The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1922-12-08
BY LESTER COLE
Editor The Montana Farmer


the great middle west was young, the
farmers in southern Iowa and Illinois
shook their heads when they heare
that settlers in the northern districts
of those states were trying to raise
corn. ut can't be DONE" they said
ssThe northern and western limits Of
the corn belt have been reached and
corn can be pushed no further" But
the old timers of the corn belt were
mistaken and the settlers to the north
and west succeeded in their efforts
to adapt corn to their lands and then,
as the agricultural frontier was push
ed farther and farther westward and
northward, corn followed in the path
way of flax and wheat until Kansas,
Nebraska and the Dakotas had been
added to the dominions of King Corn,
that great builder of permanent
and substantial agriculture.
Crossing the line into Montana was
hut another step for this ambitious
monarch and for number OF years
eastern and some parts OF central,
Montana have been producing sub
stantial crops of corn fodder. In 1910
there were 10000 acres of corn in
these sections of the state. BY 1913
the acreage virtually doubled and by
1915 there were 10000 acres in corn.
Since then, this almost phenomenal
increase has kept on until corn has
become a valuable and an important
crop. This season just jast has been
a remarkably successful corn year for
Montana and the states 240 600
acres of corn have produced bount-
eous crops of corn for "hogging off,
for fodder, for ensilage and for grain.
Northern Montana Invaded
When the average Montanan
thinks of Montana grown corn, he
thinks of the fields in the central,
southern and particularly eastern
sections of the state, and there, 1t is
true, the greater part of Montana's
corn crop is produced. But, true to
his old habits, the progressive mon
arch - King Corn - has been busy
new territory. About the
first the average citizen of the state
knew of this latest invasion was when
he picked up his morning paper a few
weeks ago and read the first an
of the Northern Montana
Corn show to be held at Malta. No
doubt he glanced over the item cas-
ually, reflected for a moment on the
folly of such an undertaking and
passed on to more serious things. |
Little did he realize that corn pro-
duction had reached stage of con-
siderably more than minor import |
ance in the tier of counties that |
stretch along the Canadian line, that
in this northern territory. the acreage
given over to this crop is as great as
the entire corn acreage of the state
less than 10 years ago, that almost
half the farmers in the district from
Hill county to the Dakota border are
growing corn.
This change from straight wheat
farming is taking place quietly. The
dawn of the new era has come swift
ly and although northern Montana is
lust on the threshold of the newer
and better agriculture, the progress
that has already been made, as dem
onstrated by the first annual Nor
,hern Montana Corn show, held at
Malta, is remarkable and wonderfully
The crying need of
he vast dry land area along the nor
.hern border has been for feed
crop, dependable enough to form the
,asis for more diversified and
more permanent and profitable sys-
EN- of farming. To the hundreds of
visitors who attended the exhibition
It Malta there can be no doubt that
he need is being answered.
Corn Gives Confidence
To the farmers, to the bankers, to
he business men of northern Mon
ana is coming feeling of calm con- 5
idence in the future and the foun-
lation of that confidence is corn.
straight wheat farming is recognized
wherever it has been carried on as !
gamble-as a temporary system of !
arming at best and as particularly
hazardous enterprise in many sec {
ions of the northwest during the con-
Litions, economic and climatic, that
lave prevailed for the last few years. !
Jorn farming is safe and permanent {
because corn is the premier d
eed crop of America, means live
took, supplementary crops, rotation =
lin short diversification, and div I
ratification means safe farming, en-
'loyment the year round and prosper q
JUS AOnlSSs Anu oO OuL vi INC years
# uncertainty, of failure and des-
air in dry land districts toward the .
canadian border has been born a l.
lew understanding of sane agri- I
ulture.
Among the visitors at the corn ex- y
ibit at the Phillips county court 7
ouse last week were men and women ?
Tho would not believe at first that Q
IL of the 5000 fully matured ears !
f corn on display had actually been
rown on the farms of northern Mon
ana and had not been imported for Il
he occasion from Iowa or illinois,
Iany were amazed to learn that for Il
ach ear on the racks there were y
lore than 10 acres in corn in the =
orthern border counties this year. 5,
Included in the show were hundreds q
f exhibits representing the varieties Y
hat are being grown and adapted Il
0 northern Montana conditions-the p
dent, White flint, yell II
DIV flint, White dent, Yellow dent,
nd the mixed flints.
One of the interesting features of "
he show was an exhibit of two ears d
f Yellow flint corn-one grown in s.