Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-04-25


never forgets about it.
Some one has figured out that in the
raising Of forty acre field Of corn in
the old way prevalent forty years ago
a man walked $50 miles to plow the
field, so miles to harrow it, so miles
to cultivate 1t and $50 miles to husk it,
while now there need be no walking at
all, save what is necessary to gather
the bundles and shock them.
There Is always a controversy on
among corn growers as to which is the
better corn, the white or the. yellow.
There Is practically no difference at all
in the feeding value Of these varieties.
The south wants the white corn, the
east the yellow corn to crafty whim.
1t pays better to worry over how to in
crease the yield Of corn rather than ar
que over the color.
1t Is just the same old story every
spring-nice folks with garden they
have worked hard to plant and the nice
neighbor across the road with no gar
den and lot Of old hens, the miserable
alternative being fuss with the good
neighbor or ruined garden. We have
got so that we do not hesitate to have
1t Is over and we save our garden.
Alfalfa Is redeeming much of the
waste land Of western Kansas and Ne
braska. With alfalfa have come the COW
and the hog, and these three things
form tripod upon which to rear q
very profitable agriculture. Corn Is q
good thing, but corn without alfalfa is
not as safe proposition as alfalfa
without corn. Where both can be
grown on the same farm there is the
best combination In America.
One fact worth studying by Ameri-
can farmers Is that the Danish farmers
are able to buy our corn, bran and oil
meal, ship 1t 5000 miles and feed Dan
ish cows and then control the English
butter market at price from 8 to 4
cents above the best prices American
butter will bring. II you are in the
dairy business and happen to run
across a Dane, talk with him, for he
knows a lot more about datrying than
you do.
We regard the butcher bird or shrike
as a good deal Of bushwhacker and
brigand among our birds. While he
catches some mice and grasshoppers he
also likes the callow young in the nests
Of other birds and will not infrequent-
~ attack and kill the old birds. If one
will note the thorn bushes and barbed
wire fences IN the vicinity of the nests
Of the butcher bird he will find plenty
of evidence on the barbs and thorns Of
the fact that this bird rightfully en-
joys bad reputation.
In the coming years that land which
will produce large crops of corn is
going to be the highest priced land in
the United States. The corn area Of the
country is limited at best, being con-
fined to few Of the north central
states, and, with the exception Of the
Argentine. there is no foreign country
which can ever develop corn growing
section. In connection with this fact is
the constantly growing demand for
corn, not only for domestic consump-
ton. but an ever Increasing foreign de-
mand for it as food supply for the
rye eaters Of Europe.
The sweet corn canneries Of the
west are quite generally going into the
business of raising their own corn,
finding it impossible to get the farm
ers tributary to the cannery to raise
sufficient for them. In some cases the
land is rented, in others bought. This
is rather to be wondered at, for no crop
is surer or more certainly profitable
one than crop Of sweet corn, which
can be, sold at SIS per ton to a local
cannery. 1t will return 500 an acre fol
the ears, the fodder is worth So more If
properly cured, the labor item In its
production is small and 1t draws lightly
on the SOIL 1t gives a value of con
siderably over 500 per acre to any
land where it may be grown and dis
posed of as above indicated.
There is more than one way Of e1
hausting the soil. It may be done by
continuous cropping by the same cror
year after year, by removing all crops
and returning nothing to the soil. by
growing weeds year after year, by 81
cultivating the land that the erosion
caused by foods washes away fertility
year after year. The antidotes to THU
thing are rotation Of crops, the liberia
use of legumes, clover, alfalfa, COW
peas, the feeding of the crops Of thu
farm to stock Of some kind and thu
return to the land Of the fertilizer 81
made, never ending war on th,
weeds. The wise and good farmer vii
have bis land grow better each year in
stead Of poorer, Just as the wise finan
cier will see to 1t that his capital is in
creased each year.