Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-10-24

fourth pounds per season. This seems
almost incredible in view Of the large
number of people whom we meet who
are full of them.
A late writer for one of the leading
magazines describing some rural eNpe-
riences got salong all right until he
struck the quail. which he referred to
as giving his call of "bobwhite' while
1T drummed on rotten log down in the
woods. This comes of trying to write
about things one knows nothing about
We do not now know OF single Der.
son who Is engaged in the raising Of
Belgian hares. That fad is entirely
dead. There never was anything to it
as meat making proposition. Even
if the meat could have been raised as
claimed there was no profitable market
for 1t. 1t is about time for another fad
Of this sort
We lately saw woman driving
team hitchcd to mower, and she was
cutting the weeds down in large pas
Nture lot It was not hard work for
either her or the team. and she was
doing lots more good than if she had
been doing some fancy work, reading
one of these historical novels or max
ing one of some tea party.
If the hardy catalpa will grow well
ity-
nice money by setting out plantation
TO" post timber. Plant about eight
feet apart each way and give thorough
cultivation as long rs possible, thinning
out onehalf OF the trees as soon as a
tree will make single post. We doubt
the wisdom of planting this, tree north
of latitude 40 degrees.
Through many sections of the west,
those which are tributary to the cun-
ming factories, the crop of sweet corn
raised this year will prove to be the
most profitable one raised on the farm.
Five dollars per ton has been realized
for the shocked corn, and stalks to the
value of $1.5O per acre at low estl-
mate have been left. The good crop
gave about four tons to the acre OF
ears.
One waste which we note through the
corn canning sections of the country
IS In the failure to properly save the
stalks Of the sweet corn from which
the corn has been picked. This is
most valuable forage and is well worth
saving in good shape. Most Of the fields
are turned over to the stock at time
when other feed is abundant. We do
not know Of any nicer food for the
milk cow in the winter than these
sweet corn stalks well cured.
Strange as it may seem, the orchard
and garden men near Fort Collins,
Colo, for long time considered sheep
manure as injurious to their trees and
crops. At this place enormous quanti-
ties Of sheep are annually fitted for the
market and an unlimited supply Of
sheep manure was available. A change,
however, has come, and now it Is re-
garded as one Of the most valuable of
fertilizers, especially for sugar beets.
Sheep manure is highly concentrated
fertilizer and might very easily be used
to excess. OF it's fertIlizing value there
Is no question, for all land upon which
sheep run grows constantly richer and
more productive.
The range men have their troubles in
the matter Of transportation of their
stock to market. We met one Of them
recently who undertook to ship over
500 range horses to an eastern market.
Because Of carelessness or inability to
water these horses at proper intervals
during hot August season they were
kept locked in the cars for period of
LOT hours, and when released and wa
ter given them $50 Of them died in less
than an hour. OF course the owner has
q valid claim for damage against the
railway company, which was the most
fragrant violator Of the law requiring
the unloading and watering Of stock
every twenty eight hours.
It is worth noting that lately a loco
motive on an eastern railway has been
very successfully operated by the use
of peat briquettes prepared at less
cost than coal and giving abundant
power without smoke or dirt. The
states Of Wisconsin, Minnesota and the
north half of Iowa abound in peat de-
posits varying in depth from two to
twenty feet, an unlimited and available
fuel supply of great calorific value
just as soon as methods are evolved
for its practical use.- It's use will in
volve the invention Of some cheap ma
chine for pressing it into blocks of
proper size for use and possibly
marked change in the stoves as now
used in order to properly burn 1t. Be
that as it may, there are supplies of
peat in the northwest sufficient to last
for centuries.
A friend wishes to know what is the