The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-08-23
A Bachelor With q Pendant for
Little Dogs, Oats, and
Chickens.
h Finest Of Vegetables and Grain in
Abundance-Heautiful Flowers of
BeartoOth Basin.
Written for THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT.

pine ana balsam fr blowing full in ones
face through the open window, brings a
feeling of rsfreshment and b%uoyancy such
as annot be had in any city-not even in
Helena. exceptionally favored though she
is, with her airs from Mt. Helena and her
train of sister mountains and high hills.
An invitation to visit the bachelor owner
of Grass Lands was not to be resisted.
He drove me out in the afternoon, to- late
to see much of ranch-life before nightfall.
Betlmes next morning my host was calling
to a breakfast of his cooking. / think the
lark, that proverbial scorner of morning
nap, had scarcely yet opened his eye on the
day. nor, except in dreams, breakfasted on
that doubtless well-meaning, but ill-starred
worm, whose fate has become history.
After a breakfast on oatmeal porridge,
brown bread, coffee, a slice of bacon, a
new-laid egg, and new potatoes and radishes
from the ranch garden, my host proceeded
to his morning duties, FIRST The Scotch
terrier puppy, an acquisition on his last
~visit..to Helena, must be fed with bread and
milk. (Soit dit en- PEASANT, this small
puppy howled during the night. and had to
be fed before peace was restored
The young chickens, with danes and
stoutly strutting cocks of Legholn,
Plymouth Rock and Wyandotte. had been
fed before was out of bed, and were al
ready far afeld in pursuit Of the nimble
grasshopper. A dog and cat make up the
rest of the household, and each in turn has
its plate of breakfast. During tho busy
season a man is hired to help with the work,
but he ia not needed now. Household mat
ter having been duly looked after, we pro-
coed to the garden, where l am shown long
rows of English peas, weighed down from
their full pods. beds of cabbages, swelling
into hard, White heads, lines of carrots,
beans, satisfy, onions. sweet corn. the
patch of potatoes ready for the Helena
market, the strawberry bed, but recently
set out, but already bearing enough for a
treat for the guest; the wheat field, stand
ing thick with heavy heads. and which the
pride will produce seventy : five
bushels to the aore-the row of apple trees
OF such variety as will bear we'll in Mon
tan, planted we'll on the north side of a
limestone cliff, that the tender shoots may
not come out too early in the spring.
When fist l was invited to visit his
ranch, fifteen miles from Helena, l thought
my ranchman friend rather visionary to
propose cultivating vegetables and small
fruits for the market of that city. But
since seeing the rich. almost bottomless
soil, on garden and field, and seeing the
variety of vegetables and fruits and berries
that flourish in Montana soil l am no longer
surprised that he expects a good profit on
his Investment. There is no doubt that
large fortunes will be made on such ranches
about here. 1t ID easy to believe that SUI er
TO tunes will come in this way than in sink
ing shafts for uncertain treasures.
My host looks on his PASTURES for cattle
and horses as even more valuable than his
wheat and potato patches. Buffalo grass
and blue joint. the nutritious and invalua-
BILE natural grasses of this region, cover as
with a green carpet the soft round buttes
and the low lands. One butte, in %particu-
lar, is known to every horse in the neigh
borhood, as bearing the very best buffalo
and blue joint grass in all the country
round. They came from other ranches to
enjoy it, till the owner fenced it in to save
his pasture from these appreclative, if I'M
invited, equine guests. A neighbor said,
Il am glad you have fenced in that butte,
for my horses were always at the top of it
when | wanted them" The house of my
entertainer IS only a miner cabin. three
rooms in a row, the last of the three having
only the earth for q floor. But arrange
ment for horse and COW are on Il gen
erous scale. The line of comforta-
BILE stables stands between the
little cabin aid the range of mountains
rising in the distance. 1t seems a pity to
IAbelGepb NJ lHlT ~ view WIN LneS6 pfOSalC
necessities of a horse ranch. On 80 lovely
a piece of earth, n stately mansion should
rise. On one side stands a line Of green
buttes, soft as velvet. ana far beyond are
lofty mountains. varying at all hours of the
day from azure to darkest blue or purple.
which the cabin is built, and rushing
and gurgling on their way to the
mighty Missouri river, are two mountain
brooks. The springs from which they rise
are near the head of the little valley, and
would be easily in view if the rank vegeta-
ton on the banks were cleared away. De-
spite the weight of years with consequent
lntirmity, the visitor is irresistibly impelled
to assume an attitude, not recommended
either for grace or dignity, to see if those
llmpld waters, bubbling and singing over
many-hued pebbles, do indeed taste as
sweet as the far-away waters that she drank
on all-fours as n child!
On tins bit of earth grow many useful
berries and fruits. Yellowcurran or buffalo
berry bushes, bending low with their load
OF Ilre fruit, fringe the banks of the brooks;
bullberries, service berries. black currants,
Gooseberrles, raspberries and cherries all
grow wild here. The flowers in this basin
are lovely and varied to a degree that moth
ing less eloquent than a painters brush can
describe. An English lady savs: Montana
may be a new land, but the flowers are not
new. l see among them many old friends
that knew in England" The scent of the
wild roses that filled the air q few weeks ago
Is gone now IN the advancing summer, but
we see old mans beard, clematis, gorgeous
sunt1owers in great patches. the bluebells of
Scotland, daisies of many kinds, purple and
white %asters, Canterbury bells, swinging
lkechlmes ready to ring out for fairy dance
or bridal, when the eye and ear of ~profane
mortal shall be Withdrawn, and bending low
over the waters edge, almost kissing
the ripping wavelets, stand the mon
key cups of molten gold, and by their side
the heavenly speedwell; while farther up
the hillside are the serried ranks of our own
national flower, the golden-rod, Haunting
it's yellow plumes in every breeze. Besides
these, are flowers cherished rs delicate and
rare in ladies' gardens, in less favored re-
gions. This Beartooth basin is the birth
place OF three varieties of cyringe, one of
them of exquisite fragrance; OF many vari-
cites of spirea, or the flower that children
know as twelve O'Clock; of cacti of wonder
full beauty and variety; of the painters
brush; OF many of the beauteous families
of lilies; of spiderwort; of the royal flower
of France, the fleur-de lys, and of countless
other beauties that blush unseen on these
fair, rich mountains and yalleys. Not a
few of our Helena ladies are gifted with the
taste and skill of true artists, Would it
not be n lovely contribution from Montana
to the Worlds fair if each one of them
should paint IA complete set of china. zach
piece to be decorated with n different Mon
tana wild hower? SUSAN DABNEY SMEpEs.
All nj n. ri ~ 4 - L. ~ S.s ---