Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-07-25

the Dig crop OF grass very often pre-
vent its being saved as a good hay
crop.
One need never expect a satisfactory
growth of black walnut trees or, for
that matter, of any other kind of trees
when the ground under them gets mat
ted with blue grass.
One of the most reliable signs Of dry
weather which we have noted is when
after heated term the clouds gather
and mass reluctantly, finally dispers-
ing, with only light fall Of rain.
A woman had much better tie her.
self to five acres of land, three cows,
200 hens and a strawberry bed than to
an old stick Of man, for in the first
case she knows where her Investment
is nights, and in the other she doesn't.
With the probable early termination
of the eastern war the commercial in
fuenee Of Japan becomes factor Of
the greatest Importance in the far east.
1t is evident that that nation aims to
do for the east what England has done
for the west.
A haycock cover costing 80 cents
will last five years at least If properly
cared for and will save 80 cents worth
Of hay every year 1t is used--yes,
more than this-for hay is never SO
well cured as in the cock, and with
the cover caps it may be cooked up
quite green and will thus cure in the
best possible shape.
Some Of the most valuable of our
horticultural products have come from
sports or freaks. The valuable ma
vel orange is a notable instance,
and more recently growing in
field Of black Mexican sweet corn
the sweetest sweet corn which grows
was found a freak white ear possess
ing all the desirable qualities Of it's
black ancestry combined with white
color. making most valuable find.
There are but few cases where a
country SO completely monopolizes the
production Of a great staple commod-
ity Of worldwide use as in the case of
the United States and the cotton crop.
While small measure Of success has
been attained in the effort to grow
cotton In India, the West Indies and
Africa, there is no prospect that there
will ever be any serious competition
with this country in the growing of
this great staple. 1t is simply ,npossi-
BILE to grow cotton proftably without
the colored man and the mule.
The waste lands of the state Of Iowa
the. unused strips of good soil on
roadside and on the rights of way Of
the many railroads, the thousands Of
acres of land too wet for ordinary cul-
tivation without proper drainage which
are plowed and planted each year and
which never produce anything save
weeds would il cultivated. as they
might be and will be some day, support
an immense population. Agricultural
progress in the west lies more along the
line Of eliminating these wastes than
IN almost any other line. Up to the
present time the effort has been along
the line Of getting more land rather
than in making the most Of that al
ready owned.
There are good many Ifs between
April and September for the farmer
so far as his crops are concerned. 1t
is probable that no line Of business
runs more chances. There are the late
spring frosts, the possible midsummer
droughts and floods, the innumerable
horde Of insect pests all wanting a
share and sometimes all Of the crop;
there are the low price for farm prod
ucts incident to large crop and the
unfair manipulation Of the market by
spectators or empty cribs and bins
when the price is high. If it were not
for the fact that some sort Of living
Is obtained from the farm regardless
Of whether the crops are poor or good,
there would be vastly more failures
on the farm than there are.
1t was yesterday morning, you re-
member-gone the hot south wind, the
clammy. sticky, lifeless air-an assem-
bling of thunder heads in the west as
the sun went down, lot of electrical
eyrotechnics and the roar Of heavy
aerial artillery, the healing caress OF
the rain and the obeisance Of the trees