Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-12-05

-ssfNs-
l.nere are two things wnlcn the peo-
pie demand must be fresh and in good
order oysters and eggs. Nobody likes
musty eggs or tainted oysters.
One serious objection to cutting up
and shocking the corn is the ravages
of the field mice. In many places
these pests do vast amount of dam
age to corn thus saved.
One can make more money per head
off twenty-five hens than he can off
fifty, and more from fifty than from
100. 1t is with poultry as with humans
lit is very easy to. get too many Of
them on given area of territory.
Taking 1t for granted that the seed
corn has been gathered, there are just
two things now to guard against-rnice
and frost. We believe that mice will
show more ingenuity IN getting at seed
corn than almost any other thing that
they like.
Roses, grapes, berry bushes and all
tender stuff should be laid down and
well covered with earth. Straw, ma
nure and rubbish laid over them, will
quite often result in making nice win
ter home for the field mice, who will
have everything nicely girdled by
spring
We would not burn the leaves in the
fall. They make most valuable
mulch and protection for all tender
things and, if allowed to decay, fur
nish the humus which so many soils
are hungry for. Where leaves are al
lowed to lie on the lawn all winter
the grass is always brighter and green
er in the spring than where it is left
bare.
1t is probable that If no horses were
used in our cities the English sparrow
would almost wholly disappear. and
the plague of house flies would be
greatly diminished. the sparrow find
ing his chief food supply in the drop
ping Of the horse, while the flies breed
almost entirely in the manure piles
around the horse barns, yet not these
two nuisances combined with the auto
mobile will ever compel men to get
along without the horse.
We. always like to note the impress
which the Scandinavian people give to
community. It is always along right
lines The church and the school are
always made prominent, the type of
farming is of the best and an air of
thrift and prosperity is always appar-
ent. These people stand for the best
things in government, in education and
religion and modern civilization. In
a word, they represent the very best
and highest type Of foreign immigra-
ton which this country has ever had.
1t is pleasing to note that the maca-
roni wheat which was introduced in
this country only few years ago and
which the millers have Disseminated
against to the extent Of is or 20 cents
bushel is this year coming to its own
and is now worth, in the wheat mar
kets almost as much as Blue Stem,
Fife or other varieties Of softer wheat.
Inasmuch as this wheat can be most
successfully produced over vast e1-
tent Of territory In what are called the
semiarid sections Of the west and
northwest, the fact that it sells at last
up with the wheat produced in other
sections becomes Of the utmost signif-
canoe and Importance.
About the only butchering there Is
now done on the farms is the behead-
ing and. dressing Of the roosters when
the presiding elder comes or there is q
quarterly meeting in town or chicken
pie social on deck to raise the parsons
salary. All meat products now leave
the farm alive even to the poultry, and,
while this new method has relieved the
home folks Of good deal Of work,
there is in way a distinct loss, for the
truth is it is simply impossible to Sc
cure the fine smoked and sailed meats
which in the old days used to be cured
on the farm. The biggest fool trick to
be seen on the farm today is the selling
Of meat on the hoof and the buying
back Of hams. bacon and porterhouse
steak.
One can secure a wlndbreak more
quickly from willows than from any
other tree. Four years growth from
the cuttings will make quite a protec-
ton around the prairie homestead The
soft maple is the next best quick grow
ing tree for this purpose and possesses
the real merit of enduring thick plant
ing better than any other tree which
we know of. Ten acres planted in these
two varieties IL a good investment on