Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-05-05

nedtS DIS uc lOSSS LIS teetll.
South America has not so far proved
an inviting place for settlement for
any save the Latin races.
Ten months is long enough to milk
any COW where she produces calf
each year. For her own sake and the
sake of the calf she should have two
months rest.
The record seems to prove that once
in every ten years there is boom in
the hog market, fancy prices for the
pigs. 1t was that way in 1883. again
in 1893 and now in 1908.
The director of a school in Dakota
advertises for u lady teacher whom
some Dakota bachelor will marry in
side of year He says that this sort
makes better teachers than the other
kind.
The year old hogs weighing close TO
90 pounds each are now being sold by
the men who believe in this way of
aisiDg hogs at about $50 each. Forty
of them make a pretty good income
lone for the average farm
Times will keep good in this country
just so long as a dago to shovel dirt
can command S1.T5 per day. and just
so long as this condition continues just
so long is the question of help on the
farm going to be Il perplexing one.
For the month of February. 1902, the
government collected S209,192 internal
revenue taxes on oleomargarine. In
February, 1908. the collections were
only $53,9l3. decrease of Sl55,2Io.
The law is evidently getting in its
work.
We have many inquiries as to when
is the best time to trim and prune fruit
trees. We think the best time is dur
ing the early summer. when1the sap is
in full flow, as then any wounds made
in pruning very quickly heal over.
However. it is all right to cut out wa
ter sprouts at any time.
A brighter day seems to be dawning
for Ireland. so long under the curse of
British landlordism. Steps are being
taken to enable the tenants to buy the
Hand. and with land ownership will
surely come at least as large meas
lure of agricultural prosperity for the
common people as prevails among the
peasantry of France and Germany.
a friend filled a siio last fall, size Is
by SO feet and 20 feet in height max
ing it out of an old building which he
had on the farm. This was bad shape
and a bad size. and he lost more than
90 per cent of his silage. Being built
With square corners and such a large
surface, the5air got in its bad work He
had another round silo fourteen feet in
diameter and thirty feet in height,
where the loss was little or nothing.
Many western communities in the
line of the migratory flight of the wild
fowl have been fairly surfeted with
the lean. tough birds during March.
This spring shooting of wild fowl is
all wrong. The guns commenced war
On them last September in their nest
ing grounds in Manitoba and the north
country and followed them up till the
time of their spring fight north. 1t
will result in II wild duck or goose be-
ing a rare bird in this country before
many years have passed.
The farmer takes good many
chances after all. Here is the soil of
his farm. which he may know pretty
well about, but here is the season. he
utterly in the dark as to whether it
will be hot and dry or cold and wet;
whether hail. cyclone or insect pest
will smite his crop; whether the mar
ket for his crop will be good or bad.
And SO lie goes it blind, by faith and
by guess the only thing upon which
he can bank being the law of crop
averages. This, is really taking more
chances than men do in most business
enterprises.
Held over crops of perishable ma
ture. such as onions, potatoes. cabbage
and apples, sometimes make good
thing for tile holders and sometimes
let them down hard, The present spring
is one of the bad ones for this class of
stuff. Large stocks We're carried over
in anticipation of good spring prices.
The spring is here. but the prices are
less than We're paid for .e stuff last
fall and with onions and cabbage at
least 10 per cent less. The fresh crop
from the south crowds the held over
northern stock by the last of March
and of course, takes the market. We
have found that the best way in the
long run is to sell this sort of crops
when they are harvested even if the
price does seem low. The same con
rition OF the market caught the held
over renovated butter and the cold
storage eggs, inficting heavy losses on
the holders.