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

S;oux warriors were reported to be advanc-
ing upon the Crow Agency, and fears were
entertained that they would attack the set
Elements.
This is but a repetition of the old story
familiar to us all. Every spring since the
settlement of the country, there have been
more or less alarming reports about Indians
attacking our frontier. This time it is much
earlier i'm the season than usual, anu the
number of the hostiles is far more fOrmlda-
BILE than has been reported heretofore. Elke
former alarms, it is perhaps greatly eXag-
gerated. but the evil effect upon the country
will be none the less serious. 1t gives great
uneaslness to men who have families, Wo-
men and children are frightened almost out
of their wits, and although the enemy may
never come, this living in constant dread is,
to say the least of it, very unpleasant, and
causes our settlers to involuntarily cry out.
SLOW long, oh how long must this state
of things EXIST"
We have heard of promise after promise
being made by the Government to the effect
that the much-vexed Indian question would
be settled at once. We were told that last
summer would end it, but the campaign
closed, leaving the Indians victorious. Then
il was asserted that the proper time to cap.
tlro the Sioux was in winter, and that a
winter campaign would bring them to terms.
But spring has now come, and the wild, UNI
daunted savage is. still supreme monarch of
his realm, and his war-whoop is still the ter
ror of the pioneer.
One account has it that they are in a half
starved and destitute condition. SO much
The worse for the people of Montana if this
is true, for, with plenty of horses, ammuni-
ton and supplies, they are likely to remain
on their " hunting ground, but if desti-
tnte, a raid upon the settlements may be eX-
pected at any time. We have been told so
often that they were to be brought to terms,
and that in another year the Immigrant
could travel with his wife and little ones in
perfect safety from the States to Montana,
directly through the Indian country, and
have been enabled to see so little to indicate
state of affairs of this. character that we
are beginning to have serious doubts that
the Government will ever accomplish this
until there is an entire change of. policy.
No INDUSTRY has been more neglected in
Montana than ~fruit-growing. There has
ever been a feverish and unsettled feeling
pervading the minds of the farmers. Their
homes being SO isolated from the rest of the
world, that but few have calculated tore
main long, and have therefore made no at
tempt to provide these c%onyeniences and
Injuries that go so far toward making home
happy. There is not a better small fruit
country anywhere than Montana. A great
variety of berries grow wild everywhere
along our mountain slopes, and there is no
good reason why every farmer should not
grow fruit in great abundance. 1t matters
not whether he come here to make a tempo
rary home or for life. 1t is a duty every
tiller of the soil yves to the country, to his
children, to plant out a fruit garden. Goose
berries, raspberries and currants will bear
the second year after being set out, iffprop-
erly cared for. The cost Of obtaining a start
in SUCH fruit is merely nominal. Roots and
cuttings can be sent through the mails at a
small cost. and those who have experiment.
ell with bushes and trees shipped in this
manner pronounce it perfectly safe. The
small sum Of $25 expended this spring for
fruit trees and bushes, would enable anyone
to plant out a nice little orchard, and next
summer the farmer could begin to get a re.
turn for his labor. On the Bitter Root val
ley nearly every farmer is getting a start OF
fruit, anil Mr.. Bass orchards would do
credit to any country. The chief reason