Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-08-19

SICK hens and sick sheep are best |
killed as soon as possible, and we are
inclined to put the sick hog with them
also.
"More and better work and less
land" is the motto which should be
hung up in one-half of the farm homes
of the country.
Orchard cultivation after the list of
July should be avoided as it tends to
induce growth of wood which cannot
fully mature before winter
What food thirty sheep will eat on
the average farm would largely be 9TH
erwise wasted. The only trouble about
keeping them is the question of fenc.
ing.
We know of young fellow in the
country who has rugged up his harness
with as many as forty rings. and he
can get all the girls he wants to go
riding with him.
The state of New York has placed
ban upon the shooting Of live pigeons
by the sportsmen's tournaments, some
thing which will meet with the ap-
prevail Of all humane people.
The strikes among the different
branches Of federated labor are almost
wholly an effort to restore reasonable /
balance between the wage of the la.
borer and the increased cost of living.
Yes, we would salt all the hay which
we put in the NOV Of the barn. 1t |
makes the hay more palatable and
tends to check excessive fermentation.
A half peck of salt to the ton is about |
right.
1t takes robin and, in fact, most |
other birds which build any sort of
substantial nest about three days to |
do the work. A sparrow will build
nest in twenty-four hours and have
an egg in 1t.
A two pound spring chicken will
bring the grower at least 80 cents, and
If kept until it wears spurs and a red |
comb in November it will not bring as
much money. The good die young in
the case of roosters.
OF the starch produced in this coun-
try 80 per cent is made from corn. a |
little is made from potatoes, but unless |
they can be secured at less than 20 |
cents per bushel they are not avail
able for this purpose.
In no other country does modern |
machinery cut such a figure in the |
production of farm crops as in the |
United States. With this machinery |
one man is enabled to accomplish as
much work as ten men in many of the |
old countries.
With seven dollar hogs in sight and |
big crop Of both pigs and corn al
most assured, an outbreak Of cholera
may be reasonably looked for, for the
young pigs will be stuffed with new
corn to get them on the market as
soon as possible, and somehow that al
ways makes trouble.
The best preventive Of the cabbage
worm pest is to plant very early or
very late. The early cabbage can be
matured by the LIST of July and the
late ones planted during the last half
of July, which enables the plants to
dodge the period when the cabbage |
butterfly does the most mischief.
Normally wet and undrained lands |
should not be cropped, but should be
kept in grass. either pasture or mead
ow. Thousands of acres of choice
land in the west will be utterly unpro-
ductive this year because of the fail |
IRE to observe this fact the cultivated |
crops upon them being simply drowned !
out.
The question is pertinently asked |
why dog should be free commoner
more than cow, a horse or hog. |
Many dog allowed to run at large will |
do more damage than ever could a
three-year- steer in the corn. Dogs |
may be very easily trained to attend to |
their proper business, and man who |
does not know enough to so train his |
dog has no business to have one.
If we were young man just starting
on stock farm and had only $500 to |
Invest in stock as a starter, we had |
rather put the money into Gve head of
well bred and registered heifers than
into twenty twenty-five dollar scrub
cows. The first three years the scrub ,
animals might make US the most mon
ey, but at the end of that time they
would not be in it at all with the thor
oughbreds. -,