Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-06-24
Woodchucks, crows, skunks and spar
rows increase in number as the country
becomes more thickly settled.

Woodchucks, crows, skunks and spar
rows increase in number as the country
becomes more thickly settled.
1t takes just as much of the fertility
of the soil to grow and mature ID lot of
weeds as it does to grow a, crop Of use
full vegetables or grain.
The crops of dry season when rot
too dry are always far more satisfacto
ry than those Of moderately wet sea
son, quality better, less waste in har
vesting.
The enormous crops of Strawberries
raised in North Carolina on the coast
have extended the season of cheap
Strawberries for all the large northern
cities nearly one month.
The specific gravity of wood varies
more than one would think, cubic
foot of white cedar weighing only
twenty-eight pounds when dry and a
cubic foot Of lignum vitae 1914 pounds
One of the most profitable industries
Of the western farm today is the grow
ing of hogs. A ten-month-old pig
which now sells for over $40 will moi
cost the producer over $40, if it does
that.
The actual losses sustained on any
farm where colts are raised by turning
them into the pasture fenced will
barbed wire will amount in two year.
to more than enough to fence the pas
ture with woven wire.
We never could see why it is that the
blackberry will grow wild where it is
not wanted and will not grow and dc
well when one tries to make it grow ii
the garden. The blackberry has {
good deal Of meanness about it any
how.
Dry seasons and scant crops result
in the storing of much plant food ii
the fields ready for use when the rain.
come and make the crop. All the S,
called waste arid lands Of the west ar.
very rich in stores of plant food AM
only need water supply to max,
them very productive.
The average cost in the state Of Hi
nois Of raising bushel of corn a,
determined from an exhaustive line o,
experiments was found to be 16 cents
When corn thus raised commands 81
cents bushel, it is easy to see VIII,
good corn land N that state readily
sells for 500 per acre and upward.
Fifty cents worth of rape seed sow
with the acre of barley will furnish
nearly three months feed for and fat
ten for market ten medium sized sheep
OF it will keep ten shotes nicely fol
three months. One thus gets tive
crops in one year and finely fertilizel
the land for next seasons crops be
sides.
1t looks to us to be pretty meal
sort Of thing to give sitting heI
goose eggs to hatch. If old Biddy ha
any feelings at all, how must she re
gard the fraud practiced upon her a
she tries to feed and train the ungainl,
gosiings? Any self respecting hen /
justified in striking under such cir
cumstances. Duck eggs are bad enough
A very few years ago the stock grow
ers were bowling about the meat trus
and wanted an official investigation
because prices were so low. Now tn
stock grower is very quiet, while thu
consumer is roaring at the prices h;
must pay for his sirloin steak. Th
law of supply and demand in it's silen
and irresistible work never pleases al
classes.
A friend of ours who has quite /.
large grove of matured red cedar tree,
derives considerable, income every
spring by selling the little cedar tree
which come up by the hundreds in hi
timber lot, the cedar seeds being car
ried there by the birds and Anding un
der the shade of these deciduous tree,
just exactly the best conditions fol
termination and development.
The west had to take care of nearl,
a foot of water on the level. during tn
month of May. There was genera
filling up of rivers, lakes, wells, els
terms, springs, swamps, such an al
round. soaking up as the territory GOV
cred has not experienced for years. Al
a timely agricultural topic, ditchinl
and drainage have crowded that Of
conserving soil moisture to the rear.
A cyclonic storm in early May sweep
into its folds host Of migrating bird.
during the night, and they were blown
hither and thither against buildings
wires and fences and were picked W
by the hundred the. next morning