Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-05-17

ahD IGY' VI /
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49, VI ON B
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S0lGITtD 81 @ !, .
The hog which will not eat is pref
y sick hog-been sick for week, prob |
ably.
For the flower garden there is no soil
so nice as the upper four inches Of any
timbered bottom land.
One hundred and forty skunks and
civet cats were trapped the past winter
on one Iowa farm. Sweet scented
place that.
The problem Of good roads does not
bother those countries which do not
have over twenty inches Of rainfall.
Good roads are one Of the compensa-
lions for drought.
1t is worth noting that during the
month of February last only 10000
bushels of wheat left Atlantic ports for
Europe, while 1,1S7,954 bushels went
from ports ON the gulf of Mexico.
The tsetse fly, fly no bigger than
common house fly, is the great
scourge Of South Africa, and has done
more to retard the white mans con-
quest of that country than any other
one thing. 1t is death to stock.
Nothing is better for filling the silo
than common field corn. While special
types of fodder corn, clover, alfalfa,
cowpeas and other green stuff may be
kept in the silo, the field corn will be
found to be the most satisfactory.
If you have an evergreen grove, you
will be sure to have lots of mourning
doves, which will seek the grove Of
conifers as breeding place. You may
also have crows. which like such q
grove equally well, and that is nui-
sance.
The three months of winter when
the man on the southern farm can do
any sort of farm work give him a
very permanent and distinct advan-
tage over his northern brother, who
during that period can do nothing but
stuff stoves and stock and consume
the earnings of the previous year.
The wild grape, the plum, the rose
bush, the crabapple, all native to our
northern latitude, are extremely hardy.
No extreme Of either heat or cold i'm
pairs their vitality. Perhaps some day
we will develop types Of better fruit
which will possess the same degree of
hardness. We have not got them as
yet.
| In April Of this year man who
lived near the state line between Iowa
and Minnesota could shoot all the
ducks he wanted in Iowa, while he
could not lawfully catch a fish, while
in Minnesota he could catch all the
fish he wanted, but could not shoot a
duck. This we'll illustrates the need
Of general laws for the protection Of
fish and game.
The objection to the Leghorn hens is
that they cannot be kept under control,
driven, herded and secured at night as
can other breeds. They are great
wanderers and foragers, stack strip.
pers, tree ROSTERS and garden destroy.
ers. No fence stops them. And while fol
egg production no breed excels them
they are of little value for the table
The Wyandottes, white or silver laced
the Plymouth Rocks, barred or buff
are better fowls for the average mar
than the Leghorns.
| Notwithstanding the good prices
which hogs have brought for the pas
year 100000 more hogs have beer
sold than for the previous year. The
most profitable business on the west
ern farm for the past two years has
been producing pork. Assured of
cents a pound and no cholera it is al
agricultural bonanza. 1t is far coun
try and strange, uncivilized peopl,
where the product of the American
Poland China is not found in som,
form or other. The Jew and NOLAN
medan are his worst enemies.
A western agricultural college ha
lately issued bulletin stating that
Danish method of making butter ha
been discovered whereby u much lar
ger per cent of water is worked int
the butter than is common under tn
American system. 1t is said i'll connec
ton that the quality of the butter
improved thereby. While this may b
good news to the dairymen and tn
creameries it is no cause for rejoicin
to the consumer, for what he want
\ hot Ia Inv, Jo e.