Cut Bank pioneer press. [volume] (Cut Bank, Mont.) 1909-current, 1916-10-06


how the family COW, oblivious to the
dangers of barbed wire, broke into
the garden and in one burst of glut-
tony devoured the tender stalks; what
the bugs did to it; how the hail beat
it into the ground, and towards the
last how the frost nipped the chances
OF the child to win the silver cup. But
the children did themselves proud,
and 1O3 of them won medals for pro-
ducing 10 mature ears of Dent corn
from the SO kernels they planted the
spring before. Fourteen boys and girls
won silver cups, and Horace Shepherd
of Hedgesville, Frances Risley of
Genu and Martin Swinney of Gid
ford, were the guests of the Rogers
Templeton Lumber company for sew
eral days in the city Of Great Falls,
and we enjoyed having them with us
you beti
That spring we gave away over Sc
bushels of seed corn. Some of this
seed was never planted because of
lack of faith. Some was planted and
forgotten, but we estimated that about
400 acres of corn was actually plant
ed, cultivated and harvested in the
year 1913. We arranged to get very
complete reports from everyone who
planted corn; the kind of soil; bottom
or highland; how the land was pre-
pared; date corn was planted; date
of cultivation and the implements
used; growth and maturity, and other
information. But to put the whole
thing in a nutshell: Corn that was
planted about the 10th of May on
summer fallow land or breaking,
came up in two weeks, and with pro-
per cultivation and sufficient rain,
made all the way from 25 to 40 bush
els and from five to eight tons of
forage per acre.
The experiment was a big success.
We found out that we could not only
grow corn in Montana, but good corn,
and that it was a profitable crop
aside from the fact that it gave the
dry-land farmer the very thing he
needed most-good feed for his stock.
I'll tell you, corn standing six feet
tall in August was mighty convinc-
ing evidence and I remember one old
time rancher who in the early spring
offered me the best Stetson hat he
could buy in exchange for just one
little nubbin of corn, when he saw The
results obtained by a neighbor with a
half acre, promptly announced his in
t%ention of planting a "patch o. corn
next spring"
In 1914 we decided to continue our
free offer to give one gallon of the
best seed we could find to anyone
who would plant an acre of corn. That
year it took 236 bushels to go around
and there were at least $500 acres
planted in northern Montana. Corn
grown that year in northern Montana
received favorable mention not only
at our state fair in competition with
! corn grown in the southern part of the
state, but received some notice in St.
Paul This established the fact be-
yond a doubt that corr would event
ually take its place as an important
forage crop-if not some day as a
cereal.
The European war, however, has
spelled tragedy to corn. The high
prices predicted and which we are
realizing today made everybody
dream of big money in wheat. This
year it is doubtful if the acreage is
as great as in 1914. Back in the mid
die west they had been content to
check out the wealth the Creator had
placed to their credit in the soil with
out any thought of the future, but
the time came when the account was
o~verdrawn, and the result was thous-
ands of worn out, no account farms.
But diversified farming has been
preached now for several years with
strong emphasis on livestock. Even
in the finest wheat counties of
Kansas, stock and feed are now find
ing high favor as the profitable end
to farming. In North Dakota this