Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-03-15
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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COPYRIGHT. 1000, BY
J. s TR1GG, ROCKFORD. "a
CORRESPONDENCE SOLICITED.
Frost is natures pulverizer and snow
Ter fertilizer.
Twentyfour broom firms have form
I'd an ironclad trust. They will make
I clean sweep of it.
Prior to the year 1870, when the skin
hunters got in their work, 100000
buffaloes occupied the range territory
now held by the stock barons.
With the mercury at 10 degrees above
zero and foot Of snow on the ground
we noted pair Of English sparrows
busy building nest the last of Feb
ruary.
Ensilage forms most excellent ra-
ton for nearly all kinds of farm ami
mails, giving succulent and appetiz-
ing food for poultry, hogs and horses,
fed occasionally.
Because man lives on a farm it is
no reason why he should not keep his
hair and beard neatly trimmed. Some
fine farms have frowsy looking old fell
lows running them.
The American workingman when at
work wants a good ration. This the
American farmer produces for him,
and this combination is what makes
good times on the farm.
provement or advance may be looked
for on the part of the darby until the
coons and possums of the south are eX-
terminated, for when these. are within
his reach he seems to have little am
bition for anything better or higher.
Unless supply Of rock is accessible
the question Of road improvement for,
a great portion of the northwest will
have to be settled by drainage, grading
and the use Of a gravel top dressing.
AS the country becomes more thickly
settled and land values increase the
stone crusher may find a place.
If you give your boy a pig or calf
and after he has cared for and reared
it you unfairly sold such animal and
pocketed the proceeds, don't join the
church until you have squared things
up with that boy. 1t will be hard work
to keep him from playing with the
cats tail while you offer family pray
ers If you do.
When travelling fruit tree agent pro-
poses to give you bargain in the
shape of trees with patent wrappers at
so cents apiece, you are. safe in itemiz-
ing it thus: Cost of tree, 10 cents; wrap
per, one-half cent, and profit in the
pocket Of the agent, 391a cents. Don't
encourage these frauds by such dona-
lions, but buy your trees of your near
est reliable nurseryman. At least be
sane enough to get his price list.
The popular idea of Siberia that it
is vast, barren waste, land Of
drought and intense cold, is false, the
fact being that it is as nearly like our
western prairie country before it was
settled as can well be. True, Siberia
has a torrid heat in summer and an
arctic cold In winter, but it has abun-
dant rainfall, possesses rich soil and
is easilygcapable of producing unlimit-
ed crops of all cereals common to the
latitude in which it lies.
A singular migration Of wild fowl is
reported from the upper Mississippi
valley as occurring the middle of Feb
ruary, in the very dead of a hard win
ter, being southwark movement OF
vast numbers of gulls and ducks which
had been driven from the usually open
water of Lake Michigan by the clos
ing up of their feeding grounds by ice,
thousands of birds being found starved
to death on the ice fields The in
stinct Of birds is not always equal to
their self preservation under such ex-
traordinary conditions.
While there are dairy herds here and
there that possess individuals which
have a butter record of $50 pounds per
year, the vast majority of herds do not
approach this. The only remedy avail
able is to weed out the Improbable
members. The constant aim Of the
dairyman as well as the stock raiser
should be to rid himself of all animals
showing undesirable traits or varia-
lions and the careful selection and
propagation of all those which show
individual excellencies. This can be
done only through a careful study of
the:indiyiduals Of the herd.
y Growers of corn should take extraor-
binary precautions in securing and
testing their seed this year. Reports
from many portions of the corn belt