather, of COM
ing storm frost and flood. 1t further
makes them true to their mates, kir |
and consderate to their progeny, anC,
to very large extent unselfish in their
treatment of their kind. Human intel
ligence while rated as Of a higher or
der of development than animal in
stinct, still lamentably fails to insure
in many of its possessors the good quail
ities above enumerated.
Stock and the New Farm.
The point should be remembered by
any man opening up farm in new
region at all remote from market that
he will make Roadway very much fast
er by keeping stock of some sort than
he will by trying to raise grain to sell.
In the newly-opened sections pasturage
and meadow land are very abundant
We recall the case of an old fellow who
80 years ago located on the Minnesota
prairios. All his neighbors went to
raising wheat to sell. which they had
60 haul 10 miles To market He broke
up only Just enough OF his farm to pro-
duco what grain he needed and devoted
all his time 20 the care ~ cattle, which
buyers took at his door. The result
was that he made 81 where