davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06
HOME GROWN FEEDERS BEST

One of the chief disadvantages that
most cattle feeders have to contend
with is the purchase of feeders from
some remote district. If it is possible
to select a small bunch of good quality,
uniform sized feeders of about the same
age in his own neighborhood they will
make a more profitable lot of feeders
for the average farmer to finish than
the class of feeders that come from
some remote district.
Many failures among feeders can be
traced directly to the fact that they are
climation and domestication Of the pur-
chased feeders and fail to get them
started off in good condition.
Then again some farmers come to
the conclusion that it is Improbable
to keep a herd of cows, and believe
that they can buy their feeders for less
money than they can afford to grow
them. These men soon find their mis-
take, and many who have sold their
COW herds are now developing new
herds for the purpose of raising their
own feeders.
Then again there is another matter
| that enters into the economy of the
| feeding question, and that is the matter
OF selling the cattle before they are fin
ished. There are times when it will
be more money in the feeders pocket
to sell the cattle when they are just of
grass even though the price seems
small compared with what corn-fet
cattle are selling for.
Farmers who are going into the bust.
ness would do well to raise a higl
class of feeding animals and feed onl.
what they can handle to the most prof
table advantage on their own farms
and sell when the prices are right.
Sell when just off grass if the pric
is right and grain foods are high.
Feed well on a variety of well-cure,
alfalfa, clover and corn slower and
liberal grain ration.
Raise the breeds best adapted for tn
one special purpose and keep in clos
touch with the market conditions in re
lation to both feed and beef.
If the cattle are to be full fed selec
the full feed period with intelIigen
discrimination and precaution.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06

drawn out every day from the barns
and spread so as to preserve all the
fertility of it.
After blowing we drag both ways
until we have a very fine seed bed.
About the first of May we put in the
corn with planter in drills, a. kernel
every ten inches and the rows four
feet apart.
After planting we cross drag to make
the field level, as the planter leaves
ridges where the corn is planted. AS
soon as the corn makes it's appearance
the weeder is put on and the land
opened to the soft spring air.
A week after the weeder is again
sent over the land, and if the weather
is warm we can go over it the next
week with the sulky cultivator.
This we continue as long as the
corn is small enough, and then the
single five toothed cultivator takes it's
place as long as it is possible to go
through it. In a very dry season we
cultivate more often than in a wet
season.
We have used for the past seven
years the Cuban Giant as our main
crop. and, although a southern corn, 1t
! VII lllaluIe III lHlo SSSIioii anu 40 q 'i5
yielder 1t is especially adapted for
ensilage on account of it's abundant
fodder and the stalks are as sweet as
sugar corn.
1t will grow on rich land from twelve
to sixteen feet in height and every
stalk produces from one to three ears
Of fine corn Some of the ears have
measured four inches, and these are
quite usual The corn is white and
not at all fiinty. 1t is also very nice
corn for cooking and drying.
The Leaning corn is the corn most
used in this section on heavy lands
and the whitecap Yellow Dent for light
sandy soils.
From the six acres of Cuban Giant
which we did not put in the silos we
harvested 57S bushels of corn and q
tons of shredded fodder. We cut oul
corn with a harvester and husk ant
shred with machine on account o
the scarcity of help, and experience has
taught us it is cheaper.
None of it goes off the place, bu
is fed and returned to the land. GU
pronts come from cows, hogs ant
hens.
! We use care in selecting our see
corn, and if we do not feel sure of i
, will purchase new from some reliabl
scotsman.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06
DOES The SMALL FARM PAY !?
1t Will if Good Judgment and
Careful Economy Are Prac-
tlced All Along Line.
BY JOSEPH E. WING.

