FARM ORGANIZATIONS , 21 



in soutbiTii Muntaiiu. Tlio Oraii^X' ami Eciuit.v liavi' at-Uve locals. The Montana 

 Stocksrowers' Association is the big parent livestock organization, but there are 

 active associations whose membership comprises breeders of purebred livestock of 

 all the leading breeds. Special organizations are functioning for fruitgrowers, 

 poultrymen, dairymen, bee-keepers, and other groups that play important parts 

 in farm develoiJinent in Montana. All the.se organizations are in close co-operation 

 with the .M(Hilniia State College of Agriculture at IHozeman. the state department of 

 agricnlturc, ami llie state Ihestock commissidu and sanitary board at Helena. 



Oue of the factors in successful farming, according to the economists, is a 

 good average yield per acre. Montana's high average crop yield and the low 

 average value of its good ph)W lands, in comparison with the 

 High Average leading agricultural states of the middle west, are important 

 Yields on Low factors to be considered by the man seeking a farm location. 

 Priced Lands Over a period of 16 years, the average yield per acre on 



nine staple farm crops was larger on the a\'erage farm in Mon- 

 tana than it was on the average farm in the big agricultural states of the middle 

 west. The figures used in this comparison are those of the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture. 



Comparing the average yields per acre from 1907 to 1922, inclusive, of Mon- 

 tana with North Dakota, South Dakota. Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, 

 Illinois. Missouri. Kansas, Indiana, and the average for the United States as a 

 whole. Montana ranked first on oats, hay and potatoes, second on winter wheat 

 and spring wheat, third on barley and rye, seventh on flax, and eleventh on 

 corn. Corn, it should be remembered, is a new crop in Montana and farmers 

 are .just beginning to understand how to grow it and to find the varieties best 

 adapted to the state. 



The only comparisons available on crop quality are in wheat and potatoes. 



Over the three-year period of 1920-1922. inclusive, 74.4 per cent of Montana's 



spring wheat graded No. 1 . Wyoming ranked second with 59.4 



Crop Quality per cent grading No. 1. The average for the United States was 



Comparisons 33.4 per cent. Of the states lying east of Montana, North 



Dakota ranked seventh, with ,33 per cent of its crop grading 



No. 1 ; South Dakota ranked ninth Avith 23.3 per cent ; Minnesota tenth with 



20.6 per cent ; Nebraska twelfth aa ith 9.5 per cent ; Wisconsin thirteenth with 8.2 



per cent and Iowa fourteenth with 7.2 per cent of its spring Avheat grading No. 1. 



The quality comparison on potatoes was made by the Louisiana Experiment 

 Station in 1923 when it secured 30 lots of Bliss Triumph seed from ^Montana, 

 Wisconsin, North Dakota, Nebraska and Louisiana. There were eight lots from 

 Montana, each raised by a different grower, and the average of the eight lots 

 produced 192.2 bushels per acre. The average of the Wisconsin lots yield(>d at 

 the rate of 166.5 bushels, of the North Dakota lots at the rate of 161. S bushels, 

 of the Nebraska lots at the rate of 1.50.1 bushels and of the Louisiana lots, which 

 were bought on the open market, at the rate of 103.6 bushels per acre. 



The relative position in average yield per acre, for the last 16 years, of ]Mon- 

 tana. Iowa. Nebraska, Wisconsin. Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and Indiana in the 

 production of corn, winter wheat, spring wheat, oats, barl(\v, flax, rye. ha.v and 

 potatoes, and the average value of good plow lands, based upon figures of 

 the United States Department of Agriculture, are shown in tlu^ following table: 



