The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-30
It COVERS A WIDE RANGE.
Continued from Page Two.)

the state. 1t is the common testimony of
stockmen that there are vast areas where
the abundance and quality of the natural
heritage has been decreased. The better
grasses have been run out by livestock
ing during years of drought. Weedy
ANIMALS of less value, because less pala-
table to stock and less nutritious. have
taken their places. If these fail the
ground becomes entirely bare of vegeta-
ton. In other sections the amount of
natural pasturage has been decreased by
the encroachment of perennial weeds and
thorny shrubs and by the cactus thckets,
or the grasses have been destroyed by
rabbits and prairie dogs. Overstocked
lands are not only reproductive but they
rapidly deteriorate in productive capacity.
They require rest and treatment to again
restore them. The soil becomes hard and
compacted by the trampling of cattle.
Less of the annual rainfall is absorbed
by the soil and more each year is lost in
the flood waters. Moreover the finer and
hence richer portions of the surface soils
are washed into the streams because
there is no protecting mat of grass roots
to retain them.
MANY experiments have been underta-
ken by individual farmers and stockmen
to determine methods of again bringing
up the value of the prairie pastures to in
crease the grazing capacity. Such work,
undertaken as it often is, by men who
have a wide influence among stockmen
and stock owners. is of great value. But
the results of such experiments. however
valuable, do not obtain that extensive
ana rapid circulation which they merit.
There is probably no class of American
producers who are more ready to UNI
dertake work which will tend toward the
betterment of the marketable product
than the cattlemen and sheepmen of the
West. All who are familiar with the his
tory of the cattle industry will admit
that there is room for improvements all
along the line. from the breeding sections
to the feeding pens, but nowhere is it
more important than in the pastures-to
provide more and better grasses. An
abundant supply of nutritious forage in
the pastures means more continuous and
rapid growth of the animal and in the end
finer quality of beef and mutton, a bet
ter yield and grade of wool. There is
immediate need of work along the most
important line-range improvement"
Montanas Share.
The house committee on war claims has
prepared a statement of the claims due
various states on account of expenditures
in the Spanish-American war. Montana
will be entitled to s3742.29
V. K. Chestnut, assistant botanist of the
department Of agriculture, in report
just made on poisonous plants of the
United States, says the purple larkspur
is most common in Montana, but is found
native on hillsdes from San francisco to
British Columbia and from the Pacific
ocean to South Dakota. He describes it
as somewhat hairy, tuberous-root
perennial about foot high. with basal
cluster of finely divided, long-stemmed
leaves, and single column of snowy
blue flowers, which appear at any time
between April and July. The flowers are
few in number but are extra large being
from to ~ inches broad.
Mr.. Chestnut says the percentage of ia
tai cases in cattle which have eaten this
larkspur is small. A rough estimate
places it 1t about 20 per cent. for one spe-
cies of the group, when the animals are
not properly treated, and 5 per cent. 9TH
erwise. This is probably a low estimate,
however, for in a case of poisoning that
occurred in Montana, and was reported
by DR.. E. V. Wilcox, nearly $50 sheep
were affected, $50 of which died. 1t is an
excellent precaution to allow animals in
pastures containing larkspur only when
well fed, and then only for short periods
until they become thoroughly familiar
with the deleterious nature of the plants
Judge Edward Wade of Montana and
Senator and Mrs. Carter were guests at
a reception given this week by Colonel
and Mrs. M ]. Foote in honor of Major
General and Mrs. James F. Wade.
HOSFORD.