Judith Gap journal. [volume] (Judith Gap, Mont.) 1908-19??, 1910-05-20
SOME FACTS FOR
FRESH PROMOTERS

Rocky Mountain Husbandman: it
makes us smile to note the immaculate
gall Of some Of the new arrivals in Mon.
sna m regard 10 the situations These
men, many OF them at least. nave never
probably attended any of our county.
district or state fairs. Fl they had done
this they would not BE- so prone to dis.
play such gross ignorance as to what the
people OF the state have been doing the
past ~ years. Some of these fellows
talk as if the virgin sod were only turned
yesterday, and make IL great hubbub
about the passing of the big livestock
outfits just as though the people OF Mon
tana have all these years been doing
nothing but, raising cattle and sheep,
and they seem to think that these in
dustrie> have been carried on without
filling the soil, when in reality some Of
Montana, best farmers have been live
stock rai5er>. 1t was on Hespcr farm on
the wonderful Yellowstone where 25.OOO
sheep were being fed annually that the
worlds record OF l63 bushels of oats per
acre was produced. On the valley Of Sun
River. on the lS.0OO-acre Folweree
ranch, every acre Of which is under ir
Tigatjon, $500 bushels of potatoes were
raised on six acres, an average of GOO
bushels per acre. and on the same ranch
whose alfalfa fields are six miles long
and one and a half to three miles in
width, that six tons of alfalfa per acre
was averaged Nor have Montanans'
achievements been confined to field and
meadow crops. On the jefferson valley.
I. L. Black. the strawberry king. raised
10000 boxes OF strawberries to the acre.
At Plains to-day they have apple trees
yielding - boxes of apples annually.
Bitter Root. with two and Il half mil
lion apple trees. has the same wonderful
record. Montana flour has gladdened
the homes OF the Orient for - years and
her malt has been 4 commodity in Ant.
wcrp just about the same length of
time. Montana took the worlds prize on
more cereals ut tine worlds fair Il, Chi
cago in 1899. at the Trans Mississippi
exposition in 1893. and again at st.
Louis in 1908. than any other state in
the Union. Montana showed Il record
breaking crop Of 400 acres on the Gala
tin valley Of an acreage Of 81 bushels
per acre, showing that it is not patch
farming that these people have been do
ing. With these and thousands Of other
achievements in agriculture. it makes Us
smile that men should come to Montana
today and proclaim that they have dis
covered Il great country. that the old
timer is 4 back number IL horseback
farmer. lazy. shiftlcs> and that he is
suilen and resent full because Il few theo
ri-ts have persuaded Il large number of
people that they can make il living ON
our dry land. The truth is our people
welcome this condition and many of
them are parties to its inauguration.
and the pilgrim who thinks them u lot
OF ignorant fools will be better able to
Judge on this matter later on when he
has learned i'll the bitter school of OK
pcricnce what Montana is capable of
producing and under what conditions our
big crops are grown. They will find Mon
tana to be great farming country, but
they will pass generations before they
10 any better farming and accomplish
any better results than We have been
doing i'll the 10 years Just passed. Mon
tana people have grown gradually into
system Of agriculture that produces
the finest results The production of an
average of 30 bushels Of wheat upon Il
million acres OF land has not been ac-
complished by men on horseback nor
by poor farming. and the men who are
re-;liscovering Montana and who boast
that the old timer is IL back number
will go some before they distance the
people who have made the state what it
is to-day. 4 man must certainly have
y large amount of eyoti,m in his com
position who will blcat out such rot rs
the press of the state seems fond of
reproducing because it is reflection on
the elias, OF farming our Montana pto-