The Kevin review. [volume] (Kevin, Mont.) 1922-1929, 1923-07-12
CORN SAVES PHILLIPS COUNTY
DURING DROUGHT YEARS

---
while a buShel of wheat will seeC
a little more than an acre., seemed
to convince the commissioners thai
money invested in seed corn would
be more beneficial than in wheat
AS a result of this conference, zoe
bushels of the best Northwestern
Dent seed corn available was shipped
into Phillips county.
The season was dry again but
where wheat failed corn made a good
showing for itself. Since then the
corn acreage increased from $500
acres in 1919 to $4,000 in 1923. To-
day everybody is convinced that div
erSified farming can be successfully
carried on in Phillips county. AS the
corn increased, hogs increased from
a few brood sows to ALSO head this
year.
Farmers have succeeded in getting
from 20 to 40 bushels of corn an
acr since the corn experiment start
ed and on top of this have their land
prepared for wheat the following
year. Corn land is equal to summer
fallow for preparing a good seed
bed for small grains.
The question confronting many
farmers today is how to dispose of
the fodder, but this will soon be
solved for many farmers are going
into dairying on a small scale and
in a few years silos will be built and
the Montana drylander will be as
firmly established on the land as the
Kansas and Nebraska farmers today.
Every new agricultural community
passes through its experiment stage,
many of its first settlers fail and
move out of the country, others take
their places and soon prosperity is
reaped by those who conquer the diff
ficulties. Kansas, Nebraska the Da-
kotas and virtually every new farm
ing locality in the United States had
it's crop failures before the farmers
became thoroughly familiar with the
soil and climatic conditions. All of
these states had their wheat failures
and had to resort to Investigation.
Grain Farming Not to be Condemned
Grain farming is not to be con-
demned for northern Motana because
it is the principal money-making crop
we have. From 80 to so bushels of
wheat, 80 to 100 bushels of oats, so
to 60 bushels of barley have been Sc
cured in favorable seasons. Because
,hese yields have been obtained aus
I'D many farmers to overdo small
grain farming. There are farmers
who have lived in Phillips county for
LIZ years and have never had a COM
plete failure with grain but they
nave had years when they only got
seed back.
If a study of our rainfall is made,
can safely figure on getting
hree crops of small grain out of
i've. When grain is sown on corn
or summer fallow it is sure
o produce some. "Stubbled in"
yielded heavy for a few years,
which has been a bigger detriment to
his locality than if no yields had
'een obtained at all. Much grain has
'een sown this same way in hopes
hat those same good years would
eturn again. These fields have been
xcellent breeding grounds for the
rasshoppers and this year when
rain on summer fallow and corn
round is looking fine the hoppers
re cleaning up on many fields of
stubbled in" grain and are moving
better feeding grounds.
A number of experiments have
cen conducted in sweet clover and
Italia production with results that
rove beyond a doubt that these
'ops can be produced on dry land
rms. Of course, no four or six-ton
Ields per acre can be secured but
lat can't be expected on SIS an acre
nd. From one to two tons per
ere have been secured where these :
crops have been planted in i
,ws and cultivated. Experiments
e being made with other forage
ops and eventually this problem
i'll be solved.
Settlers who have lived in this re-
on for a number of years claim
.ey have never had a failure with
crop on dry land farms. In
cations are that seed potatoes will
grown here in large quantities for
.ose sections that are not able to
'oduce their own. The Irish Cob
er and Bliss Triumphs produced in
county are hard to beat.
Dewitt, who lives a few miles
nth of Malta, stated he sold $500
birth of peas, tomatoes, beets, cab
.ge and other vegetables from a
lall patch of ground.
Diversified Wins
Many dry land farmers have quite
few cattle for which they raise win
feed on their farms and pasture
the open range during the sum-
or months. A few years ago the
unity was overstocked but today
ere are thousands of acres of ex-
llent grazing land that can be rent