Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-07-18

No man should talk about taking
Gerry bill. A mans first duty is to pay
his way even if he has to wait for the
to give him his first vaca-
ton trip.
The burden Of testimony from plum
growers is to the effect that where
poultry is kept in the plum orchard
the trees are more thrifty, the fruit of
better size and freer from insect pests
and the yield larger.
The greatest problem confronting the
vast southwestern section Of the coun-
try is to corral and store up the food
waters of that region which now work
so much destruction. Every acre of
desert upon which these waters can be
placed is an undeveloped gold mine.
Crops which may be planted or SOW
ed in July are not very numerous. 1t
will do to put In piece Of buckwheat
up to the 10th of the month, the Swede
turnips may be sowed, bit Of corn
planted for fodder, while millet will
mature crop sowed not later than
the LIST Of the month. The white and
fat turnips can be sowed as late as the
LIST Of August.
The struggle between the steamboat
and the locomotive as transportation
agencies has continued now for thirty
years, with the result that the locomo-
tive has whipped out the steamboat to
q finish. Water transportation will
hold its own for all time. however, on
the great lakes and in the lower Mis-
sissippi valley. The simple question OF
time required in transit has settled the
contest in favor of the railway.
A reader Of these notes in Michigan
wrote US recently wishing to know if
capons would do well in that state
and requesting that we inform him
as to the cost Of a setting of eggs and
where they could be obtained. This
was very embarrassing request to
make and of necessity was disposed Of
by letter. 1t reminded us of the Eng
| lishman who went to Dakota to start
a mule ranch some years ago and who
was very particular about the selection
of his breeding mules.
If everything went well with the
! farmer all the time-perfect weather
conditions, no insect pests, no blight
or rust, cheap and docile hired help, no
summer hailstorm or untimely frost,
no floods or droughts-there would still
be trouble, for so many would want
to farm and SO much would be pro-
duced that the business would not pay.
So it is just as we'll to regard the ca
lamities which beset the business as
really essential to its best interests.
1t is only the disagreeable features,
the slavery connected with dairying
which make it the most profitable bust
ness on the farm.
If one wishes to raise a crop Of on
ions next year, now is the time tc
commence and prepare the land de
voted to the crop. Clean land-land
free from weeds-is almost indispen
sable in securing success in onion cul
ture. The field should be well fortified
and be plowed two or three times
quite shallow to destroy every weed
which makes it's appearance this year
So treated, it will be in the finest pos
sible condition next spring for thu
: crop. The field selected should be al
near level as possible, for field which
will wash is death to the crop. 1t Il
not possible to get the soil too ricl
) for onions, but the fertilizer used need
, to be we'll rotted and thoroughly in
: corporated with the soil.
It is queer how slow some men ar
: in catching Oh to good thing. w
know Of farmer who has raised corr
= and oats to sell for twenty years, run
hing his farm as a grain raising ant
grain selling farm, and, Of course, run
: ming his land out. A year ago we per
suaded him to SOW twenty acres Of hi
:. oat crop with clover, with the result
: that he has this year a magniflcen
crop Of clover, and he brags more owe
:, : that clover field than any crop he eve
= raised. And he hos not got the best o
1t yet, for he will pillow the second GRO
under In September and next yea
raise sixty bushels of corn to the acr
IT on land which has not given him I
exceed thirty bushels for the pms
twenty years, 1t is needless to SO
.e that he Intends to COW clorcr ever
year from now on.