Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-08-26

| The; attempts at.skunk farming have
all proved failures.
1t is miserable alternative when a
farmer 10 forced to take tramp help or
60 without.
When three-months.ol calf will
bring $50 for veal it helps out the
dairy business. ~
Alfalfa furnishes lots Of food for the
bees, In which respect 1t is far ahead
OF red clover, whose nectar can only
be reached by the bumblebee.
Marching off a, lot of hoboes at the
muzzle of shotguns to the harvest
fields to work was one Of the funny
harvest season freaks of Kansas this
year.. s.
No state in the Union is coming to
the front with larger or better crops
this yeax than Nebraska. This years
crop win be worth as much as the
land which produced it through much
Of the state this year.
The farmers telephone lines in
western state did much to bring to IN
abrupt ending the late attempted cor.
ner in corn IN Chicago. Every man
holding any corn Of the contract grade
was reached in hurry by the tele-
phone.
1t means, either tile draining or seed
ing down for lots of land all through
the prairie sections. the excessive rains
Of the summer having completely ruined
the growing crop upon all lands which
were originally sloughs. basins and
marshes.
We noticed a row Of dewberries nice
" trained up on low wire fence the
other day and readily saw that this
methed removed one Of the great OBJ
jections connected with this fru4t-the
gathering of the berries with the vines
sDrawling all over the ground.
|
a permanent drought seems to have
settled down upon all that part Of In
terror Australia which has heretofore
been great pastoral country. The
sheep and rabbits, combined with the
lack Of rain, have ruined the country,
and the stock losses have been enor-
NOUS.
True that the rain falls unon the
Just and the unjust alike. but this year,
when the just man on the river bot
tom got his share and then all that
fell on the unjust mans place on the
hill above him to boot, the theological
equity Of the old saying was knocked
into d cooked hat.
Riding across the country lately dur
Ing Severe storm, we noticed that
In nearly. every pasture where stock
was kept the cattle ell punched near
to, the feneta which, being of.wire, ex-
planned why so much stock is killed by
lightning where the fence wires are
not properly grounded.
We just remark that good. old fash
toned oatmeal, properly cooked, still
holds flret place with us in competi-
ton With all the newfangled germ and
matted cereal foods with which the
country Is flooded. The canny Scots
man Is said to be the legitimate prod.
net Of oatmeal and the Shorter Cate
chiBm.
Some men-a good many-make the
mistake Of sowing too large field Of
rape for the stock which they wish to
eat 1t. Rape needs feeding OF close,
when the new growth Will give all
through the season young and tender
foliage. When allowed to grow, it
soon becomes strong, tough and un-
palatable.
| The question Of saving the corn fod-
der will soon be up. The value Of this
fodder has been demonstrated the past
winter as never before, and, while hay
the country over will be more plentiful
and much cheaper than year ago, the
corn fodder will still be saved, for
when well cured 1t is. the best fodder
produced on the farm.
! The elderly man:who is bothered to
know just where to place some of his
money for investment would do good
thing to hunt cut some deserving and
poor young man and help him on his
feet. In nost cases such investments
would not only be profitable In a finan.
cial way, but much satisfaction would
result from the doing Of such gener-
Gus act
We have known man owning ten
thousand dollar farm to kick because
he had to pay an annual tax of $45 on
it This man should 60 to Bulgaria,