"A Massachusetts man writes that ne
has bought fifty-acre farm ESQ years
old and is going to work it for profit.
1t is the universal custom here to sell
milk, which brings 50 cents per quart
can at the door.
Nobody raises calves, trusting to the
stock yards of Boston for fresh cows,
and the old ones, after about two years
milking, go for Gamers. Hay is about
$14 per ton; grain averages $22. No
body grows any grain AT the end of the
year, after the help is paid the farmer
is about where he was at the begin
ming.
His idea is to milk a few cows for
ready money, dairy Shorthorns, use a
Hereford bull, raise all the calves, feed
them on silage and put the bulk of the
farm into corn, which can be handled
largely by machinery, thereby cutting
out much of the labor of mixed farm
ing.
He says a portion of his fifty-acre
farm is good for Seventy-five bushels
of corn or twenty tons of silage per
acre.
1 believe he will succeed. Not that
/ believe in exactly the way he first
plans to succeed, but in some modifi-
cation of it that experience will sug-
gest to him. l approve heartily of the
milking Shorthorns, but caution him
that they are not abundant, and he may
have trouble in getting the right sort.
But it is well worth the trouble. |
question, however, whether once he has
them he would not better breed them
to a Shorthorn bull of similar breed
ing.
That is also a hard thing to find in
America, but let us hope they may soon
become more plentiful. The advantage
of this course would be that heifer
calves would be a valuable asset,
whereas in the Hereford cross they
would hardly be used save for beef
purposes.
Fifty acres is a small area to devote
to beef production, or even to milk pro-
duction, for that matter. If he can
readily enlarge this area, even though
he delays for time improving all of
it, he will be glad some day.
Rather than spend so much as his
neighbors do for feed, I would advise
growing feed right on the place. Find
what thrives best, whsrner red clover
vetch, alfalfa or what not; grow two
things-legumes and corn; put as much
corn as possible in the soil, letting il
get as ripe asyou can first, so that II
will have a sweetness and richness thai
Immature corn lacks. Then fall in love
with manure spreader and use i
whenever snow is off the land.
To help out stable manure buy some
tone of plain acid rock and perhaps {
little potash. Put this, summer ant
winter, with the stable manure, sprea'
all with the manure spreader. Strength
en- the young clovers in this way. The!
In turn will gather nitrogen from tn
air for you. The nitrogen will MAX
flesh and milk.
You get your growth and milk iron
the blue sky. Blue sky is more abund
ant than soil nitrates in New England
Your farm will gather fertility treate'
In this way, as the SNOWFALL gather
snow. The more you get the more yo
will have and the more it will beget.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06
THE HIRED MANS SIDE

The highest type of manhood is de-
veloped on the farm.
The only neighborhood nuisance other
than a sheep-killing dog is the tow
scrub bull.
The farm auto will soon become as
common as the top buggy, and great
deal more useful.
1t, is a great waste of money to buy
thoroughbred sows to breed with a
scrub boar. The sire is the builder of
the herd.
A COW is merely a money making
machine. Give her plenty of the right
kind Of fuel and she will do her share
in turning out the dollars.
1t is no sign that a man is good
farmer just because he routs out the
entire household and stirs up all the
ANIMALS on the place at A a. m.
The farm boy has greater opportuni-
ties for successful life in it's broadcast
meaning than the city lad capital and
everything else being equal at the
start.
The farmer who will not join good
road club and use King drag is away
behind the times. One beauty Of this
drag plan is it costs nothing-there is
no patent on it and it does the bust
ness.
Don't be afraid to do little chores
around the house to tighten the work
of the women folk. They will appre-
ciate it every time, and, besides, q
good deed always warns the heart OF
the doer.
/ once worked for a man in Illinois
/ who spent so much time in narrowing
dsking and narrowing again his corr
land that / thought he was mighty
poor farmer. But when he husked GU
seventy three bushels per acre tina
fall and most of our neighbors RAJ
as high as fifty bushels l changed m,
mind.
!, If the boss does not bring in the plow
and other tools after the summer Worl
is done the hired man will save him
self lot of trouble and hard Worl
; The next spring by doing it himsel1
t Get them in, clean and oil them an,
) put them away in day place. This
, easier than securing rusty plows an
) mending rotted frames on reapers an
! hay tedders and other thingS.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06
WORKING NOTES OF THE DAIRY

