The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1900-08-31
MAKE BUTTER.

Montana Is Good Field for Dairymem.
The possibilities of profitable dairying
in Montana are covered in an article in
the September issue of Home and Gar
den, an agricultural publication of st.
Paul. 1t was written by Prof. S. M.
Emery, until recently director of the ex-
pertinent station at the agricultural col
lege at Bozcman, Prof. Emery points
out what good field Montana offers for
dairy farming He compares the con
dltlons existing in other states and Mon
tana, and after asking the question,
l"'Can the COW be protitably sustained in
Montana?' says:
"A partial reply to this is the expert
ence of the wild cattle, the buffalo, the
elk, the deer, the antelope and mountain
sheep. All these in countless numbers
of the finest development covered Mon
tana ranges until driven off or slaughtered
by skin hunters. Their place is filled to-
day by millions upon millions of sheep,
cattle and horses. There is an excess of
food upon the ranges of the state, under
a system of fencing and pasturage to
carry double the present number, with
out an acre of tame forage being added
So much for the native grasses and for
age plants.
Are these choice dairy product pro-
ducers?
"Better than anything in the line of
the improved forage plants grown in the
three great named states.
Can anything better be grown under
cultivation in Montana?
"Unquestionably the lcgumes (redl
white, medium, mammoth clovers al
falfa alsike, sain foin, field peas) are an
improvement over native food plants.
"Will they thrive in Montana?
Montana is the natural home of the
clover plant. Nearly all the mountain
canyons carry native clovers. No soil
nutrification is necessary to insure clover
thrift. In any of the great valleys of the
state, notably the Yellowstone, the Gal
latin, the Bitter Root and the Flathead,
the early summer air is redolent with
the sweet perfume from the countless
clover acres.
Are silos common in Montana?
"They are not, nor are hay barns, bar
racks or sheds.
Prom July until New Year, when
the bulk of the hay is consumed, there
is but little falling weather; clover hay
goes into the stack robbed of but little
of it's rich coloring of green, and but
ton hole boquet can be culled from any
well cured clover stock at almost any
season of the year, the deep rich crimson
of the bloom having lost but little of it's
matchless beauty by being harvested
and housed. From two to five crops,
under irrigation, are harvested, and
a. 600 pounds per acre is not an uncom-
mon annual crop from red clover or al
falfa.
$50 much for roughage. In addition,
sweet corn for fodder is unequaled when
irrigated 1t produces SO heavy and
rank growth that a single row is all
that a big team can cut with mower or
a binder. Again, the grain crops are SO
heavy and the yield so abnormal that
the every want of Il COW can be satisfied
in Montana as in no other region outside
of the Rocky mountains. The compara-
tive mildness of the winters, the purity
J<f br o+, 11, M r
degree spring waters, clear and pure be-
yond the conception of the native of
Mississippi valley, all of these make ideal
conditions for dairying.
What of dairy stock? Can it be pro
cured in Montana?
"One finds better blood on the open
ranges of Montana than inside of the
eastern fences. A single instance viii
afford light. Six two-year Shorthorn
heifers, cut out of a range bunch, turned
inside fences, on good blue joint and
timothy pastures, without pound of
grain or bran, gave in their two-year
form 1000 pounds of butter in twelve
month. Such foundation stock needs
only to be mated with pedigrced dairy
bulls to make world beaters.
What of the markets?
From 100000 to 2O,OOO,OU pounds
of imported butter is consumed annually
in Montana. The regular, undertaking
price is % cents per pound. This is a
good business from the local demand to
begin with, and situated on the great
highway to the Orient there can be no
question but that dairying in Montana
can be made first-class business propo-
sition by those who are familiar with the
business. No state in the union today
, offers such field to the dairyman as