The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1909-08-06

Land 4 Irrigation company: the West
GELATIN Irrigation company and mary
others too numerous 20 mention.
Irrigation Benefits.
The irrigated land is the land xhl,h
produces the crop every year. M land
which depends uron rainfall for its
moisture is to be compared to IL for
certainty. 1t has taken eastern peo-
pie long time To learn this. but
they are coming to understand if.
With this understanding is coming
confidence in irrigation propositions.
and Willingness to invest in them. But
To him who desires To farm without
irrigation. Montana offers plenty of
opportunity.
The land which can be irrigated is
probably less than a fourth of what
will eventually be cultivated. To be
gin with. we have quite large areas
which may be cropped under natural
farming methods.
To quote from the report of the
commissioner of agriculture. labor and
industry-"The wonderful production
Of grass upon the ranges. no less than
the returns from dry farms. proves
that abundant crops can be grown up
on large areas of Montana farming
lands. depending entirely upon the
natural rainfall in some localities, and
upon its conservation in others. The
old time farming without water. and
the new dry farming system are. how
ever. entirely separate and distinct.
They vary not alone in respect to the
in Ea tat I,,f
method as well. The high precipita-
tior in certain sections of the state
has for years enabled farmers to grow
barley and other grains which excelled
any produced by irrigation. 1t is in
teresting to know that this excessive
rainfall is to be looked for on the
western slopes of mountains, where
wind blows over 1 wide stretch of VAL
ley To the west. These conditions pre-
vail on the western slope of the Rocky
mountains in Flathead county. where
irrigation is the exception; on the
western slopes of the Highwood, the
Belt and the Big Snow mountains IN
Fergus and Cascade counties, and on
the western slopes of the Gallatin and
Bridger ranges in Gallatin county. and
on the western slopes of the. Pryor
and Big Horn mountains in Carbon
county. Incidentally. those are the
! noted regions for fruit culture
Dry Farming.
Besides these areas. we have lands
adapted only to dry farming. The
farmers on the high benches of Gal
latin county were the pioneers in this
| field. Their success has led to the
| orering UP of other sections. 1t is
now being demonstrated that large
| tracts heretofore regarded as only
grazing lands" are capable of rails
/ ing immense crops of grain. just
where the limit in rainfall is, below
which we can not go with successful
I dry farming. the experts do not say
hut 1t is safe to conjecture that the
amount of grazing land which vii
be raising wheat within the next II
years viii be a revelation to us all
This character of farming is peculiarl,
adapted TO being carried on in a large
way, and 1t is only reasonable to ex.
pect that the big grain farms of Mon,
tana, in the ear future, will be IN the
dry. land.
The agricultural college people have
taken up the dry land farming work
and established experiment sub-sta-
tons in Dawson county in 1905: Rose.
bud in 1906: Chouteau In 1906; Yellow.
stone in 1907: Cascade i'm 1908 ani
Beaverhead in 1868. The average re.
suit from all stations for all year.
tested is: Fall wheat 81 bushels pei
acre: rye. IS bushels: spring wheat
IN, F,@fx. a.
bushels: flax seed IL bushels and pc
tate s l23 bushels, bigger yields thar
are ordinarily gotten in humid coun.
try. The normal precipitation 4her,
The experiments were tried is from
ID Ia Isl, inches.
Perhaps the most famous of all dry
farming districts is the great judith
basin in central Montana. There Il
is estimated that in time at least {
million and half acres of winter
wheat will yield as bountiful harvest:
as the hundred thousand acres now
in.
Valley county near the Fort Peel
reservation and extending on to tn,
vest is another favorable section. Tn.
places where experiment stations ar,
located are still others
No other state has such an amount
If water power going to waste. Grea
Falls issues a graphic statement show
ing that at this ore place on the Mis-
souri, river there is more water power
available than the aggregate possessed
by Minneapolis. Spokane and hal
dozen Of the New England manu-
featuring cities-ihat in magnitude i
is second only to that of Niagara
While this is perhaps the largest /
is OILY one of thousands Of magnifi
cent power sites all over the state
Some day an immense amount of thi!
power will be utilized in E1anufactur
ing. but before this comes We vii
be using it for transportation ant
farming.
Possibilities.
A few days ago l noticed an &C
count of the successful handling o
switch engine IN Omaha which wa
run with electric power transmitte,
by wireless. When the conveying o
power in this manner is perfected s.