We know that much of the milk that
Is pasteurized is unfit for human food
before it is treated, and l fail to see
now pasteurizing can so improve it
tnat 1t is safe for human food.-kelly.
Many of us can save money by using
better methods of feeding. In many
stables more pounds of feed are being
fed to certain cows than they can pay
for.
The man who goes into the general
milk market with herd If Jersey cat
tie is sure to come out u loser, even
though he has the very best of t he
breed.
The Jersey is the most economical
butter COW, but we make mistake
when we bring her into competition
with the Holstein as a producer of
milk.
do not believe it pays to feed costly
registered dairy cows as highly con-
centrated rations as it does the less ex-
pensive grades. 1 have known a num-
Der of fine registered animals to be
ruined by the feeding of too concen-
trated rations while their owner was
selling milk to the city trade.-J. B.
Lathimer, Pennsylvania
|
his herd of dairy cattle he will not
make a success of the business unless
he has practical knowledge of feeds
and feeding.
There are five conditions which de
termine the value of milk for human
food. First, the health of the COW;
second, the composition of the milk;
third, its cleanliness and the surround
| ioh ~
| termine how long it will remain sweet
and palatable; fourth. it's flavor, taste
or odor; fifth, it's color and general ap-
| pearance.
:. Milk should never be allowed to stan6
in the stable at all after milking. Pro
lessor Russell has made some very in.
teresting experiments that show how
rapidly milk will absorb various odors
He also shows that warm milk viii
absorb odors more rapidly than coo
milk. M. Kelly.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06
EGGS CAUSE A FEUD

In a town in northwestern Missouri a
factional fight has been started over a
dozen eggs that promises to end in a
killing or two Already there have
been a dozen fights over the matter.
Last winter when eggs We're worth "a
cents a dozen a woman borrowed that
number from a neighbor. Last week
she returned the eggs, but the price
had dropped to II cents. The neighbor
demanded an extra, dozen to make up
the difference in price. The borrower
refused and the feud was on. Mean
while there is lively demand for
firearms at the hardware store.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06
BY THE WAY

Bad luck is too often enormously
used as a synonym for bad planning,
bad management, bad work.
Said "a farmer of limited resources
a few days ago: "a dollar seems big
price to pay for a crokinol board, yet
it has proved a dollar well invested
My three boys enjoy it and stay at
home evenings" Surely he has the
right idea.
When buying farm it pays to look
into the character of the neighbors
Kind, obliging neighbors are always
a good thing, but even more important
is the question of morals and habits
among the young people. TOO many
have found too late that child was
ruined by bad associates.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06

and best method of farming for re-
storing and retaining fertility, if con-
Quoted in the right manner and with
judgment.
Dairying is more remunerative than
majority of other pursuits usually
conducted. The expenses and receipts
from animals are unknown to some
farmers.
1t is estimated that it requires four
acres to keep COW, and the value of
the land as rent should be charged
against her as so much expense, which
she must pay for with her milk be-
fore she will give a profit.
On the other side, a COW will leave
about SO worth of manure on the four
acres, which should be deducted from
the rent charges.
| Plant foods vary in composition, and
the most fertile farm may lack in some
particular element of fertility. Ma
nure that does not contain all the es-
sential elements that tend to recuperate
the soil is not in itself. complete.
1t will, of course, enrich the soil, but
as the soil does not receive from The
manure all that it yielded in the shape
| of food no figures are necessary tt
demonstrate that in the course of time
the sale Of milk will exhaust the sol
Of plant foods (mostly nitrogen) in
GLIDING potash, phosphates and othe,
mineral matter.
1t is admitted that grass crop will
be largely assisted to secure nitrogen
by the rains (Which bring down am
monia and nitric acid) and with Glove
with the aid of bacteria), but thes
sources do not admit of deriving tn
potash and phosphates.
The nitrogen so secured is but
small proportion as compared with tina
daily sold in the milk, the total amour
of milk annually leaving some farm
being many dozen cans.
1t is not always the food purchase
that gives profit, but the prevention O
loss of fertility of the soil. When tn
cattle are fed on grain and oilmeal, i
addition to a more bulky ration, tn
manure will be made more valuable
If the grain is grown on the farr
the fields that produce it must be sup
piled with nitrogen and the phos
pilates.
The farmer or dairyman who pur
chases grain or hay brings back to HI
farm that which was lost in the milk
but if he does not purchase food h
must procure instead ground bone ST
perphosphate, potash, nitrate of sod
or some form of fertilizer material.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06
WORK IN THE POULTRY YARD

