Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-09-15
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The Stock1nan's Column
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Pooling the Rats.


One of the worst enemies of little chick
ems is rats. 1t is sometimes not safe to put
out poison and in that case one must re-
sort to strategy to crcumvent them. One
way Is to take the lard can or some other
vessel with perpendicular sides and fill it
about half full of chaff or oats, scattering
bits of cheese and other things dear to the
heart of the rats among it. The rats will
soon find 1t and will make 1t their regular
eating place. After they have become ac-
customed to resorting to the can for their
meals remove the chaff and substitute wa
ter, filling the can to the same depth as
the chan was and scatter chaff over the
surface of the water until it seems n solid
mass. The unsuspicious rat comes for his
usual luncheon, jumps down. tries to get
out, sQueals: others hearing him will think
he is enjoying n feast and will jump in
and the whole party is drowned.
Vegetable lnsecticde.
Many people are preiudiced against the
use of the various poisonous mixtures for
destroying insects on vegetable and other
plants. To this class of people is recon-
mended trial of boiling the leaves and
stems of the tomato until all the juice is
extracted from them, Strain the leaves
and stems out and when the liquid Is cold,
spray or sprinkle 1t over the plants tnfest-
ed With insects, taking care to thoroughly
harmless and there Is no danger of apply
ing too much, as is often the case with
many of the poisonous mixtures. We have
seen this decoction applied with good effect
where the plants were infested with cater
pillars, black and green flies. gnats and
the several species of lice that prey upon
Young plants 1t destroys the insects that
it touches, and the odor of 1t prevents
others from attacking the plants. This ap-
plication has the merit of cheapness and
ease of preparation and is worthy of a
trial.
condemning the Commission Man.
Communications in the columns of the
agricultural and horticultural press con-
denlning commission merchants are very
common In many instances the commits
sion merchant Is blamed for unsatisfactory
returns, when in fact the fault lay with
the shipper. The commission man cannot
sell poor goods for good prices, nor can he
sell fairly good stuff for its true value If 1t
arrives improperly packed and in an I'M
slightly condition. Neither can he control
the weather conditions nor the fluctuations
of the market. and if carload of fruit or
other perishable commodities should ar
rive when the market was glutted, or on
n Saturday night, he must sell 1t for what
ever he can get. But IL, on the other hand,
the shipper will consult his commission
man, even going to the expense of using
the telegraph and learning the condition
Of the market before forwarding his pro-
duce, he will stand better chance of mar
keting his stun at profitable prices. An
other thing should always be borne in
mind, and that is that it is the best grade
of any product raised ON rhe farm that is
shipped with the best profit, and that
freight charges on ancient eggs. rancid but
ter and wormy, knotty fruit and wilter
berries are as much as If 1t was of the
best quality. The produce, whether fruit.
poultry or what not, should be. graded
fairly and honestly, so that the article in
the middle of the barrel or box is as good
as that In the top or bottom Goods pack
ed neatly in clean packages, so that they
will be attractive to the buyer, are half
sold If you have good commission man
do not abandon him for light or trivial
causes and experiment with another, as,
in nine cases ont of ten, the change will
be disappointing.
Destroying cutWorms.
AS soon as the cabbage, tomato and other
plants are set out the cutworm will begin
to feed on them, If the garden Is infested
with that pest. 1t is a great disappoint-
ment to go out of morning and find that
lAe worm has destroyed fine bed of thrift
ty plants The cutworm always does Its
damage after night, and lis fact can be
taken advantage of to destroy them. Take
lantern and go through THE plat where
the plants are set Have a :ttring to your
lantern so that you can hold 1t near the
kplant without being competed to stoop.
The pest can be easily discovered in this
manner and gathered into vessel and
burned. A few treatments like this will
effectually rid the garden of them. A good
method of preventing them from cutting
down the young plants is to gather up a
number of old tomato or other cans and
melt the ends off and press them down
into the soil half tehir length around the
plant. Screen wire may be used for pro-
lection also by cutting it into strips Of a
suitable size and placing around the plants
and the ends fastened.
Currant Enemies.
The curfant Is a standard garden fruit
ana is one that will not succumb to adj
verse climatic and weather conditions to
as great extent as otheR fruits. In late
years 1t has been subjected to the destruct.
I've ravages of several pRect enemies, sew.
cral of which are dificttlt to cope with
The currant is one of the bush fruits which
the San Jose scale works on. If the bushes
are very badly infested, the best procedure
is to cut them off even with the ground
and spray the stubs with bordeaux mix
ture, If only sighted affected, a 25 per
cent emulsion of KEROSENE will destroy It,
The common currant worm which DESTROYS
the foliage Of the bushes aan he axtermin-