28 



MONTANA : INDUSTRIAL RESOTRCES 



Corn Is Bringing in Hogs 



when transportation and niarkotinsr factors aro improved, the dominance of this 

 district in wheat production is more apt to grow than to decline. It is also, and 

 will continue to be, the doimnant region in the state of corn production. On non- 

 irrigated farms in this part of the state, corn is becoming one of the most 

 important crops, for fodder as well as grain. It is not generally known that 

 eastern Montana raises watermelons so successfully, that Rosebud county water- 

 melon-growers have organized an association for the marketing of a crop that 

 finds favor with the consumer and which reaches him when there is no compe- 

 tition to the Montana grower from other districts. 



There is more arable land in the plains region than is found in both the west- 

 ern and eastern slopes regions combined, and more land is in farms, but with a 

 few exceptions, agriculture has not reached the same stage of development as in 

 the districts to the west. The exceptions are found on the irrigated lands, the 

 acreage of which in comparison to the acreage of the non-irrigated lands is 

 small, and confined principally to the Yellowstone valley, the Big Horn valley and 

 the Milk River valleys. Most of the irrigated lands along the Yellowstone, and 

 many along the Big Horn, are well improved and in a good state of cultivation. 

 The Milk River lands are just being developed. Smaller irrigated or irrigable 

 tracts are also found along the ^Missouri and ;MusseIshelI rivers and smaller 

 streams in this district. 



Irrigated and non-irrigated farming, both requiring special methods, the former 



to put the water upon the crops and at the time that insures maximum yields, and 



the latter to conserve by tillage and the proper crop rotation the 



Types of natural precipitation, are the dominant types of agriculture, 



Farming though in certain districts, such as the Judith Basin, where 



the annual precipit.ition averages 19 inches, the farming sys- 

 tem of the middle east has proved successful. 



Aside from the lands in the valleys of the Yellowstone and the Milk rivers, 

 and their large tributaries, non-irrigated farming is the rule in the eastern half 

 of the state. More irrigated lands are found on the eastern slope of the moun- 

 tains than in any other part of the state, but even here the acreage in non-irri- 

 gated farms is vastly greater compared to the total agricultural area. Irrigated 

 farming antedates even the discovery of gold in Montana while non-irrigated 

 farming developed only after the waning of the range days. It grew slowly in 

 the first decade of this century and then burst all reasonable bonds, expanding 



