Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1874-04-10

MUM BEH q
i MARVELLOUS MONTANA.
WEALTH OF TIE SOIL-AN UNSUR
PASSED REGION FOR SHEEP, AMI
(Frem the Notes e samuel wil.eson. in Croiutt',
| western world.l
AGRICULTURE.
The secret of MOntana's richness is
that she has never lost any of her soil
no parted with any of her natural ma.
nures. which the elemental grindinQs
OF the slopes of her mountains has
stored up for ages. This is the secret
OF her marvellous richness, and the
more her soils are worked the better
do they "pan out" This fact may ex-
plain itself wnen the statement is made
thatthe farmers here frequently COM
plain that the soil is I'tOo hOt.n In
some instances virgin soil thrown into
wat0r effarceS.
Theme being no dew in Montana,
there is no millew there. There being
but little rain there is no rust. The
territory is too high in it's altitude to
afford inducements to the midge and
the Hessian fly as q residence. There
fore the statement can be understood
and should be credited, that no crop
in Montana has ever 'sfailed.n Some
cops have been damaged by grass
hoppers; but even this curse is extr.
cised by the plow.
Oats, wheat and barley from the
East, West or South, when sown in
Montana, invariably improves, and the
crop is strikingly superior to the seed.
The rye of Montana exceeds, if pos
sible, her other cereals in regard to
yield. The grain is so large that one
fails at first sight to recognize it as
rye. Thomas p. Roberts says the rye
and wheat raised here weigh about tie
same per bushel-sixty one or sixty
two pounds. One popularity of all
grain grown here, particularly of the
rye, is the thickness and strength of
the Stalk. Elsewhere when the grain
is heavy, the stalks are apt to bend,
and in stormy weather go down, to the
material damage Of the crop. But in
this Territory not OILY do the elements
for producing starch abound in tho
soil, but is rich in slick, which enables
the grains to bear up against the oc-
casional high winds which blow
through the narrow valleys.
"Bunch" grass is the product of u
dry soil and dry atmosphere. There
is no such disease as consumption
where bunch grass grows. Oats in the
sheaf, without the trouble of cutting
and stacking-as nutritious in Febru-
ary rs in May-as grcedily eaten in
as in June. To such cOun-
try, with its luxurious vegetation,
which, like the bloom on a peach, COW
ers the whole of Montana to the very
tops of her mountains, the impulse to
take off ones hat is constant.
SHEEP AND WOOL.
The feeces of sheep driven up to
Montana double their weight in two
years time. A flock of ewes will nearly
double it's number in single season.
The wool of New Mexican and Color
sdO sheep driven up into the Cool Ter
ritOfy, refines, sOftens and thickens.:'
Feeding on the 'bunch grass, they fill
~ quicker, lie down more, and wander
ess than do flocks in any other section.
Some idea of the profits of WOOL
in Montana may be derived
rom the fact that Mr. Clark, cashier
# the First National Bank at Deer
lodge, sheared q flock of sheep which
anne into the possession of the bank
IS collateral. The clip was wagoned
100 miles to Corinne, thence shipped
y rail to Boston, 2, IA miles, and was
here sold at q price which, after pay
ng 3,214 miles of freighting and
harges, left the bank a profit of two
nd half per cent. q month.
A GOOD PLACE FOR CATTLE.
The Sun River Valley is ten miles
ride and sixty miles long. 1t de-
'ouches on the Missouri river. Con-
ider it's north latitude, and then ap-
reciate the fact that Of the four thOus-
nd head of cattle sent up there from
be south, to pasture out on the range
holly with shelter, in the elsewhere
critic winters Of 1871-72, the loss
'as not one-half of one per cent!
hey had no other food than bunch
rass on the stalk; AMI witnesses can
9 got by huddreds to prove that in
Iarch they were fat beef in perfect
ryler for the butcher. At the same
me the wolves aud the dogs Of Texas
ere picking the bones of twenty per
eht. Of all the cattle in that State
'hich had frozen to death on the range.
AN OPPoRTuNIT1FoR GEN. SMITH.
en. John f. Smith at the first inter-