Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1877-03-08

Ell In UaFOE. anu CNClS uouSC"lhC hGy Stto
put ND enough to abundantly supply the
culinary department the entire year. There
are several responsible firms adveftising'in
our columns who are prepared to furnish
customers with hardy varieties, suitable for
this climate, and we hope there will be no
further delay in making a beginning. Money
and labor cannot be more protitably eXpend-
ed. Fine horses, fine cattle, fine barns and
fine dwellings are all very nice, but a good
orchard of small fruits insures a table we'll
supplied with luxuries, which is better than
all. Do not wait another year, but COM
mence to make preparations without delay.
THERE is apparently a very wide differ
ence.of opinion among the different papers
of the Territory as to the time 1ixed for the
completion of the Northern Pacific railroad.
In verification of its statements, the hide
pendent publishes the act of Congress eN-
tending the time, which is as follows
BE it resolved by the Senate and House of
Representatives Of the United States OF
America in Congress assembled, That see
ton EIGHT of an Act entitled "An act gran
ting LANDS to aid in the construction OF Il
railroad and telegraph line from Lake SUI
perion to Puget Sound. on the Pacific coast"
is hereby amended to read as follows:
That each and every grant, right, and
and accepted by said North Pacific Railroad
Company, to and upon the following con-
ditions. namely That the said company
shall commence the work on saidroad with
i'm two years from and after the second day
of July, 1868, and shall complete the whole
road by the fourth day of July, Ammo Dom
mi, 1877
Approved July, 1st, 1868.
Thus it would seem that after, alb the
Northern Pacific will lose their immense
land grant unless their time is extended be-
tween this and July 4th, which is not at all
probable.
We have looked with great anxiety to this
road, but it now appears that it must stop
in the midst of a vast unsettled waste. Could
the road have reached the settlements of
Montana, the increase Of business, etc.,
would have enabled it to make way, slowly
but surely, to the Pacific. But it would be
idle. to hope to see it revive and cross the
vast plains between Bismarck and the from
tier of Montana without Government aid.
THERE are some who are short-sighted
enough to regard the g%rasshopper plague as
a blessing in disguise to the Montana farmer.
Nothing could De more erroneous than this
conclusion. 1t would be far better to sell a
large amount at a fair profit, than a small
quantity at a large one. When the tiller OF
the soil gets an abundant return for his labor
he is cheerful, his teams are fat and strong.
and capable of doing good work; his table
is well supplied he grows his own pork,
keeps a good stock of fowls, and has eggs
and chickens in abundance. On the other
hand, when the grasshoppers demolish his
crops, and he raises only a few bushels in.
stead of hundreds, his teams must subsist
for the most part on hay and grass, Iii:
hogs are killed before they are fat to save
feed his poultry are half fed and become
Improbable; his table is poorly supplied
and his brow is shaded with care. Wha1
matters it if the few bushels raised bring
fabulous sum, it is barely enough to keel
the wolf from The door. Occasionally there
is one who escapes the calamity and doe
well, but for the general prosperity of thu
country, it would be far better if farmers
could raise good crops every season.
Agent Mitchell, of TT. Peck, reports tina
there need be no apprehensions in driving
stock to Bismarck the coming summer, j
the proper route be selected. Hesays tina
droyers>should keep on the north side of thu
Missouri all the way. This certainly will
be good news to our stock men, as it will