Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-08-15


We are asked how much honey will
good strong hive Of bees secure in a
day when the bee pasture is at its
best We do not know, but we have g
friend whose bees have made three
pounds a day when the white clover
was in bloom.
It is telling a very old story, but
there is nothing which is worth so
much in August for the dairy COW as
patch Of sweet corn upon which she
can draw literally during the dry dog
days. So fed, she will hold up her
flow Of milk instead Of shrinking.
Some one fond Of statistics has fig
ured out that If the Chinese consumed
as much meat per capita as do the
Americans there would have to be in
that kingdom 44Oo00,O0O cattle, 49,
100000 hogs and 400,00o,0O0 sheep, but
the Celestial has rats and dogs, which
we do not use.
The black currant Is seldom grown
in this country. In England 1t is con-
sidered the best of all the currants and
the jam made from it is considered
standard delicacy. We do not know
that there is any reason why it can
not be raised just as well as the other
varieties, though it is somewhat shy
bearer.
It is one thing to raise a big crop Of
clover and another and much harder
one to secure It in good shape. Where
the writer lives one Of the biggest
crops Of clover ever raised has been
damaged 80 per cent by the almost
daily rains and by the rotting Of the
clover before cutting by its forming q
mat on the ground.
A pair Of registered draft mares
could be made a very profitable in
vestment on almost any farm, where
horses are kept There is no reason
on earth why nearly all the high priced
sires should be imported from Europe.
We no longer import many bulls, hay-
ing just as fine animals here as there
are to be found in any country. We
might just as well raise our own
horses.
On general principles it is always
unsafe to hire tramp for farm
hand. In the first place, they will not
work il they can help 1t; then they are
almost sure to quit you just when you
need them the worst and are quite
likely to make of with some Of your
property at that. Then it is an I'M
position on the wife to, take one Of the
dirty brntes into the house. No tramp
labor for US at any price.
Mourning doves, meadow larks and
robins, which are protected by law at
all seasons in the northern states
where they breed, are common game
birds for the southern states where
they winter This Is unfair. If it is
right to slaughter these birds for food
in the south, the north, which raises
them, should have the same right. AS
a matter Of fact, it is all wrong to
kill them at all, as each variety does
most valuable work as either weed
seed or insect destroyers.
We have discovered two leaks which
explain some of the economic poverty
of the masses in our cities. Twelve
hundred and fifty dollars was dropped
into the slot machines of western city
on one Saturday night. A druggist
in the same city told us on the fol-
lowing Monday that his sales Of cigars,
pop, ice cream and this sort of stuff
were $50 on the Sunday. No wonder
some people have holes in their stock
ings and have to pawn their overcoats.
This, mind you. is respectable foolish
ness. There Is the saloon and gam
bling crowd besides. Poverty comes
as the most natural thing in the world
under such conditions.
This man thought a great deal OF his
wife, and she got fit to keep poultry,
so the hens were bought, the yard fixed
up and great care taken in feeding the
fowls. Still being in the winter season,
no eggs. Wife feeling very bad. Man
goes uptown and buys some eggs and