The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1894-02-23
HON. PARIS GIBSON
$ His Experience Of Eight Years
In Growing Grain Without
Irrigation.
ribes the Soil and His Methods
Whereby Is Insured a Crop
Every Year.
les Irrigation Is Not Necessary
Tor Northern Montana in the
Dryest Year.

EDITOR OF THE TRIBUNE:
eight years l have raised good
4 wheat upon the bench lands or
Of this country without ir-
a and, with the exception Of one
" yields have been much better
he average Of yields Of Dakota
lnnesota.
hast year, which was considered an
for grain in this state, l har-
nineteen bushels Of hard Fife
the acre on one hundred and
The greater part of my field
y bottom land in Sand coulee,
part (about ten acres) which
on to the bench land, where the
more sandy and mellow, gave me
Of twenty-nine bushels to the
Thy can not others raise paying
grain on these high prairies
reich out in every direction
1t Falls? am confident they
proper cultivation.
perience l have learned this:
lee grain successfully upon these
|4fhout irrigation, a careful sys-
pultivation must be adopted.
must be we'll plowed the year
bpping, and the grain must be
h the fields rolled as early as
even in mid-winter if an op-
y occurs-not so much that the
~ get an early start, as that the
~ not be disturbed when the
nelt and the rains fall in the
the aim always being, as far as
n to keep the moisture in the
81 If these points to which l have
|Alluded are adhered to, great
wheat can be grown upon the
|nds of northern Montana with.
1t is my belief that not
hrs will pass before millions of
IT wheat. barley, and oats will
B upon these rich lands which at
'hre unoccupied.
BIT claim that all the lands of
b Montana can be successfully
ed in grain, but l do claim that
in this part of our state ex-
hreas of rich mellow lands that
ben properly cultivated, carry
Il moisture to grow and mature
crops Of wheat and other
Fs are kept away from these lands
declaration Of some of
pie, that grain cannot be grown
ntana without irrigation. The
y come when we shall be ashamed
act that we have retarded the
mt Of our rich agricultural lands
ments founded upon ignorance
dice.
arly settlers of Minnesota and
were positive that wheat could
grown there, but experience
vn that they were wrong-so in
, Montana, experience will fully
rate that upon all these bench
,e surface soil of which is not
d Of clay and alkali, the finest
hard wheat can be- grown with
The farmer by adopting
rods Of cultivation, to the con-
that exist here, will find the
that falls from early spring to
of June amply sufficient to carry
in crops through to maturity.
,e soil is properly cultivated it
require as much moisture to
~, oats and barley as many
by properly preparing my land
|ng it in February, / raised on
- twenty bushels of wheat per
but rain in the spring or in
lis was the first year Of the two
8uth, and it was 80 dry that the
around my field did not
snch lands between the High
and the northern
line, are generally composed
/, sandy loan resting upon clay,
the ideal wheat land the world
'e need colonies of industrious
men and women, who are not
work,-settlers to occupy these
DIS in Cascade, Cboteau and
and who will carry on
d farming, thus stopping the
! to this country of large guam
|hrm products that can be grown
lpnever farming and stockgrow-
no dairying together be carried {
cessful as upon these lands
IN Montana, as compared with :,
|bg resources Of the New En- ]
htes, northern Montana is a
The rain fall is greater in ,
land than here, but there the !
upon rocks, and a sterile I'M :
|oil. :
hitherto has been that !
pave commenced farming here, l
ttayed with the business. The /.
(which the stockmen has &C.
Nth, and the allurements Of