Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-01-09

9oLG1Eo W -
Pound for pound the mule will sell
for more money than the horse. and
pound for pound it is worth more.
The finest saddle animal we ever saw
was well bred and well trained iron
gray mule. What that mule did not
know and could not do no horse need
try for.
Tobacco and cotton do for the south
ern soils in impoverishing them just
what the growing of small grains and
corn do for northern soils, only they
get in their work quicker
Rural mail carriers without excep-
ton speak in highest praise Of the new
method Of dragging the dirt roads.
Wherever the roads are thus treated
the work In delivering the mail is
greatly facilitated.
The rural mail service has produced
some very radical economic and social
changes. 1t has Killed the city weekly
newspaper; it has multiplied the num-
Der Of small daily papers; 1t has seri-
ousiy injured the trade Of the country
merchant; 1t has made farm life great
~ more attractive and endurable.
Some men think If they seed their
land down to timothy they thereby
rest and renovate the soil. II timothy
is removed from the field, either as
hay or as crop of seed, it drains on
the fertility Of the soil to as great an
extent as any grain crop, but If the
crop Is pastured of the land Is bene-
fted. Timothy possesses no power to
fertilize the soil as does clover. Seed
ing down with timothy will clean the
land, but not enrich 1t.
The disk and the blue grass pasture
should be better acquainted. Rough
and harsh az its process may be, there
is nothing the blue grass likes better
than to be all torn up in the early
spring with disk. II the pasture is
hidebound4 and wesdy disk 1t. If you
want to double Its feeding capacity
disk 1t, double disk 1t, then scatter a
trif1e Of medium red clover seed and
harrow It thoroughly, and you won't
know the old pasture lot.
Inasmuch as the average boy wants
to shoot something about as soon as he
Is weaned and us there Is very much
risk in allowing boys to use firearms,
why would it not be good plan to
train them in the use Of the bow and
arrow and let them practice upon the
sparrows, which might thus be so east
" killed and which IRE becoming such
q nuisance all over the country? Be
cause they are unmolested these birds
have become exceedingly tame and will
permit any one to approach within four
OF i've feet Of them. A boy with a bow
and blunt headed arrow could soon
become an expert in knocking them
over and thus crafty his love of sport
and desire to kill something and be do
ing some good to the country without
risk TO himself.
The bushel box is rapidly displacing
the old fashioned barrel as q package
for marketing apples. It has much to
commend it 1t compels more honest
packing Of the fruit, not affording so
much Of a hiding place for culls. It
dfspenseS with the expert services Of
cooper in the making Of it; it more
nearly meets the requirements Of the
average family than does barrel of
fruit, while there Is very material
gain in the matter Of freight charges,
there being no waste space in filing
car. We understand that the first cost
Ia about the same as that Of the barrel,
and, not being greater, we look to see
the apples Of the future so to market
in bo1es rather than barrels. The fine
condition in which the fruit growers of
Colorado and Utah are putting their
apples on the markets this season fur
nishes ample proof that the box is su-
perior to the barrel.
Do you happen to have a field Of
WORKOUT, unproductive land, a field
which only gives you twenty. bushels
Of oats or corn to the acre, and wouh
you know the easiest and most prach-
cal method of restoring fertility to
such field and making It productive
and profitable? The following has
been done with very great success and
is commended to our readers: First
seed the land down to mammoth clio
yer. the next year turn the crop under
in September, then follow with crop
Of corn and then with wheat, oats or
barley. In this crop Of small grain will
be another good stand Of clover, the
product Of the clover seed turned I'M
der. Follow the clover crop turned I'm
der again with another crop Of corn.
The result Of this treatment will be
that the first crop Of corn win in all
probability give you fifty instead of
twenty bushels an acre, while the Sec
ond crop will go sixty rather than fifty
Thi9 method Of restoring woTnout