Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-02-17

The northwestern Greening apple re-
quires more pruning and more mois-
ture than any other apple we know of
suited to the northwest country.
The Illinois State Horticultural So
ciety gives it out authoritatively for
that state that the annual cultivation
of orchards and fall sown cover crop
give the best results.
A change of ration from cornstalks
and corn and oat ground feed ration
to alfalfa hay in place of the corn
stalks increased the milk yield of two
dairy cows SO fed two quarts each per
day.
The Chicago stocllyards during the
year 1902 handled cattle worth $780,
114,000, calves worth $1,14S,O0O, hogs
worth S126,345,000, sheep worth S19,.
10000 and horses worth $13,2GO,OOO, a
total of 1921 100000.
The exigencies of. the fuel situation
this winter in the east have resulted in
the destruction of many of the maple
sugar orchards of the New England
states, the fine old trees being cut down
for fuel. This is something greatly to
be regretted.
We are reliably informed that there
is German farmer living in central
Minnesota who has successfully grown
alfalfa for twenty-eight years. We are
going to look him up, for he knows
something that thousands of other men
ought to know.
1t is the English demand which
keeps the price Of beef up in this coun-
try. The barrier prohibiting the impor-
tation of beef cattle from Argentina is
still in force and compels England to
look to this country as its principal
source of supply.
One serious problem confronting the
range stock grower is the fact that as
yet no plant has been discovered to re-
place the native grasses destroyed by
overlooking. Nature resents the folly
of these men and gives them alone nox-
ious weeds to replace the grass.
We passed through a country COM
munity not long since where the barns
and houses were all painted a dirty
drab. We do not like it bit. While
this color might do for the house, the
old fashioned red for the barns and
outbuildings is in infinitely better taste.
Overbearing trees of any kind al
ways produce small and imperfect
fruit, besides unduly exhausting the
vitality of the tree. This fact empha-
sizes the need of judcious thinning of
the fruit at the proper time. The
Wealthy and the Longfeld apple and
most varieties of our common plums
are great sinners in this respect.
A lot of men have been feeding steers
this winter who had the idea that
about ten bushels of corn would fatten
the animal for market. When the ten
bushels were eaten up, they made the
discovery that the steer had only Just
got on to full feed and wanted sixty
bushels more. Their corn being gone,
fhlv LOT n Of l,,,t
with gain of much experience.
The officials controlling forestry in
Germany are importing American
white pine, spruce, black walnut and
black cherry trees to test their value
as forest trees for that country. These
men are wiser than the tariff officials,
who bar out hams, bacon and sausage
and force the common people to live on
horse meat. Good things come from
America no matter what they are.
Laying aside all the other advantages
which the silo may possess, it is as Il
crop saver that it stands out as one Of
the best institutions on the farm. Last
year at least one-half Of all the tmo-
thy and clover hay cut in the north
west was greatly injured if not abso-
lutely spoiled as result of the excess
i've rains. The same is true of much
of the corn fodder that was saved, the
waste being enormous and deplorable.
The silo enables man to secure his
crop of winter forage entirely indie
pendent of the weather, with no loss
whatever. This is fact worth consid-
ering.
There is good deal of justifiable
kicking in regard to the fuel question
this winter and not little annoyance
and distress resulting, yet we recall
other days, pioneer days on the from
tier, when the question of fuel supply
was no joke, when one had to drive
from five to ten miles across a track
less prairie to get load Of green wood
to burn and run the risk of blizzard
overtaking him before he could get
home. We recall one particular load of
wood which we tried to haul home I'M
der these conditions which tipped over
with us no less than six times in the