The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1922-12-08
FARMERS OF NORTHERN MONT ANA POINT
WAY TO PROSPERITY BY GROWING CORN

lis a prosperous country whose farm
, lands bring a good price. 1t is no
altogether the corn itself but tn
things it brings about-the cows, the
butter, the milk, the chickens, tht
hogs follow the production of corr
lust as night follows day. Corn will
! stabilize the farming business in nor
them Montana and make it safe. Il
Il is much better for everyone to make
a living and some money every veal
n than to have one or two so-called bic
years and then several years of fail.
ure, and corn has proved itself in the
older states ana wherever it has been
tried as the one crop That has fewer
failures and surer yields than any
other crop grown.
"King Corn promises much but
have an idea that he will deliver the
goods. | am sure he is ruler who
will demand lots of work and he may
insist on breaking the union hours
but he is good pay-sure pay. He
appreciates good, honest hard work
| and he will reward such work. He
| is a very benevolent old king very
old and very wise: he has been in
just such places as ours before, and
where they have called him in and
taken his advice and done his bid
ding, he has never yet failed. He
has always brought prosperity and
he will do it for us, so let us get out
and root and cheer and work for
| Old King Corn"
To the visitor who had not travelled
extensively through the farming sec
tions of northern Montana during
the last season, the Northern Mon
tana Corn show was a great revela-
ton. Excepting the county agents
and agricultural extension workers
who have been preaching the gospel
of corn in Montana, there were few
of the hundreds of people who visited
the big exhibition at Malta who were
not amazed at the great display of
5000 ears of fully matured corn that
were racked for the show at Phillips
county courthouse.
County Agents Have Helped
An indication of the progress that
is being made with corn in northern
Montana lies in the fact that the
acreage devoted to this crop has been
doubled in the last two years. Two
thirds of the farmers in Phillips
county are growing corn, as are half
the farmers in Roosevelt and Valley
counties and more than a quarter of
the farmers in Blaine, Hill, Chouteau
and Daniels county.
Without the splendid cooperation
that has been taking place between
the practical farmers of these coun-
ties who have put their faith in corn
and the agricultural extension service
of the state college, the magnificent
progress that has been achieved in
developing corn as dependable crop
for the territory along the Canadian
line could never have been realized.
Back in 1915, Alfred Atkinson. now
president of Montana State college,
and M. L. Wilson, now head of the
economics division of the state ex-
tension service, compiled bulletin,
Corn in Montana" based on care
full historical Investigations and ex-
detrimental work. This bulletin has |
formed the basis for much of the |
most important work of selection and |
that has been done by the
corn growers and the college since
that time.
The work of intelligently develop
ing corn production in the state has
been carried on consistently by the
station and the extension
service through specialists and coun-
" agents and some of the finest trib-
ties that have been paid the college
men and the county agents by practi-
al farmers of the state have been
hos
with corn.
keystone of Diversification
The conviction is general through
tut the northern counties that corn
s the keystone of the great arch Of
diversified farming that is now being
,uilt up through the vast dry land
erritory that stretches along the
Canadian border. The corn show at
Malta proved conclusively that corn
s not vague dream of the future,
lor an uncertain experiment, but is
| dependable crop that has demon
trated its great worth to the north
,rn farms-a reliable dry land feed
rop that has come triumphant out
# years of the most severe trial-the
,ey crop of new agriculture.
No one who is familiar with the
ituation in northern Montana ex-
ects corn to solve all the problems
# the north country. 1t will form
he basis for new start-a sane
tart with farming system that rec
gnizes that diversified agriculture
) the only permanent and substan-
ial agriculture for any country. 1t
1ill provide a dependable feed crop
hat will bring more livestock and
reater diversity, and that will mean
sss gambling with the one crop sys-
EN-. Corn does not lend itself to
onanza methods of farming. The
fficient distribution of farm labor,
citation of crops, weed control soil
lllage, moisture conservation, fer
lily conservation and livestock pro-
uction should all be facilitated by
orn production in northern Mon