Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-06-13
FARMS IRE 100 NET
Rural Solicitor Finds Fields in
Bad Condition--.Farmers 70.
operating Work.
Wonders Why So Many Dogs
and Cats Are Kept on
the Farms.
Finds Very Little Use for Either
1.-The Canary Bird in
Hotels.
special to Times-Republican.

EtSpecial to mes-Repubican.
Dysart, June 13.-The crops nave
now reached the stage at which the
care in the selecting of seed begins to
show. Too little attention by the aver
age farmer is paid to the choice OF ms
! seed-many a man simply goes to his
cats bin at seeding time and shoVels out
his oats and puts them in the ground
taking with it the mustard seed, weed
seed and other seeds | have seen many
4 field so yellow with the mustard bios
SONS that the oats are hard to discov-
er. While the man who is careful IN
his selection finds his fields are reason
ably clean.
The late and persistent rains have
gut the corn crop in bad shape. Ihey
have washed it badly and the weeds are
so thick that the corn rows are scarce
iy visible the ground being so wet that
it is simply impossible to get into it.
A drive thru the country will find the
farmers sitting around the house read
ing the daily paper or in town stocking
up his larder, preparing for some good,
hard work when the weather Will let
him into his fields. 1 found one place
where five farmers We're ploWlng IN
one mans piece of sod corn which was
comparatively high and dry. Upon in
vestigation / found that b.~Gsing the
telephone they had all arranged to CO.
operate and pillow their fields together.
working the dry ones first. This sys-
tenn will soon solve the deficiency of
hired help.
One thing have noticed is the local
izing of the sheep farming industry.
some counties going into it on a large
scale, while in other counties sheep If
seen is simply pet. In Mahaska coun-
ty nearly every farmer keeps good
bunch of sheep and in talking with
many of them l am told that there Is
nothing that can be raised SO cheaply
or SO profitably as sheep. 1t costs no
more to raise sheep than it does q
goose. A sheep will pick living and
grow fat where cattle will starve to
death. Another thing about the sheep
that has been discussed is whether it
drinks water or not. One man said that
there was stream and that it ran dry
and must have been dry two weeks be-
fore, he noticed it, and further says that
sheep can live on the moisture they OBJ
tain from the grass they eat without
other water. Another man said that he
had a hundred sheep and that at the
tank where they came to drink it was
necessary to fill it with a hundred gall
Ions each day or SO; that each sheep
would drink gallon of water a day. |
asked him If a sheep could not get
along without water and he said he
could, but would do better by having
good cool water when he wanted it. As
to the cost of keeping sheep, this man
said that he always kept hundred
head and that the wool and increase
paid the cost and that the matured
sheep was all profit Except in the
lambing season they We're no care at
all. 1t is wonder that more farmers
don't raise sheep, if only few.
Why do farmers keep so many dogs
on the farm? is question that always
puzzles me- You will always find from
one to half a dozen dogs about every
place, and only occasionally will YOU
find one that has got the sand to come
out and bite you. Most of them prefer
to stay under the porch and bark.
Since the Inauguration of woven-wire
fences on farms dogs have lost more or
less of their usefulness. A few are ed
ucated enough TO know why they live
but only few but 1 suppose dogs are
kept in the country as in town. simply
because they are dogs. Some dogs,
however. seem to know enough to obey
orders. The other day l saw a farmer
say to his deg: Jim. that old SOW is in
the clover again." and away went the
dog. There was a rustic and squeal,
when Jim appeared leading the SOW by
the ear. Another dog l saw lying by
the roadside. by railroad crossing
His owner told me that he allowed his
cattle to feed on the roads and the dos
would not let them stray on the track.
Dogs If used for such purposes or to OPP
crate cream separator, sheep shear
ing machines, ETC., might become use
full. but the little Xxi vi" who knows
nothing but to run out and bark at
your team or snap at your legs would
be a better dog if dead.
I also find from ten to twenty cats
around the farm. but they serve useful
purposes in many ways. They protect
the young chickens for their own con-
sumption; also give the dogs exercise
occasionally, when there are no teams
going by to chase. There is one de-
partment of the home zoo that has
has no use for the canary bird. In
nearly every hotel at which / stop
hangs q cage containing a pair of these
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