The heating of the brooder plays
very important part in the growth Of
the young chicks.
The fowls and eggs from a pure bred
flock of hens will bring more money on
account of their uniformity.
There is nothing that fits into the
regular farm crops and live stock bet
ter than a we'll managed flock of poul-
try.
The cost of securing well-bred poul-
try is SO comparatively small that there
is no excuse for keeping lot of mon
grel hens.
Do not expect to find smooth sailing
with the incubators and brooders at
first. 1t requires patience and vigilance
in learning to manage them.
There is nothing more disgusting
than to see a lot of old, scaly legged
ROSTERS running with flock of hens.
Sell them off and keep good, healthy
males.
One of the most conservative poul-
| trymen says that if all farmers would
keep pure bed poultry the business
would be doubled in few years and
| that we would still be getting good
prices for our produce.
If the temperature of the brooder is
80 degrees when the chicks are put in
1t will rise to about 100 degrees, which
lis the proper temperature for newly
Matched chicks. In a few days it should
be decreased to about 95 degrees, then
to 80, and so on until the time they
are weeks old, when 1t slax be kept
at 75 degrees.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06
HOW TO KILL GOPHERs

A few years ago we had a plague
of gophers in our garden. They under
mined the whole of it, so that when
ever any one stepped the ground sank
a few inches. The destruction they
worked was frightful. They ate plants
below and above the surface, but man
aged to keep entirely out of sight.
On one occasion, however, l noticed
the dirt with which they had in their
usual way closed the mouth of one of
their holes moving. l gave it a blow
with heavy stick and killed one of
the pests. From that time they dis
appeared until two years after, when
they made another invasion. Their
greediness and activity We're surprising
and it seemed as though nothing would
be left in the garden.
| / set a gopher trap again and again,
but they only seemed to laugh at it,
covering the trap with dirt and run
ming over it.
| Pieces of carrot and other vegetables
were followed out, filled with poison
and put down in the holes without eff
feet. They seemed to have taken pos
session and nothing would rout or dis
turb them.
Seeing their partially for lobelia il
occurred to me it might be made {
vehicle for poison, but the question
was how to make the poison adhere tt
| the plant
1 had been told that gophers were
very fond of sweets, SO l procured ont
of the strongest poisons, cyanide O.
potassium, and mixed it up in honey
Then, taking sprays of lobelia (the lit
tie left of i), l smeared them in thu
poisoned honey and placed them in tn,
gopher holes. That settled them, AM
l have never been bothered with go
piers since.-J. L. G.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06
CORN CROP BREAKS RECORD
Nearly 100 Bushels Per Acre
on Ordinary Michigan Land
by Good Farming.
BY L. ID. D. H., MICHIGAN.

AS Lenawee county is considered one
of the best corn-raising sections in
southern Michigan l will give you our
yearly experience, which has always
proved successful
We have only a small farm, but are
able to make a good living thereon
Fourteen acres of land is all we
devote to corn, yet last year from this
amount of land we filled three silos
holding 140 tons and had nearly 600
bushels of ear corn and twenty tons of
shredded fodder.
Our method is as follows: As soon
as the frost is out of the ground in
the spring we put in the pillow and turn
out burrows nine inches deep. The
land is covered with barnyard COM
post every winter, the fertilizer being
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06
We ROB OUR OWN FARMS
Dairying Will Dissipate Fertility
Through Milk Can if Wrong
Methods Are Used.

