The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1915-06-17
.MAHASKA IS PRAISED
Register & Leader Man Tells of the
Farm Trip Here.

|
tigation tour, Monday, in many re-
spects was the greatest ever held"
says the special correspondent of the
Des Moines Register and Leader, who
made the trip. Seven hundred peo-
pie participated in it at one time or
another during the day and at one
stop seventy-five cars were gathered
together. This was in spite of the
fact that it was a postponed tour
rain having prevented its taking
place on Thursday last. Ninety-five
miles of road were covered, stops
were made at fourteen farms and a
big picnic dinner held in the Oska-
loosa public square. Interest was
keen and the whole affair was hum
mer from start to finish. Occasional
muddy spots in the road did not mar
the occasion. Nothing could damp
en- the enthusiasm Of the Mahaska
county farmer.
Forty years ago Mahaska county
was one of the leading apple districts
of the country. In 1876 Mahaska
county apples won the grand prize
at the centennial exposition, and the
following winter ITS varieties of fall
and winter apples grown in Mahaska
county were on exhibition at the
Oskaloosa Farmers institute. Since
then the orchards have been neg
lected because they did not pay after
the codlng moth and other insects
and the various diseases got in their
work. In the last decade there has
been a revival of interest in orchard
ing with the result that the tourists
found many fine young orchards.
Some of these had been pruned and
sprayed, notably the Fl. r. Harris or
chard, northeast of Evans. At this
point Prof r. S. Herrick got out the
power sprayer and gave a spraying
demonstration, an operation which
many had never before seen.
- - =.
AT New Sharon the women of the
town to the number of 100 gathered
in the park and listened to Miss
Mabel Bentley of the college force,
who spoke on Home Efficiency
Women walk on the average from
thirteen to fifteen miles in one day
at their work in the home, said Miss
Bentley. One woman that | told
that wouldn't believe me, so she wore
a pedometer one day and found that
she walked just twenty miles while
doing her work, and yet the same
woman told me that it would have
been impossible for her to have
walked two miles on the road. I'm
handy arrangement of the kitchen is
chiefly responsible for this. Kitchens
may be rearranged to eliminate
large share of this. We women have
long been accustomed to repeat with
a self-righteous air:
Man works from sun to sun ~.
But woman's work is never done
That is wrong. Man doesn't fin
ish all there is to do when he quits
his work. Women should follow the
example.
- - =.
Most of the corn in Mahaska Coun-
ty is small; consensus of opinion |
among farmers was that it is fully |
two weeks behind normal. The |
largest corn, about eight or nine |
inches high, was on the w. A. Ather-
ton farm east of New Sharon. Four
inches would catch the most OF the |
rest of it, while some is not planted !
as yet. The corn fields are very |
weedy, due to the recent rains Keep
ing farmers out of the field alto !
gether. Some corn had not been !
cultivated at all.
- - -
con the Unsicker farm near Wright !
the owner reported an acreage of 300 |
acres of mammoth clover, which he |
no hn
growing legume just before he cuts |
it, keeping the harrow going round |
and round the field, the mower going |
the opposite direction on it. This |
helps him, he thinks, to get a short |
The tourists combined Flag Day |
with the trip, many of the cars and |
a number of the houses along the |
road being decorated with the red, |
white and blue.
Scarcity of silos was one thing |
on by the outsiders. AS i
Rex BeresfoTd of the Beef Cattle as
ISOLATION said, 1t is a good place |
for you silo-owners to do a little mis- |
sionary work The most notable |
thing about the silo proposition in |
Mahaska is the high PROPORTION of |
structures. Cement stave |
predominates with a |
goodly number of clay block silos, |
and few of concrete blocks. The |
permanent feature of these types of |
has apparently been APP
preciated. Several wooden siIos
we're found which had been blown
down at some time or other.
-. - -
"On the ninety-five miles travelled
by the tourists all but ten miles of
road had been dragged. Farmers
along the line had taken especial
pains to see that their roads were
taken care of. The Hanna Brothers
of Rose Hill dragged seven miles of
roads, getting onto the highway at
sunrise.
.... - - 49,
AT the Z. w. Phillips farm near
New Sharon the tourists found some
splendid big type Poland Chinas. One
2lyear-old sow weighed over 700
pounds and many April pigs weighed
more than IS pounds each. The herd
is headed by the famous King De.
fender