The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1892-04-23
BEEF AND VEGETABLES.
What AN Eastern Farmer Has TO Say
About What He Sees In Great Falls.

About What He Seas In Great Falls.
81 never saw the like in my life"
The remark was made by a genteelly
dressed man of perhaps 80 years of age
and bearing the unmistakable marks Of
the pilgrim.
81 have" added he, lived in a farming
country all my life. l have raised stock
and / have raised grains and vegetables.
I have seen and noted how cattle and
garden truck look when spring opens
and l will say right here that never in
Illinois, or Indiana or Iowa or Missouri
or in any other of the western farming
states have / seen such beef and mutton
on the butchers block or such vegeta-
bles in grocery stores IN the middle of
April as | find in Great Falls. When !
speak about beef l mean such as
cattle would make after wintering upon
such feed as our farmers generally give
their stock cattle. And you say this
beef came from your ranges in this
country without having been fed a fork
full Of hay"
THAT is what I say" replied a TRlR-
rNE man. 1.-THE chances are the cattle
whose carcasses you are hanging up herr
in this establishment would stampede at
the sight of a man with a forkful of hay.
They picked up their living upon the
ranges where the native grasses cured
standing like hay. Your early frosts de-
stroy your pastures in the east, while
neither frost nor snow affects the dry
bunch grasses of this country. They
nroonrx,a fbnsv suroofnncc and fnftaninu
qualities long after the growing season
has passed, and when four or five year
old steers enter the winter fat and
healthy, as they generally do, they CONF
out in the spring very fair beevcs."
"Well." reiterated the stranger, 81
never saw the like in my life. ! have
seen stall-fed beef in my country that
was fattcr in April, but not tenderer OF
sweeter. You have a wonderful coun.
try. Why. | was standing over at tina
J store yonder yesterday while one of you
farmers was unloading a lot of potatoes
They we're large, firm and as fresh look
ing as when they were dug from thu
ground. Our potatoes at this season o
! the year are more or less wilted ant
} watery and have lost about all theil
I flavor, while | see yours are firm ant
J cook dry and mealy. | can't understand
1t. 1t must be owing to the ditferen
climatic conditions existing between tn
east and the west
a THAT dryness OF atmosphere found il
l elevated countries has much to do witt
the preservation of vegetables and thel
I our soils seem to produce a sweete
: firmer vegetable than your prairie lands
Your soils contain more organic matte
S than ours do. and not so much of tn
phosphates and soluble mineral salts
s Your vegetables decay while ours remaiI
firm. The same causes which preserv
vegetable life preserve and prolong ami
\ NAL life. Men enjoy better healtI
and life longer in Montana than in an
of the states you have named. ID
Il you see hat man across the street? Hi
name is Jewell. He is in his Goth yea
/ and does a full days work at the smelte
every twenty-four hours. He looks an
d moves as tn ,ugh he is good for fort
years"
What a country" half s%oliloquize
the stranger. '.Fat beef in April, hare
q sound and mealy potatoes the year roun
Il and day laborers 30 years old. Say, al
a your children born with teeth!'
II The TRIBUNE reporter assured tn
le gentleman that Montanians raised the
e childred on the same old plan, and the
lie took him in the Great Falls meat markt
n where the TRIBUNE man left him gain
d with opened-mouthed a~stonishment ;
N the tempting displays of Montana be,
W and mutton which that large est ablisl
re ment constantly keep on hand.