Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1876-03-09
M1ssouLA CORRESPONDENCE,
CORVALLIS, NJ. T., Feb. %, ISL

miner, mechanic, or the majority Of those
who live in town, what kind Of weather is
given them from December 1st to April 1st,
for their labor is mostly indoors or under
ground; but to the farmer or stock-grower,
especially in a newly settled country, there
is a world of difference between q hard Win
ter with deep snow, and a mild one with but
little snow. Few farmers in Montana have
yet completed their improvements, and as
winter is the time in which it must be done,
a deep snow in the winter hinders work in
the timber, getting out fencing, and the
years firewood which provident farmers
provide during the winter. Cold weather
delays work on houses and outbuildings,
while a mild winter is like q gift Of from
three to six dollars per head of stock to their
owners.
This winter has been very mild and pleas
ant, and the farmers of Missoula county
have added thousands of dollars worth of
improvements to their ranches. Little hay
has been fed to stock as yet. Farmers here
intend to put in the usual amount Of grain
and other crops. They are somewhat afraid
Of grasshoppers, bat hope to escape as they
have for the past ten years.
Prices Of produce at present are fair.
Wheat is worth S1.00 per bushel, and oats,
two cents per pound. Bacon is high and
scarce, being held at from eighteen to tWen-
ty cents per pound upon the ranch. We
hope for an increased demand this year from
Phillipsburg and Butte, both Of which
towns are intending to become big cities.
People hereabouts are not railroad-crazy
by any means, and will seriously consider
the step before voting Territorial bonds to
any road. But | think, it they are convinced
of the safety and honesty Of the Northern
Pacific scheme, they viii vote for it. The
Utah Northern would probably not get
more than a dozen Taxpayers votes in the
county.
The oranges in this valley are Furnishing,
and much Of their time is taken up in initiat-
ing new members. The proposed amend
ment to the Constitution, allowing two de-
gfees to be given the same meeting, will
shorten the work and allow more time for
other business. There is much interest
among members as to the probable action of
the Territorial Grange, at its June meeting,
in fixing the amount Of monthly dues, as
allowed by the new Constitution. There is
a general feeling that the minimum amount,
as fixed in the old Constitution, should not
be changed. That has proven sufficient for
all legitimate expenses Of hall, lights, rega-
Tia, stationery, etc. For other purposes, if
money is wanted, it should be raisedin some
other way. II individual oranges wish high
er dues, let them SO adopt in their Bylaws,
but it would not be fair to force other
oranges to do so, who do not wish it, or
need it.
The Missouliau seems to object to farmers
taking advantage Of cooperation in buying
or selling, and advances plausible theories
and precepts to sustain its position. Theo-
ries have but little weight in face of facts,
and when q farmer, through grange co-op-
GRAFTON, can save enough on a seWing-ma-
chine, drill, reaper, or other implement, to
pay his grange dues for ten, fifteen, and
twenty years, as has been and can be done
in this county, he viii pay little attention to
precepts which assure him such a thing is
impossible.
Though rather t~hin-skinned and over-sen-
sitive, as evidenced by its comments on a
former communication to the IiUsBANDMAN,
the Missoulian talks fairly and sensiblyin
regard to free discussion and honest diversi-
ty of opinion. agree with it that it is the
duty OF farmers to support their local paper,
and so long as it is as readable and pure