The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-03-29
PRODUCTS OF
MONTANA SOIL
sTATEs's AGRICULTURAL ExHIB.
IT AT ST. LOUIS.
ONLY few will EXCEL IT
Professor LinfieId Tells What Has
Been Accomplished in secur-
ing a Collection.


Linfield of the Montana agricultural
college, special agent for the agricul-
tural division of the Montana Worlds
Fair commission, tells in detail what
was accomplished in the way Of col
lecting an exhibit Of farm products
from the state for exhibition at st.
Louis After the commission had
been organized it requested the col
lege to undertake collection, prepara-
ton and installation of the agricul-
tural exhibit, as we'll as to care for
| it during the progress Of the exposi-
tion. AS agriculturist Professor Lin
field was chosen as best qualified to
do the work. Having completed his
task as far as possible, the professor
| tells in the letter what the results
have been. Here is what he says:
Many Samples Secured.
wish rather to present a few facts
about what has been accomplished
and to call attention to what remains
J to be done if we are to present to the
people of the country complete ex-
hibit of the agricultural possibilities
of Montana
| Nearly 800 individual samples have
been collected AS we counted the
grain and sheaf samples of each va
riety when collected from one man
as one rather than as two samples,
then there will be 739 samples listed.
There are 352 samples of shelled grain
| (wheat, oats, barley, peas, etc. and
314 samples of sheaf grain. There
are 2OS samples of wheat, 1852 OF oats,
80 of barley, Is of rye, ID of peas, 10
of beans and Of corn.
The grass samples number 266 and
include a complete collection of the
native varieties and nearly all OF the
cultivated varieties. Thirty-one sam
pies of alfalfa and IA OF clover have
been collected and one sample q
clover seed, 5 of timothy, 5 OF alfalfa
and 2 of blue joint
OF miscellaneous samples there are
9 of miMet, of vetch, Is of of flax
and 1 of hops. There are 10 bales
OF timothy hay, of clover, Z of blue
joint and Is of alfalfa and these have
come from the four corners of the
state. 1t is probable that every kind
'of grain and fodder crop of economical
value grown in the state is represented
in the collection.
Eighteen Counties Represented.
Samples were obtained from IL OF
the counties of the state: Beaverhead
contributed 8 samples, 5roadwater 30
! samples, Cascade, 227 samples, Chou
teau 16 samples, Custer 8 samples,
Dawson 13 samples, Fergus 16 sam
pies, Flathead 1O6 samples, Gallatin
273 samples, lewis and Clarke IL
samples, Madison l sample, Missoula
SO samples, Jefferson 3 samples, Pow
ell 5 samples, Sweet Grass samples,
Yellowstone 33 samples.
The experiment station has con-
tributed several samples and the ma
tive grass collection was collected by
Doctor Blankinship OF the station.
Complete Records Obtained.
We have tried to get, and in the
majority of cases have succeeded in
getting, fairly complete record OF
the crop. The name and address OF
every contributor will be listed in the
worlds fair catalogue, also the varie-
i ty of grain and grass exhibited and
the yield per acre. There has been
COLLECTED further for reference the
size of the fields and whether the
crop was irrigated or not.
To present the samples at their
best every sheaf has been picked over
land carefully arranged and every
grain sample has been cleaned, graded
and also picked over. This has meant
a lot of work, but it was necessary
Ito present the product in the best
shape.
Is Thoroughly Representative.
4 In collecting these samples the OBJ
ject was by the multiplicity of sam
pies from different farmers in all parts
of the state to show that it was not