Ottumwa tri-weekly courier., 1904-04-09

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The tail end of the winter has been
hard on the range cattle interests and
the losses have been heavy.
Nearly every line of business is now
regulated by trust methods save agri-
culture, and the farmer can only trust
in Providence.
The congressman's seeds have ar
rived-just the same old radish, onions
and beans. The seed catalogues are
also here with blooming list Of novel
ties to catch suckers.
Land worth $3.50 per acre is profit
ably used in England and France and
Germany for forestry purposes, while
farmers on the western prairies own
ing $50 an acre land claim that it will
not pay to grow trees.
The south is growing rich and devel-
oping at marvellous rate-wealth in
iron, wealth in cotton, in oil, in fruits,
in winter gardening. Prosperity for
this section was long delayed, but has
come at last in wonderful measure.
1t is safe to say that over half Of the
American people are ready to pull up
and move on any show Of better1ng
their financial condition, when most of
them could better themselves right
where they are if they only went to
work in the right way.
Poultry, bees and fruit growing work
splendidly together. The hens are the
only live thing it is safe to give the run
Of the orchard to, and they do good
work on the bugs and grubs, while the
bees perform most beneticent mission
in fertilizing the bloom Of the fruit
trees.
Many men are opposed to the re-
moval Of the cornstalks from the field
as fodder crop on the ground that
such a course tends to impoverish the
soil. A clover rotation once in six or
seven years will put more fertility into
the soil twice over than could ever be
extracted from the decaying stalks.
Good farming is well nigh impossible
without the aid Of a legume crop in the
course of rotation. 1t seems almost i'm
possible to make one-half Of our west
ern farmers understand that, throwing
out entirely the value Of the clover
plant as forage crop, it is still the
best crop which the farm produces in
the sole matter Of fertilizing and reno
waiting worn and exhausted soils.
II we have farm produce to sell we
find in the long run that it pays best
to let it go whenever it brings fair
price. When corn brings so cents a
bushel, hay So ton. oats 40 cents,
wheat 80 cents, hogs $3.50, we would
always sell rather than hold. There is
an unavoidable loss connected with
holding farm produce after it is ready
for market-shrinkage rattage, deteri-
Grafton Of quality.
When 1t is remembered that it is pos
sible for one bushel of seed corn to
produce 700 bushels of corn under ia
vorable conditions it will be readily
seen that no seed the farmer plants is
more perfectly under his control. Not
only should each ear Of corn used for
seed be carefully inspected and select
ed, but it would pay to go even fur
ther and make each kernel used sub
/ ject of investigation. 1t is right in
this line where lie almost untold possi-
bilities in connection with the improve
ment of the corn crop.
He was Of low degree, unshorn, un-
kempt, ragged, dirty and looked to be
\ lousy withal. He wanted handout
I Civ, Nih q " his LILO w lllohy llAlCd pdlA
/ into grotesquely pathetic and abject
! expression, said he had had hard luck
Z and all that Human being? Yes.
Hungry? Probably. Deserving of hui
man sympathy? Doubtful. Would you
feed him? Yes. probably, and thereby
piously and sympathetically aid in the
making Of another parasite just liEa
him. We let him go hungry. for star
/ vation is the only earthly remedy for
such cases of human degradation.
Bear in mind that the prodigal son
! was reformed by hunger alone.
N|.le we have well organized expert
| ment stations we still like the idea of
a farmer doing little experimenting
I on his own account. Even if he obtains
; no very satisfactory results such plan
cannot fail to give him greater in
terest in his work. To plow and SOW
and reap just in the same old way
year after year is at best monoto-
nous work. There always is and al
ways will be q better way than the