13 



1)lo. Marcli, April, and May are the worst, and the sunshine of Juno 

 1 is often obscured by showers of soft snow. But with two hundred 

 and seventy-three sunshiny days and only nniety-two rainy days in the 

 vear. the Montana farmer receives with gratitude his allotment of June 

 snow, because it benetits his crops and may save him the work of a 

 second irrigation. 



CROPS. 



In response to a large number of circular letters which were sent 

 out in the summer of lOO-t from the Montana Experiment Station, the 

 yields and vakie of the ordinary crops grown in the prmcipal irrigated 

 valleys of the States were obtained. The accompanying statement rep- 

 resents the averages of all the complete replies received to an in(piiry 

 sent to representative farmers regarding the principal crops in their 

 neighborhood, the average yields per acre, and the prevailing prices 

 for the past few 3ears: 



Crop returns in Montana. 



Kind of crop. 



Yield per acre. 



^Vheat 33 busfteis 81 per cwt 



Oats 57.90 bushels 81.0^ per cwt 



Barley - I 56.50 bushels 81.03 por cwt 



Alfalfa I 118 tons 85.19 per ton 



Timothy 1-16 tons 89.43 per ton 



Clover < 3.ff/ tons i 85 per ton 



Potatoes [200 bushels 50 cents per cwt 



Deciduous fruits and berries i ■ 



Price. 



Value. 



820. 16 

 19.27 

 25. 24 

 21.69 

 13.77 

 18.35 

 60.00 



100.00 



The yields with their corresponding values given in the table are 

 considerably a))ove the average of the irrigated portion of the State. 

 In many parts both water and land are cheap, and careless methods of 

 farming are practiced. The land is not properly cultivated and much 

 of the water applied does more harm than good. Farmers seem to 

 prefer to go to the expense and trouble of cultivating 100 acres in a 

 slipshod manner for half a crop rather than to farm 50 acres in a skill- 

 ful way for a full crop. The figures of crop yields, however, repre- 

 sent with a fair degree of accuracy what can be accomplished when 

 care and skill are exercised in cultivating the soil and applying the 

 water. 



Nearly three-fourths of all the wheat and rye grown in the State are 

 produced on dry farms. A large part of the oats and barley is also 

 raised on dry farms, so that more than one-half of the entire cereal 

 crop comes from the unirrigated farms. This branch of farming is 

 increasing at a rapid rate. Plowed fields which at one time were con- 

 fined to the lowlands are now found far up the mountain side, and it 

 is safe to assert that in a very few years several million acres will be 

 cultivated in this manner. 



