Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-06-12
DAILY HINTS ON
FARM TOPICS
BY K. A. Kirkpatrick
Farm Libraries.

80 r0rIH llUtMrlCSs .
] dropped into an Office the other
day, and found high-salaried man
busy porting over q magazine devoted
to office systems The company and
this man realized that time spent In
figuring out better ways OF doing
things was time we'll spent. There
fore, they could afford to pay high
salaried man to study new systems Of
management for their business. In
side the limits of the city OF Musca-
tine Is large manufacturing plant
which employs man to do "efficien-
~ engineering" This man studies
the movements of the laborers, the
character, construction and placing
Of the variouA> pieces OF machinery,
the transmission Of power to the ma.
thines, and every detail OF operation,
with the idea Of saving time and Sc.
curing better results in all opera
lions. These two companies that :.
have cited probably have no more
money at stake than do some indi
vidual fArmers~in this county. A
well-stocked farm OF average size II
Muscatine county today represent,
m investment OF upwards OF 800,
900. Is there any man in the bust
tess or farming world so foolish q.
20 contend that the man who con
trolls money invested in farm neet
aot study farming operations OF
conduct efficient engineering tests
II you wish to call them such, on hi,
! plant?
Men who are interested In doins
things In better way than their ia,
Tiers or grandfathers did, may learn
great deal from the experiences o
othef men. 1t is bad position te
take when one says that he has nc
time for book farming, and tina
books contain only impractical thee
ries. There are many books and
pamphlets published nowadays which
deal eminently with practical things
Many farmer would profit greatly
by studying such publications.
In this light, every well-eQuipped
farm today ought to have an up-to.
date farm library. This farm II.
brary should include few books by
practical, experienced writer's, and
! should include the best of the expert,
ment station and government agri,
cultural publications. OF course
| there Is always a great deal OF char
| in bulletins, and any books pub.
| lished on farming, for that matter
| However, there is much that Is capo
| able OF being used and which Is o
| the most practicable nature This
| farm library should be indeXed sc
| that the busy farmer In two minutes
time could find any subject that he
| wished to have help upon. For in
stance. th-re are splendid bulletins
upon the disease OF various farm an
finals. The ability to turn In few
| minutes time to auth oritativ'
| knowledge upon these troubles wonl
[ often save the farmer many dollars
There are splendid bulletins publish
ed on crop diseases and pests. TIL
ability to turn to reliable knowleds'
on these troubles would often saw
the farmer many dollars. Splendit
| publications have been issued upo1
| the management of various crops
Some Of these have been gotten GU
BY our own experiment station. ant
some OF the stations in neighborin'
states. II the farmer had these a
his fingers ends, and would adap
| the knowledge in them to his pecul
lar local conditions, 1t would Otter
mean considerable profit to him.
| Through the kindness Of the con
gresham from this district, tn
Crop Improvement association ha
! lust received supply of the .191
year books of the United States de
,artment Of agriculture. There are
many things in this book that would
lot do practical farmer enough
FOOD to pay him for the trouble OF
reading them, but there are many
splendid articles which come right
down to hard brass tacks on vital
,arm pro hlems. These things Will be
If value to any farmer who Will TAKE
he time to read them. They Will be
If even greater value to the farmer
who will arrange an index so that he
AN turn at any time to animal dis
Eases, crop management, marketing
sroblems, tree planting, desirable
new fruits, and list of other vital
topics. The Crop improvement ASSOC
station wishes to stimulate in every
way possible the formation Of work
ling farm Libraries composed OF Few
Of the best government publlcauons,
md also wishes to help the farmer
nrrange a suitable index 50 that ne
|may use the knowledge In those pub
tIications to his advantage. Within
short time the advisor hopes to have
system Of indexing and arrange
ment worked out for the benefit OF
anyone who wishes to start such
library. Any farmer wishing to Sc
,ure d copy of the year book may &c
10 by addressing this office. or CALI
ns in person.