The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-05-14

FARMING In YELLOWSTONE.

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congressman like Rawlins.
FARMING IN YELLOWSTONE.
No section OF Montana to- day offers bet
Ter Inducements to the settler who desires
to engage in mixed farming than The yell
lowstone valley. A short timo ago The
| INDEPENDENT showed tho capabilities OF tho
soil and the resources Of that portion Of ii
in Custer county and tributary to Miles
City. A resent visit to Yellowstone county
and the country tributary to Billings shows
that section is capable Of supplying the mar.
kets OF the state with all the vegetables,
small fruits md melons it will consume,
even when tho population 10 much greater
than it is to-day. Those who are paying
attention to the development of tho agri-
cultural resources of the state contend that
just SO soon as il 10 demonstrated beyond
doubt that there is a section in Montana
where diversified farming can hc carried on
prohtablv, that q now era OF growth n
prosperity will be opened up. In many
valleys of the state il has been proven that
grain can be grown year in and year out
with no failure of COPS. Again, hay is a
oAAO SA0kt otICA ukobA Nohn " SAS
common winter vegetables. But whore but
ono of these crops is depended upon. there
is always the possibility OF a surplus. poor
markets and low prices. But mixed farm
ING. and especially the the raising of those
products that are imported to the extent of
hundl eds of Thousands of dollars annually,
in connection with the running Of a small
bunch OF sheep or the raising Of a few
head of cattle or good horses offers sure
and good profits every year.
Yellowstone county offers unsurpassed
advantages to the small farmer; to the nan
who understands the business as 1t IL car
ried on in the middle western states, be-
crops he can in Illinois, and he will have
the additional advantages of an absolute
certainty Of a good yield every year. always
a remunerative market. and = free range
for his little bunch of live stock. Yellow
stone county offers three advantages to the
farmer-an equable climate. unlimited
water for irrigation, and adjacent to the
bottom lands fine open range for their
stock, free to every one. The average ele-
walton Of the Yellowstone valley is 5000
feet. In that part of il in Yellowstone
county early spring is the rule. beginning
about the middle of February, when plow-
ing and sowing begin. and crops are always
in by April l. The first frost comes about
Oct. Is. SO that the season lasts about eight
months. During June. July and August
the records show that the average tempera-
tnre is higher in the. Yellowstone than in
any other portion of the state. assuring the
maturing of the less hardy C OPS. The
coolest weather begins about Jan. / and
continues for from two to six weeks, save
in extraordinarily cold winters.
There ia practically an unlimited supply
OF water for irrigation in that portion of
the Yellowstone valley tributary to Billings.
In Yellowstone county there are. exclusive
of the recently acquired strip of the Grow
reservation. 1900 900 acres of irrigable land.
Of which 800. 900 are now under ditch. All
Of the larger bitches are taken out of the
Yellowstone river. The largest is that
owned by the Minnesota and Montana
Land and Improvement company. which is
forty miles long. It is controlled by the
heirs Of Frederick Billings and freeman
Clark. It is a high line ditch and there are
60, 600 acres of frst class land under ii, ono
half of which is under cultivation. but
principally in hay. Other bitches ara the
Canyon Creek, twenty EIGHT miles long, in
the center of the valley owned by
a syndicate of farmers; Italian ditch.
fifteen miles long; Mill ditch.
company. fifteen miles long. Clark's Fork
Ditch company, ten miles, Yellowstone
Ditch company. fifteen miles, Saltwater
ditch, twelve or fifteen miles. the McAdow
ditch, six miles. md a largo number Of
900 acres of land. All Of these bitches.
save that Of the Minnesota g. Montana
company, are owned by farmers syndicates,
each share of stock emitting o farmer 10
IN inch of water. Tie river has a fall in
the vicinity of Billings of from ten to if
teen feet to the mile, while the fall in the
bitches is about three feet TO the mile.
The advantage the Yellowstone valley
farmer has over the eastern agricultural
lies in the fact that he never has to f~ertilize
his land. The river carries in it's current
fertilizing mnterial; the bitches, having
less flow than the river, catch the fertil-
izer and carry it on to the land. It takes
three years to get a first class cror, and at
the end of ton years. constant use the soil
is more fertile than at the end of three.
The most productive ranches in the valley
are those that have been cropped the most
often, and not a dollar has been spent in
fertiiiZirg.
As said before anything that can be
raised in the middle western statea can be
raised in Yellowstone county. For twelve
years farmers in hat county have been
growing corn for profit putting in from ten
to forty acres, which shells not loss than
fo:tv bushels to the acre. Oats is always n
good crop. running from fifty to seventy
five bushels TO the acre. All they can raise
finds q ready market in Butte. Helena and
other towns in the state. Wheat has only
been tried as an experiment. but it hRt
proved to DO successful. There is no foul
mill in the vicinity of Billings, despite the
large demand, and for this reason the farm.
ers have not raised wheat e1tensively. Po-
tatoes average 800 bushels to the ac'e. Ont
Yellowstone farmer. Chas. King, of Parl
City. WOE the American Agricultural frs'
prize for the largest yield of potatoes from
one acre. The contest WAS open to til,
farmers of the Unlted States. and MIR
King captured it with $40 bushels. Thu
average price received by tho farmers To-
POTATOES is 81 u bushel, 80 10 will be seer
that this is not a bad crop. II ever there
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