Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-08-04

-~~> eAAo
and is one useful and eminently prac-
teal invention which that country has
contributed to the progress Of the age.
Pedigree and individual merit must
ever be closely associated in the selec-
ton of breeding of any kind If the best
results are to be obtained Pedigree
without individual merit is expecting
too much of ancestry and the law of
heredity. Merit without pedigree is a
three card monte game.
If one has cut off timber lot which
has been used as pasture for two or
three years there is no way In which
to get rid OF the old stumps and grubs
SO cheaply and effectively as to use
traction engine. Two men and such an
engine will pull out surprising num-
Der of stumps in ten hours, and big
ones at that.
A lady friend who raises much poul-
try tells us that she has been bothered
this season very much with the crows
catching her young chickens. She lives
near some heavy timber in which the
crows nested, and these black pests
found out unfortunately for our
friend that young chicks were good
food for the young crows. ''d T s't,f
We note with disgust that every
plum out Of a crop Of at least three
bushels upon fine Russian plum-the
Blue Moldavka-has been stung by the
and not a matured plum will
we get this year. We rate this little
pest as one Of the meanest that we
have to deal with in the orchard, for it
cannot be reached by spraying.
Among the many pretty and attrac-
tive wild things for yard and lawn dec
Grafton we would mention the elder.
berry and the sumach. A clump Of
these shrubs in corner Of the lawn
will give nice effect all summer long,
particularly the sumach, the beauti-
fully colored foliage of which in the
fall is not excelled by any tree or plant.
For the many acres Of lowland upon
which no crop win be grown this year
no better way of handling can be found
than to pillow twice il possible before
the middle Of September, then sow to
rye and seed down with timothy.
These wet spots will always bother
unless they can be tiled and will be
more profitable in grass than any other
crop.
We notice that newly developed va
rieties of potatoes bloom very much
more freely than those OF the older and
established sorts. We have one va
riety this year, Pats Choice, which is
a yeritable posy bed, every hill car
rying from five to ten flower stems,
with large purple blossoms having yell
low centers. This would indicate to
us that such new variety possessed a
greater degree Of vigor than the older
kinds.
A few days ago we offered a poor
twelve-year-old boy a nickel to do a
little errand for us. He refused. An
other boy who was well cared for and
did not really need the money said he
would do the job and got the nickel.
The action Of these boys forecasted
their future careers. The first hoy will
naturally gravitate into the shiftless,
poverty stricken horde, like enough be-
come tramp or die in the poorhouse,
while the other boy by improving his
opportunities will fise and make his
mark in the world.
The food season Of 1903 in the west
has brought up the question Of land
drainage to such an extent that almost
every farm owner is more or less inter-
ested in it. Through much OF the wet
territory adequate systems of drainage
can only be secured by cooperative e.
fort. frequently including many farms.
There are difficulties in the way of
these cooperative drainage enterprises,
case in point being where one farmer
preferred to have a meadow on his
farm periodically overlooked because
he thereby obtained larger crop of
grass.
II the garden is large and the time
to care for it limited a world Of hard
work may be saved by the use of straw
as mulch, and 1t will not only prevent
the growth Of weeds, but will conserve
the moisture and insure good returns.
This method may be applied to vines,
suc, as melons. cucumbers and squash.
to potatoes, tomatoes and cabbage with
excellent results. 1t is the very best
way to care for the raspberry. currant
and gooseberry bushes, ana good
mulch of clean straw between the rows
of Strawberries we find to be every
way better than cultivation. ~ i