Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-06-06

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Best beef has gone up to Z cents on
foot again, and now it will be the con-
sumer and not the producer who will
do the most kicking at the. beef trust.
The entire roof Of large addition
being made to a western insane hos
pital collapsed lately, resembling the
people whom it was intended to shell
ter-being weak in the upper story.
Cheap fuel, whether it be gas. oil or
coal or available water power for the
generation Of cheap electrical power,
has much to do with determining the
density of population of country and
its degree of civilization.
No man is good neighbor who will
keep an ugly dog, a dog which will
charge out on the highway at passing
teams, one that erybody is afraid Of
If such beast is found dead some fine
morning it simply shows that some
patriot has been serving his country.
1t is always a bad policy to permit
the poultry to have the run of and
roost in the horse and COW barns. The
fowls infect the stock with lice, befoul
the managers and while robbing the
horses and cows Of their grain get too
much for themselves. Poultry should
be always kept separate from other
domestic animals.
If one seeks a country where 1t Is
| never very hot and never very cold,
where no blizzard, snow, thunderstorm
or cyclone ever comes, he is quite likely
to find the fact Of living reduced to
very commonplace sort of proposition.
1t is the contrasts of life which fur
nish its elixirs. A living easily won
and lazily enjoyed will not evolve a
very high type Of manhood.
Along about the last Of April we no.
ticed many punches of sweet clover,
which had made the greatest growth
of any plant 1t stood nine inches high
and from a forage standpoint looked
very inviting. Stock will eat it at that
season Of the year with considerable
relish, but It soon becomes woody and
unpalatable. 1t makes very fine bee
food, and we think may have place
| as soil renovator where 1t is difficult
to get a stand of clover We should
like to see it tried in this way.
From our point Of view we regard
the new method Of working the earth
roads by dragging them after every
rain during the open season as en-
bodying, where the plan Is adopted,
the greatest reform which has ever
come to the people who live where dirt
roads are the only sort obtainable. 1t
| will bring about reform, benefit,
which will touch all the people both
in a commercial, social and economic
way. Bad roads are ever blight and
hindrance to the comfort and pros
perity Of any people. If they can be
made good SO easily as they may be
by the new method it is surely grand
undertaking.
The progressive farmer Is quite apt
to be great disturber Of the peace in
his community. There are SO many
people welded to old ways and grand
fathers notions that they resent any
attempt to change the old order of
things. A man who decided to and did
care for the highway along his farm
regardless Of his road tax, doing the
work for nothing, was for two years
called fool by his less enterprising
neighbors, and not for space of three
years was he able to get them to CO.
operate with him. At last his good ex-
ample had it's effect, and they quit cali
ing him fool and followed his public
spirited example
| A smooth, hard dirt road makes the
finest possible course for the automo-
/ bile. Such road Is In measure elias
tic, does not wear out the tires of the
machine as does the macadamized road
and permits the machine to attain it's
best. speed. The automobile is becom-
Ing very common all over the country,
and the men who own and use these
machines are SO much Interested in the
Improvement of the country dirt roads
as any class. The highways as now
cared for are either SO muddy or SO
rough that there Is little pleasure to be
had out Of cross country tours. This
condition Of the highways is easily
remedied by the new method Of drag
ging the roads after every rain.