We are a nation of soil robbers. We
are constantly taking out fertility with
out putting anything back, and then
wonder why our acres grow. less pro-
ductive year by year.
Dairying rapidly eXhausts the fer
tility of the farm because the food
that is made into milk is sold in the
cans. We may get plenty of manure,
but unless it contains the right quality
the soil quickly runs down and be-
comes poor.
dairy farm cannot be kept to the
highest degree of fertility when milk
is being constantly sold and nothing
brought back, no matter how large
may be the manure heap or how care
fully it may be saved.
But, although the above allusion tt
dairying has been made it is the safes
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06
VALUABLE IN THE, ICE HOUSE

This is a storehouse, to feet
square, in the icehouse or of any con
venient size for the milk and butter
The room should be provided with 8
ventilator at the top.
The doors leading to the room shouli
each have sash at the top. Th,
sketch shows only the inside door.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06
l SELF OPENING SLIDING DOOR

The door should be hung on a per-
,ect1y horizontal bar. A cord or small
rope is fastened to the door near the top
Ind runs over pulley at the end
IF the track on which the door. is
aung.
The rope is fastened to bucket or
q paint key is good, in which sufficient
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06
THIS MAY PREVENT A FIRE

Very often bad fires are caused by
the displacement of the chimney Of
the lamp while it is being carried about
the house. Danger can be prevented
by the use of a wire as shown in the
cut 1t can be easily applied to any
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06
THIS HOLDS THE GATE OPEN

The main piece of timber should be
Axe inches and feet long. The notch
in one end Sx6 inches. The latch should
be about feet long. The sketch shows
how it works.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06

The posts should be set to correspond
with the height of the gate when open.
If the gate drags on the ground hang a
little higher. The end of the latch OPP
posite the notch should be heavier, to
hold it in place.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06

weight Is placed to uraw the door open
when catch is raised.
The cord running from the catch
should run the entire length of the barn,
so the door may be opened from any
part of the driveway, or may extend to
a post in the barnyard, so the door may
be opened when in the wagon or on
orseback.-American Farm World.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06

lamp and will not Interfere with the
chimney as it can be slightly sprung to
release it when occasion requires. A
copper wire with considerable fexi-
bility is the best kind for this pur
nose.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06

With some plants diseases are trans
mitted through the seed. In such cases
much may be saved by a careful Sc
lection of seed
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06

If we take wheat straw, which con-
tains the least amount of fertility per
ton, and calculate it's value at the rate
usually charged for commercial fer
tilizer, we have a result as follows:
9.6 lbs. of nitrogen at 15c per Id. !. 49,. 81 "A
12.G lbs. of potash at &C per lb. ........... 90
A lbs. OF phosphorus acid ut &c per h.. .22
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06
HEN MOURNS MASTER

The town of Agosta, Ohio, claims a
hen which has changed its color from
black to white. The local paper ac-
counts for the transformation by claim
ing that the hen went into mourning
for the loss of her owner, who died
suddenly. He had made a great pet of
the fowl and had trained it to come to
him when he whistled. The hen
showed great grief over his loss and
it is evident that his disappearance
worried her. At the time of her mas
ter's death the hen was coal black
within few weeks white feathers in
her plumage developed and now she is
almost white.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06

This is $2.29 per ton for the direst
plant food furnished the soil. Then we
may reasonably expect as much value
to the soil from the humus added as
from the plant food added.
If we calculate the value of the bean
straw at the value of the elements
at the price charged in commercial fer
tilizer we have:
Nitrogen content per ton. Observation-Disclosures. $3.9o
Hotasn ..--.-::.. ...'.'''... .'.......,.. LII
Phosphoric acid .................... ~
Total plant food in ton of bean straw. SOL
But some will object to calculating
the value of the fertilizer in the straw
in this way, since it is not at once
available for crop growth.
But if it is applied to the soil it will
become available. What the crop does
not get this year it will next or the
next The fertilizer is in the soil in
good form to furnish a regular sup
ply of plant food when it is needed
IA. ]. Legg, Albion, w. Va.
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06

The house proper is built with walls
the space being filled with sawdust
The dotted lines show the outline OF
the ice when the house is filled.
If sawdust is piled upon and around
the storeroom it makes fine place to
store vegetables or fruits. n
Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06

A good brooder is of more Importance
than an incubator. if one can be of
more Importance than the other.