The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1894-03-30
md paid for in all the markets of the

dSu Pdiu LUZ III al tno mdrhote VI Ino
world.
The bank of clay is not of the slightest
value. but when by a process of recent
origin it is transformed into the metal
aluminium destined to enter largely
into household and general economy, we
have an article of value and in demand
everywhere. So the grain and hay and
grass, at this time next door to valueless
on the Montana ranch, may be meta
morphosed by industry and Intelligence,
coupled with natures kind assistance,
into products as sure Of a market, at liv-
ing prices, as the copper or aluminium.
When the farmers Of Montana produce
all the beef, mutton, pork, lard, and
other meat products; all the poultry and
eggs; all the flour, oatmeal, bran; all the
butter, cheese, and dairy products re-
the surplus of beef, mutton, pork prod
and other articles, agriculture will have
attained "a high place Of success and our
state a degree of general prosperity not
erage citizen pf today.
10 put at rights at this time
any suspicious notions that you may en-
ttItdlu tudt my hDoW lCuEC VI LlliuS 40
superficial, derived from the agricultural
reports or Horace Greeley's farmers
book, l want to say that | worked on a
Hoosier farm most OF the time for ten
years. And such a farm as it was! The
homestead was located as government
Ian by the owner and additional adjoin-
ing 1905 purchased from time to time
until he was the proud owner in fee
e,.,~ln 20 Gao hr1ol oaraa oil ,rnlar fa,pn
and two thirds of it cleared Of the pri-
meval forest and under a high state of
cultivation, and with no such thing as
the modern farm appendage known as
the mortgage. I have always regarded
as varied as the soil and climate would
oats, flax, vegetables in profusion, clover
provision for pasture. The farmers
a-half house but the mammoth red
with the adjoining sheds to shelter the
stock were his special pride and weak
ness. The reaper and mower mot so
perfect then as at presently and other
useful and labor saving machinery were
UlOuELt I!tO eCi ftCC uuu WhCu lOL AL
use coulu be found in apple-pie order in
the machinery department of the barn
and not rotting and rusting away in the
went forward in a systematic manner.
The plan of campaign was talked over
and mapped out a week ahead, and it
about right. If the rain drove the work.
poo, RrD~, thu Ealdo thnro xr,o, o1v,o.,o
something to do under cover, and very
we call time was lost. The Sons We'd
with the father in planning executing
and keeping things moving. 1t vas a
This farm is in the Wabash valley in the
the Hoosier state, but the owner did not
| He had besides the fields of maize, his
fields of wheat; his fields of oats;
his fields of fax, restful to the overtaxed
soil; his fields of clover, useful for feed
and pasture and to recoup the land; and,
above all, his retinue Of we'll bred stock.
The latter included, besides the work
animals, four or five fine brood mares
with their get of varying ages, and COM
PlhGAbB OoSh yCoh q low pPiOholo yOuuE
horses, we'll broken and ready for the
market; a herd of cattle in which there
would be each fall some fifty steers ripe
for the shambles; a band of perhaps one
hundred sheep for wool and mutton;
from IS to $50 fine porkers to consume
the cheap corr and convert it into dear
pork, besides the dairy herd and poultry
yard. Each year in proper season he
m arlrafa1 hic hnrcoo bic haaf bic ,n,Ir
his mutton, his wool, and never a week
passed that the dairy or poultry or
vegetables or fruit did not brig in some
money to help bear current expenses.
Saturday was the regular market day
and it never missed adding to the ex-
chequer. The end of the year, when
found a handsome profit for the years
labor and either a nice addition to the
bank account or another slice of land
annexed to the farm, or perhaps both
OF course there would be occasionally a
failure of corn, or a failure of wheat. or
hog cholera. or ruinous prices for some
staples, but they never all came
at once, and this model farmer was
invariably prepared to offer something
that was scarce in the market and would
DIluk bOOu pIICt6. IL w Iulb WIS Ills
study, just as it is the concern of the
merchant to place on his shelves goods
that are salable. Suppose your dry
goods dealer loaded up with big stocks
Of muslin and calico to the exclusion of
other goods, it would not take him long
to supply his customers with what they
needed in these lines and his business
would Don become a weary drag. So il
is with our Montana farmers. They
vary their crops by sowing white oats
one year, black oats the next, and some
other kind the succeeding year, hauling
the product in its native state to q
glutted merket, and as they usually find
It impossible in this way to make both
ends meet, forthwith proceed to con-
denim the county and point to their ex-
perience as evidence of the fact that
farmers should give Montana a wide
berth. The exclusive dealer in muslin
and calico would doubtless make the
same report as to his business.
I have dwelt on this model farm at
considerable length because l believe
sincerely it could be conducted as sue
~cessfully and profitably in Montana as in
Indiana, and until we make an approach
To this business-like system of farming.