The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1925-04-02

most delicious baking bean in the
world. 1t is a wonderful yielder and
one of the most profitable sorts that
can be raised. 1t also commands a
decided premium over the pea beans;
cooks in considerably shorter time
thar the pea beans, is sweeter, more
tender, and more readily digested.
It is grown to the exclusion of all
other varieties around the Lower
Yellowstone, and in Yellowstone
county districts, which are the big
bean producing sections of Montana.
The state of Montana produced
over 600 car loads of these beans
in 1924 which gave our farms about
two and a half million dollars of
cash money in addition to the other
crops.
1t is my purpose at this time to
state briefly a few of the outstand-
ing facts coming from the testimony
of growers in this western district
and from my own experience.
Wherever the Great Northern
bean has been grown in Montana,
the grower knows it is a dry land
crop as well as an irrigated crop.
Around Billings the growers state
that the acreage of beans is about
equally divided between the dry
land and irrigated lands.
AS a soil builder, the bean stands
next to alfalfa; a large amount of
nitrogen is deposited in the ground;
there is a network of hundreds of
small roots. reaching across from
one row to the other. I raised sug-
ar beets on bean ground one year
and the tonnage was nearly five
tons greater than from the same
field where grain was grown the
year before.
The question has recently been
asked, and with good reason, an
western beans flood the market?
I don't think this is possible for the
following reasons: our bean produc-
ton is only a very small item COM
pared with the old bean growing
states. While Montana produced
600 cars of Great Northern beans
in 1924 Michigan raised 1900 a
loads of Little Navy beans; the other
bean growing states east of the Mis-
rissippi river raised large quantities
of beams; but they do not and can
not apparently raise the Great
Northern bean successfully in their
altitude. Our kind of bean is grown
only in the west and the total fig
uces at this time show only 1900
cars of Great Northern beans; this
seems like a large amount for the
west to grow but it is a small item
COMPARED with the east and south
N the production of bean crops.
There is no trouble to market ten
cars or hundreds Of cars of Montana
beans in the fall months when the,
large houses in the east are laying
in their annual supplies. The peo-
pie like the Great Northern or Mon
tana White bean and it seems to
have a preference a little in price
as well as demand. The bean mar
ket is up and down like other farm
/ CGODS. DQG InN tABCI 1CllOC WIN bNSWAS
during the past eight years is that
the price is more stable than most
crops, and is a good cash crop along
with being an excellent rotation
crop.
The railroad company within the
past few weeks established new
freight rates from this district to
Sidney, Montana. where the North
land Seed company of that place has
installed new machinery for milling
beans and marketing them. This
makes a cash market for all the
beans raised between Havre, Mont,
and Sidney; between Scobey, Mont,
and Sidney; between Williston, N.
D.. and Sidney; between Watford
City. N. D., and Sidney; between
Richey, Mont. and Sidney; between
Miles City and Sidney and between
Beach; N. D., and Sidney. In other
words beans raised on the territory
named above is covered by very fav-
orable railroad rates. reducing the
freight Just about half what it was
a month ago.; this will saw thous-
ands of dollars to the growers in
1925. The Northland Seed COM
pany will extend its buying of beans
from this on to all the territories
named in these new tariffs issued by
the railroads.
In regards as to how any pounds
of beans should be seeded to the
acre.: At a meeting of owe 600
growers of beans in Idaho recently
the rover testified that they had
planted all the way from 35 pounds
to so pounds to the acre and the
ones who had used 60 pounds to
the acre seemed to have gotten the