Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-02-20

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A coPYfi9ht, a8oabylE1 III
~ sL S!IRlGQ. Rockford y ia.
E aa1llI EFsa5 u h g2e Hs!az S0Lld PIED
The neatly built stack or the now
full Of nice shredded corn fodder has
this year become common thing all
through the corn belt.
1t is pretty well settled that corn
planted on fall blowing will ripen from
week to ten days earlier than when
planted on spring blowing.
II costs $50 a year more to live than
1t did five years ago. If you have not
had your wages raised this much in
that time. you are worse off than you
were then, Better attend to this right
away and strike the old man for a
raise.
Late rulings of the postoff1ce depart
ment shut out the circulation of fake
weather forecasts from the privileges
Of second class matter, and as a result
the country at large is benefited. We
shall have just the same kind of wealth
er as before, but the government will
not be the agent whereby the fakir is
able to catch and swallow the sucker.
Ii you wish to destroy the grove
around your homestead and the fruit
trees in your orchard, turn the stock
loose ana let them have the run of
grove and orchard. You may charge
the death Of the trees up to borers,
drought or Providence, just as you
please, but the truth is that you killed
the trees the day you turned the stock
in.
For ON all round primary school you
can't beat the little country school
house. ten or more little folk and a
sweet little woman to teach them. Ev-
cry child may represent separate
class, but that doesn't matter. Each
child has the patient, careful aid in it's
studies which is SO largely denied it
when attending the larger and graded
school.
It beats all how much annoyance
and vexation can be worked up out of
the everyday work OF life if one is al
ways looking for trouble and bound to
find it. And, inverting this statement,
1t also beats all how cheerful and
hopeful way Of looking at life and it's
work will checkmate trouble gnd make
life worth living. We always feel sor-
ry for that person who is born with the
corners Of his mouth turned down.
The persistent boring for oil in SO
many sections in the arid west is de-
veloping what may prove to be worth
far more than oil-viz, most valuable
supplies Of artesian water Millions of
acres Of the farfamed Sahara desert
In Africa have been redeemed by the
discovery Of these artesian supplies of
water, ana millions more will be re-
claimed from the equally desert areas
of this country in the same manner.
A breeder of the Polled Angus cattle
In central Iowa told US the other day
that he can produce on his farm one
year with another a twelve hundred
pound Angus steer for each four acres
of his farm. This finished steer is
worth one year with another about
$50, which gives him an income of $50
per acre for his land. 1t should be said
that the use of the farm for this pur-
pose has brought the soil up to most
productive condition.
We know Of farm whose productive
power has been fully doubled inside of
fifteen years by keeping on it as much
stock as it would carry and consum-
ing all the products Of the farm upon
the farm. The same thing may be done
with thousands Of other farms, and it
matters little whether it is stocked
with sheep dairy of cows or devoted
to the production Of beef. 1t cannot be
done SO well with hogs, as the hog is
very poor distributor Of fertility.
We lately exhibited at farm insti-
tute sirloin steak cut from we'll
bred Shorthorn heifer twenty eight
months old and similar steak cut the
same thickness from exactly the same
part of common heller equally fat
and Of the same age. The Shorthorn
steak weighed three pounds and that
Of the other animal only pound and
half. 1t is right here where the well
bred beef animal gets in its work-no
more hide, not so much rough tallow,
but much greater weight Of meat in
all the choice cuts.
The farmer of the northwest has long
regarded his fur coat as an indispensa-
BILE part of his winter equipment, but
hot until lately have we ever seen what
should long ago have been as common
as the fur coat for the man-viz, a long
cut, well fitting fur Jacket for his wife.
The one we saw was made of coonskin,
had high collar and was one Of the
most comfortable and appropriate win
ter wraps for q woman that could be