The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1907-02-28
it Of course. but to man from Iowa
they are surprisingly seldom.


afford to use big words like that
had heard so much of the above char
acteristics of the Southern states that
when got of the train mere ! began
to look around for somebody to EN-
brace me and welcome me into his
home,--but he wasn't there. The
train was late and he had evidently
gotten tired waiting for me. anu gone
home to do up the chores. So
went up to the hotel and registered
for room. The clerk sand | coulj
just leave my grip in the Office,
instead of taking it tony room, as he
could keep the burglars out OF 1t
better If he locked it up in the bureau
drawer or the safe.
I remarked that there was nothing
valuable in it and that would take
all chances. He thereupon told me
that he was taking none. and If ]
wanted to take my grip to Room No. s
could pay six bits" in advance.
This is the sort of royal welcome
I got. After one gets acquainted he
has to acknowledge that socia.ility is
ignorance any way. Educated people
here are just as distant and cool to
canvasser, IL not cooler, than they
are up North.
OF course there are class of
people in this country who come into
a fellows place of business, borrow
a cnew of tobacco, sit down and spit
on the stove aai make themselves
sociable and agreeable right away.
But they nearly all come over from
Greer county, Oklahoma. "A good
many of them have johnson grass"
in their whiskers and the rest are
afraid of TIL cars.
This is a fine stock country-if a
fellow had anything to feed it on.
Range cattle are about as fat as a
hat rack-as we go to press. nave
figured out that a COW is really hap
pier and more contented up North,
eating hay, than she is here in Texas
with her nose full of cactus spines,
living on warm air. Warm air is a
good thing in a real estate Office, vut
cows don't seem to do well on it. A
cactus is a nutritious vegetable which
is very difficult to eat. When a crit
ter gets so hungry that it will gorge
itself on these articles, regardless OF
the long spines which run into It's
nose, | think it has pretty good APP
petite Whel a cows nose gets so
full of these stickers that it resem-
bles a toothpick holder or the body of
Arnold Winklereid, the time he ran
his personality into about tnousant
of the enemy, the farmer catches her
and pulls them out. 1t is novel OPP
Grafton, too, to the man from the
North who mas never eaten rougner
diet than hazel brush.
Many raachmen gather these cacti
burn the spines off by holding lnem
over a blaze or with gasoline torch,
and keep a whole herd of cattle alive
fo- weeks,
Cotton is king in the agricultural
products of this vicinity, but unless a
man has wife and twelve children
to help, mis- crop will probably look
more like a two spot" if he tries TO
raise it. Cotton is planted IN the
spring about the same time Of yea
that used to harvest bountiful croI
of tin cans and tnen hoe up the alley
back of our barn and SOW the early
June cholera morbus cucumbeTs. 1t
is cultivated all summer the same as
corn, and is harvested in the tall be.
fore frost, or at any time during the
winter, after frost, up till time t.
plant again, depending somewhat up
on whether it is or not, and somewhat
upon the supply of chewing tobacco
on hand at the planters home. When
the tobacco runs out the old woman
and the twelve children get out anu
pick a load of cotton, the old mar
takes it to town, sells it for ~ cent
per pound, gets new supply of to
bacco, mixes square meal at lunci
counter among himself and goes home
There is no use picking any more cot
ton until the tobacco runs out again
The winter is warm and there is nc
use to be in any hurry about harvest
ing the crop. There are hundreds o.
acres to pick mere yet.
The yield this last year was good
being from three-fourths of bale to
two bales per acre. The average bale
weighs about 600 lbs. Now to figure
on this one would naturally think
that $500 produce per year on 5000
land is a quick way to make money
Yet doubt if any Manaska county
farmer, VINO is used TO raking up his
humble bees and timothy hay in early
summer and getting It stacked in big
ricks near the sheep sned for winter
would care to come down here and
take charge of the best cotton farm
in the country. Life is too tame OF
the cotton farm. The climate is to
warm. There is nothing to put SNAP
and life into anything. This zone lit
tie hut among the bushes" or "Tha'.
whar de con an de sweet potatoes
grow" or THE little old log cabin Il
the lane" may look good and souns
beautiful in minstrel show, but the
real thing is different, when one ex