The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1916-09-28

ers prevailed, causing some delay
in the harvesting Of grain. Just
now it is clearing, according to
the weather reports, and season
Of good weather is in prospect.
Probably IS per cent of the crop
is in stack, or shock, or has been
threshed, so not great deal Of
grain has been damaged by the
weather.
The fact that the crop is only
about 60 per cent of normal, while the
equipment was for 100 per cent
crop is making the problem of quick
threshing an easy matter. The high
price of grain will more than offset
the shortage of the crop. and about
the only ones who will lose money be-
cause of the shortage will be the
threshers. They will have only about
half their normal work to do, and
practically every bushel Of grain
grown will be threshed and in the bin
weeks before the average end of the
threshing season Of normal crop
years. The tendency Of the average
farmer, all over Montana is to take
advantage of the present high price
Of wheat, and let the future take care
of itself.
These conditions, meaning a quick
disposition Of the grain, will mean a
thirty days earlier start for fall
work, during which time the farmer
will have an ample opportunity to put
in large acreage in fall wheat, or do
fall blowing for spring preparation.
Ground plowed in the fall conseves
the winter moisture, and makes an
excellent seed bed for spring sowing.
Means Larger Acreage.
The additional time at the farmers
disposal this fall will also mean a
substantial increase in the total acre
age planted this fall, and should in
crease next years crop to a consid-
cradle degree. With this increased
acreage in view, and under normal
crop conditions the total of wheat
marketed from the fields Of Montana
next. year should be one to astonish
even the most sanguine prophets OF
the states farm development. LII
conditions work out along these lines,
and the great war continues, as in all
probability it will, until after the har-
vest of next year, and for that matter
it would only have to continue until
after seeding time, the price Of wheat
should remain at very profitable
figure, not as much as is being paid
! now, but very much above normal
This would give to the Montana wheat
grower three very profitable grain
growing seasons, year before last, last
year and the present season, sr1ffi-
cient to put him in very strong pc
sition financially.
Possibly by the end of next year
he will be so strongly entrenched at
the bank that he will not have to take
advantage even Of the new farm loan
law, which is to provide cheap money
for the farmers, but will be in posi-
ton to make a few loans himself. Al
any rate he should have money i'll the
bank, with which to make start ii
blooded stock, or build a new home
turning the old one into garage fol
! his new automobile, or remodeling il
into a comfortable barn de luxe fo1
his growing herd Of blooded dairy
COWS. He will certainly be in a bet
ter position then he would be had he
gone through ten years of norma
wheat at normal peace time prices.
Fair Crops; Abnormal Prices.
This is certainly a great period fo
the Montana farmer, fair crops ant
! abnormal prices; plenty of room il
the best agricultural state in tn
I union to expand in, with rosy, TO
bust future.
But back to crop conditions:
The second crop of alfalfa is in tn
stack all over the state, and the thir
cutting is we'll under way. The al
5 falfa yield is normal, with a consid
: cradle acreage planted last year com
! ing in nice shape. Large yields o
potatoes and sugar beets are bein
: realized, and the yield of early SOW
! flax is heavy Range grass in ever
J section of the state has matured we
and should go long way toward
n making an ample supply of stock fee
for the winter. Corn, which is bein
, extensively grown in the souther
reaches Of the state, is maturing vel