The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-10-04
! FAVORED AS
NONE OTHER
TRAVELLERS COMMENT ON VEL.
LoWsToNE VALLEY.
NATURE AT HER kINDEsT
Alfalfa Is King and Knows Neither
Rust Nor Any Disease
Yields ProdigiousIy.

MM RW vJGlQS TTOQiSIOuSIys
1t has become an old story to them
selves and they are SO accustomed tc
their environment that the men who
till farms and grow alfalfa. in this
part Of the Yellowstone valley prob.
ably seldom give thought to the gen
erOus manner in which a beneficent
nature repays them for their toll. But
to the observing stranger it is a diff
ferent tale and he neve grows weary
of telling it to those who will listen,
especially if he be one who under
stands and appreciates the art Of hus-
bandry. OF these there have been not
a few in the valley this summer, and
each upon his return home has new
stories to tell and new phrases in
which to give expression to his en-
thusiasm.
Among the visitors who have
traversed the portion of the valley
contiguous to Billings during the last
few months was Joseph q. Wing, OF
the Breeders Gazette, who is regarded
as one of the best Informed men on
farm topics in the country. Here is
what he wrote concerning what he
saw:
Men Of Brains.
Montana has been settled by the
most energetic and fearless of our
people. 1t takes a man not afraid OF
cold or drouth or distance to come to
Montana. Almost any n a go to
a rain-belt land. Weaklings go to Cal
ifornfa, where it never thunders, men
OF brain and Drawn come to Montana.
When they staid two years they could
not be driven from the state. Some go
before the first year is up. 1t is not a
land where men can lie in hammocks
and have bananas drop into their
mouths. But it is a land where men
think in thousands and where clear
thinking and high resolve and siren
uous endeavor find their rewards.
Alfalfa Is King.
/ do not believe / eve saw so much
alfalfa in any other valley in the
world. Most other places impress you
as getting ready to grow alfalfa, these
people grow it. Hesper farm, Mr..
O'DonnelTs place, had about a hum
dred big stacks on it yesterday and
more to follow. This is the first land
/ have ever seen where alfalfa would
literally take the country. Timothy
grows we'll here, making three tons
to the acre sometimes. At Hesper
farm Mr.. O'Donnell showed me a
great timothy meadow where on the
upper side alfalfa had started to grow.
There were punches of it here and
there scattered all over the field. A
little farther on he showed me 4
lovely alfalfa field. "This field began
as that one has begun-frst a little
sprinkling of alfalfa near the ditch,
then steadily it spread all over the
field until at last l disked it one
spring and that covered the self-sown
seed and the result is as you see, a
splendid field of alfalfa, though there
is yet a good deal of timothy in the
first cutting"
Alfalfa up here makes yields as
high as eight tons yer acre. Perhaps
five tons is the average yield. Mr..
O'Donnell pointed out to me one
quarter-section that had produced
more than 1900 tons OF alfalfa in a
single years.
How does that strike you, man of
old clay ridges away back east; man
who, on your 100 manage to comb off
a scant SO tons of hay a year, besides
your little corn crops? How would
you like to buck up against a quarter
section with alfalfa waving above the
fences, redolent of bloom and bees, to
hear the mower rattle and see the
buck rakes gathering up half-ton gobs
Of it and the horse lifting it aloft to
stack it? But it takes muscle, lots
of it, and it is an all-yearround job to
own one of these alfalfa ranches, for
all summer you are haying and all
winter you are feeding the hay to
stock.
Needs No Nursing.
Alfalfa here wants neither ~inocula-
ton nor nursing. Sow the seed, 10
pounds, 20 pounds, Is pounds, Or eight
or ten, as you like, you get the same