Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-10-14

People are being compelled to study
simplicity in the matter of living
whether they wish so to live OF not.
1t is getting to be impossible to secure
the help in the home which is absolute
ly Indispensable to the putting on of
any style.
Much is being written of the agricul-
turai possibilities of Alaska, but if
farming is ever carried on there there
will have to be different rule for the
hired man as to his hours of work
From sunup to shutdown would mean
about twenty-four hours up there.
There is a good deal in the papers
about ginseng and the great profits
connected with growing this plant. 1t
is, however, very infant industry, as
there are less than twenty-five acres of
ginseng all told in this country, half Of
which is found in two counties in the
state Of New York
The increasing use Of machinery on
| the farm has of course increased the
number of accidents happening to the
men who operate it, but after all we
have noted that more men have been
killed this year by sliding off from
loads of hay and grain on to pitchforks
than i'll any other way.
| 1t is no snail thing in his favor that
the farmer never has to sell his produce
on tick or keep book accounts or dun
OF sue people. He just expects and
gets the cash for ali he has to sell,
while the merchant has to charge things
and carry line of credit which often
amounts to as much as his capital
| stock
| Tie travelling public will have to
reckon with the automobile as horse
scarer all over the country. These ma
chimes are going to come into general
use and before five years will be so re-
duced in price that common people
who can afford to keep horse will
have them. The average horse is very
much afraid of them.
The buffalo grass and the blue Joint
grass, the two principal native grasses
of the western prairies, have never, so
| far as we know, been successfully
propagated from seed upon land which
has been under cultivation. Like other
wild things, they shun civilization and
disappear with the Indian, buffalo, coy
Ote and rattlesnake
The localities where the biggest crops
| of corn We're raised during the late
\ census year. taking an average yield
for whole county, We're two counties
in Illinois, three in Indiana and one in
pennsylvania, the average yield for
the five counties being over fifty-two
bushels per acre. Upton county, Ind,
leading with 53.7 bushels per acre.
| Best beefsteak is quoted at "A cents
pound in the city of Berlin, the same
kind which is obtainable i'll this coun-
| try for 20 cents. Other meats are also
scarce and high priced. 1t seems queer
that for the benefit of the few stock
| raisers in that country the government
| should see fit to bar out the cheap
| meat products of this and other coun-
| tries.
Nineteen hundred and two has been
a sort of freak season. We have noted
more abnormal growths among fruits,
grains and vegetables than we ever did
| before. Potatoes appeared in large
noduleS on the vines, corn grew unusu-
ally tall and set from two to four ears
ON stalk, cabbage and celery have
| gone to seed the first season, while
Strawberries and raspberries set sec
ond crop Of fruit.
A farmer friend of ours after thirty
| years spent in peace and quiet on his
| farm, having retired to live in town,
| thought he would take an active inter-
| est in politics this fall and so came up
as candidate for an Office He tells
us that Willie he knew there was a
good deal of meanness in men he still
had no idea of the depth of their total
| depravity until he got into politics. He
says he can hardly now trust his best
friends.
There are two things about which
nothing bad is ever said-the bronze
grass and alfalfa. The former is of al
| most inestimable value to all that
large territory where timothy and the
cloyers will not do well for lack of suf-
ticient moisture, while alfalfa is PROV
ing the redeemer OF a principally of
heretofore worthless lands in the west.
| No fact Is better proved than this