Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-07-07

The most beautiful trees in the city
of Washington are the elms. These
are closely followed by the chestnut.
Taking a general average of values
for farm products, wheat is not worth
a dollar a bushel. Seventy-five cents
would be nearer the mark.
We saw a man the other day down
east blowing under a very fair crop of
rye well headed out. Land must be
mighty poor which requires such treat
ment.
A ten horse power traction automo-
bile to take the place of, the farm horse
for all classes of farm work is a COM
ing and marked Improvement in the
near future.
A hog belonging to farmer down in
Maine ate up a box which contained
$3.50, and it was regarded as a calam-
ity. Out in Iowa nothing is thought of
a farmer putting $500 into hog.
We note four things which are COM
mon to all sections of the country,
whether north or south-the box elder
tree, the Virginia creeper, the fool girl
hanging around the depot and the
beer keg.
Crops which may be planted as late
as July 1 are buckwheat, millet, tur-
nips and corn for fodder. If the land
cannot be planted to something by
that time pillow it and fit it for great
crop next year.
Men who try to raise corn along the
northern limit of the corn belt should
remember that they are better off with.
forty bushels an acre Of good, sound,
well matured early corn than they are
with fifty bushels of soft late corn.
OF all the improved breeds of cattle
the Jersey has become the most gem
orally introduced in this country. It
matters not whether one goes north,
south, east or west, wherever cows are
kept there will the Jersey be found.
We watched the birds as they for
aged on our lawn one day recently. In
side of twenty minutes four blue jays,
three robins, two sparrows and three
tiickers went over it hunting for grubs,
and they each seemed to get something
too
We never saw outside Of an English
park fairer bit of rural landscape
than we saw recently near Joliet, Ill
large pastures of the most velvety blue
grass dotted over with thrifty bur
oaks-a fit subject for a painters
brush.
A German professor, confound him,
has now knocked out all the delightful
romance anc sentiment connected with
the sweet girl and the four leafed clio
yer, for he has bred and developed a
clover which always produces either
four or five leaves instead Of three.
We think that it would be a good
plan for the supervisors Of each coun-
y to have built one-half mile at least
IF good mud proof highway, using such
material as is available. 1t would de-
termine the cost Of such construction
In any given community and prove.
valuable object lesson.
Nearly all forms of plant life have
natural tendency to group themselves,
Just as men Of different nationalities
10. This is especially noticeable among
all forms of wild vegetation along the
rights Of way Of our railways groups
Of wild roses, asters, sunf1owers, sweet
clover and even the grasses.
In the last week In May while the
west and southwest were deluged with
floods such as have not been known for
sixty years the authorities in Cana
dian town were firing cannon to see if
they could not coax little water from
the rainless clouds. Great country.
Get anything you want if you will
only go after it.
A quaint sight to western man are
the many old covered wooden bridges
which span the rivers of Virginia and
Pennsylvania. type of bridge which
because of the force of the winds
would not be possible in the west.
Many of these bridges are very old,
the covering rendering them practical
" 'indestructible.
We noted a small cornfield down in
West Virginia lately which was strung
all over with white cord attached to
stakes about four feet from the ground.
We inferred that it was done for the
purpose Of keeping the birds from pull
Ing up the corn. AS we looked at it
we wondered how an Illinois or Iowa
corn raiser would like to do this for a