Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1880-01-29

HE IacilltleS Wnicn montana offers tor
farming are such that poor man with a
family to support adopts the calling in pref
erence to working for wages, and we be-
lieve there is no country which has chroni~
cled so many successes as this. We know
of numbers OF men who commenced but a
few years ago with nothing but the COM
monest kind of teams, lived in little log cab
ins with one room, who are now well-to-do
farmers with competency and able to push
ahead as they wish. Land is cheap (gov-
ernnent price, and remarkably easy cult
vated Five acres OF mountain land can be
cultivated with the same labor it takes to
cultivate two in the Middle or Western
states, and us our farmers depend wholly
upon artificial watering the seed put in nev-
er fails to produce, and the yield per acre
averages fully double that of most of the
states. Only for the grasshopper plague
which visits the territory occasionally,
farming could be set down as a sure thing,
but rs it is it may be made reasonably sure
it can at least in good localities, and
where water facilities are good. That in
cessant war upon weeds which occupies the
farmer of the states from early spring until
midsummer, is unknown here. Excessive
rains and drowth sufficient to affect the crops
are unknown. We have what we call wet
seasons. These are thankfully received, for
when they occur irrigation is unnecessary
and the farmer takes his ease, but we can
not say that the production is all enhanced
if left to their owners are often neglected.
During dry seasons there is Of course more
or less complaining, as there are some Who
never provide sufficiently and are short of
water, but we have YET to see season dry
enough to affect the crop where the farmers
does his part. Our farming is confined
principally to small grain and vegetables
corn being grown only in small quantities
for table use which is IN easier husbandry
than corn growing, though no less profita-
BILE, as the results prove. One of the chief
| attractions which Montana farming has, is
| the small capital necessary to start-a team
and seed being all that is required. Hun
dreds. yea thousands Of acres in Montana
have been sown and fenced between seed
time and harvest. Some farmers short OF
means have depended on herding entirely
| for the first summer; but fencing is not
very expensive in most localities. Tarnarac
or lodge pole pine abounds on nearly every
mountain range, and makes most excellent
fencing. These poles are cut from 20 to sc
and sometimes 40 feet in length. and six OF
seven to the pannel makes a good fence
i equal to ten-rail-staked snd-double- -rideret
fence in the states when we'll put up. W.
one yoke Of cattle, and few of our valley.
are so remote from the mountains but wha
: u round "trip can be made in one day ant
sometimes two, and on those valleys wher,
this cannot be done poles and wood are ru,
flown,the rivers to the farmers door, at
: less cost than where drawing by team
, alone is depended on. Fences put on to]
of the ground--the best mode of building
! last well. so, also, do the farm buildings
i Stables, barns and granaries are not rottin.
I and tumbling down every few years as il
| the states The farmer is not called on e1
5 cry few years to put a new root on hi
r dwelling, or fix up an.old rickety porch
! once improved a farm remains so. The cor
e tinual war against decay is not necessar
t as in lower ATTITUDES where the atnospheI
0 is damp and the togs heavy. Anothe
5 great advantage of Montana fields is thu
t they are generally smooth, that is, not hill
! or cut with holloWs and marred by brus
e thickets. Every foot of a pre-emption {
6 homestead may be plowed with gan
g plow and cut over with reaper and move
= In fact they are adapted to the use of an
n kind of improved machinery The calel
l. dar of obnoxious weeds is short indeed, an
d burrs and thistles are unknown. The wi
e sunflower is about the only plant that bot
$ ers. ard it is easily mastered. So well
e our soil and climate adapted to grain-gro'
r, ing that on fields where the grain has bee
d threshed out by hail-stones or by the reape
J. the field being too ripe, volunteer crol
le come forth, out rivaling in many instanc
80 a. ella ,,ranorad with great care. Veg