Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-11-14

In New Jersey near the coast IL Is :
common thing for the corn grower to
plant fish in each hill at the time he
plants the. corn. This may account for
the presence of SO many suckers in the
field when husking time comes.
We saw cornfield in northern Illi-
nois recently in which were feeding q
large flock of sheep. The corn was a
good crop and stood up well, and it
looked to us as though the sheep could
not be in any place where they could
do more good.
There are some varieties Of apples
which are rated as of poor quality just
because people persist in using them
out of season. The Ben Davis and the
northwestern Greening are neither Of
them fit for use until early spring and
are little better than green pumpkin
when used in the fall.
If new currant bushes are wanted
next spring now is the time to get the
cuttings, which should be Of this sea-
sons growth, and stick them in a box
of moist sand down in the cellar. When
spring comes they will be found well
calloused and rooted and in just the
right shape to set out in the garden.
Little and often should be the rule in
the application Of Oil to machinery and
fertilizer to the soil. We have some
times noted that where twenty-five or
thirty loads of manure We're spread on
an acre Of land no better results were
obtained than where one-third as much
was applied with manure spreader.
We have two or-three inquiries about
mushrooms, their culture and where
the spawn may be procured. The agri-
cultural department has issued very
excellent bulletin on mushroom Gull
ture which may be obtained by writ
ing to the department. The spawn can
be procured of almost any up to date
seed store.
The men who are making the most
money in feeding beef animals are
those who know how to take we'll bred
calves and SO feed them that at one
year old they will sell for $50 or more
as baby beef. This type of beef is in
much favor and brings the top Of the
market. and then the gain in flesh
made by the young animal is always
more cheaply secured than on the ma
tured one.
The magnificent apples-G Grimes Gold
en-, Jonathan and Bellfowers-of Col
orado and Utah are finding their way
to market in large quantities this fall.
The bushel box is the package used for
them, and for the average family this
is vast improvement over the old bar
rel These apples are selling in the
central western markets at $2.25 per
box, but they are each and all choice
selected fruit
An alfalfa pasture is probably the
most sensible and cheapest preventive
of hog cholera yet discovered, for it
furnishes the pigs just what they need
to balance up their rations all through
the season. There is nothing better
worth while trying than to see if it is
not possible to secure a small field of
alfalfa on every farm where the rails
ing of hogs is made business. The
of this is fast being real
lied by the farmers of Indiana and
Ohio, and when proper soil is select
ed and the crop put in as it should be
a large measure Of success is being
met with.
There is always an end to wheat
farming. Most new countries take it
up for the reason that it is a quick
cash crop and easily raised, but they
all have, to give it up sooner or later.
Constant cropping with wheat in a
few years removes those elements in
the soil which make a good crop pos
sible. The vast wheat growing area
Of California is now about at the end
Of its rope. The annual yield has been
less and less, with constant
" depreciating quality Of the wheat
raised, until now the millers there are
obliged to ship in wheat from Kansas
to. mix with their own in order to make
a merchantable flour.
Crop rotation is fundamental agri-
cultural necessity. Some men do not
seem to understand this fact. 1t is not
at all an uncommon thing to come
across men who will actually brag that
they have raised certain crops on the
same field for ten, fifteen or twenty
years, just as though it was something
worth Dragging about. 1t is a good
rule to follow on all soils and on all
farms of putting the land into a differ
ent crop each year. The. same rule
should be observed in the garden, and