Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-05-31

luIc.
We name the De Soto and the Wyant,
as two Of the best varieties Of our ma
tive American plums.
1t is poor policy to turn the stock on
to the meadows which are intended for
hay. 1t always Injuries the crop.
There is difference in rental value
of So per acre between tile drained
land in the fat sections of Illinois and
land not so drained.
We find that it is quite often the
case that the prices asked for nursery
stock by tree peddlers is double that
which the firms for which they solicit
quote in their catalogues.
| We find the harrow to be the best
weed destroyer on corn and potato
crops. The constant use of it when
the ground is dry and until the crop
becomes too large will practically set
tie the weed problem for the season.
! We set apple trees eight incGcs deep
er than they grew in the nursery When
we plant them in the orchard. 1t is
always best to get tree. if possible,
4 upon it's own roots, and this plan as
sists in accomplishing this desired end.
Fine large pineapples from Cuba are
selling where the writer lives at II
cents each, the same sort we used to
have to pay 40 cents for This is one
/ OF the first fruits of Cuban interven-
ton and reciprocity. 1t pays to do
good and be good sometimes.
| The back yard of the home is quite
often the best index to the refinement
and culture Of the people who live in it.
Some back yards are to some homes
what dirty hose are covered by the
drapery Of silk Dress Clean up in
front, of course, but clean up the back
yard as Christian duty.
The agricultural department has re.
Gently issued date palm bulletin Civ
ing the result of the experiments of
the department in growing this valua-
bic tree in Arizona. where conditions
exist very similar to those Of interior
Africa. its native home. Photographs
show these Arizona trees to be grow
! ing we'll and already fruiting.
While this suggestion is old as the
hills, it will still bear repeating over
and over, like the Ten Commandments
or the Declaration of Independence
always turn down that commission
house which quotes you prices for your
produce at higher figures than the gen.
eral market. If you bite and ship to
such house you may find when you
go to the city to see why you do not
get returns that there is only an old
safe and two chairs left as evidence
that the firm was ever in business.
A friend of ours raised most ex-
traOrdinary crop of potatoes last year
by laying the seed potatoes on the top
of the ground and covering them with
straw to a depth of foot or more
When ripe the ground was almost COW
cred with large and clean potatoes 100
per cent better than were raised by
any of his neighbors. Then there was
no bother cultivating the crop. Just
plant and the job is done. This is an
old Irish method and is worth trying
where one has the straw. We intend
to experiment with q small patch this
year.
Mixed breeds of any sort of domestic
animals are usually Improbable
breeds. 1t is with the animal as with
man, the mongrel races are the inferior
races wherever they are found. With
out commencing any particular breed
of flesh, fowl or plant we would do
this-select some one breed and by
continued reinforcement Of new blood
and careful selection try to raise the
best Of that kind. If you have breed
which you wish to get rid of for some
other better kind sell the stock on hand
right out and buy what you want rath-
er than to try the unsatisfactory proc
ess Of breeding the old type out and
/ the new one in.
"This seed corn problem is puzzle
said neighbor to us lately. II Sc
lected a lot of choice corn last Sep
TENDER and after drying it under cover
hung it in a wood house for the win
ter, and only Go per cent of it will
terminate this spring. l later, in No
vember, when husking the crop picked
out several bushels more and simply
threw it on the floor of an unused cham
Der in the house. OF this lot 81 per
cent terminates. Why is this thus"
The answer is that frost DESTROYED the
vitality of the first lot, and it may be
set down as general proposition
touching the care of seed corn that it
should never be kept during the win
ter where it will freeze. Unless kiln
dried it is almost impossible to so dry
both cob and kernel that exposure to
! frost will not injure it.