78 MONTANA 191i 



should be to sow the flax crop in May and alfalfa in earl_\- June. The aim 

 should be to sow all these crops on summer fallod or on corn or potato 

 land, leaving the stubble land of the previous year for summer fallow and 

 corn. \\'hen spring opens the land for grain will probably need discing and 

 harrowing, when the grain may be once put in. Corn and potato land 

 should not be plowed for the crop that follows. 



On the dry-land farms the following crops may be grown without the 

 haxard of failure, even in a dry year, provideing they have been planted in 

 season and on properly prepared land. These include winter rye, spring 



rye, winter wheat, spring wheat, flax, barley, oats, speltz and 

 Crops That peas. In all parts of Montana potatoes do well when properly 

 May Be handled and beans are a success below the middle line of the 



Grown. State. The chief fodder crops are corn, alfalfa and broom corn 



millet. The most promising pasture crops tried thus far under 

 dry-land conditions are winter rye, brome grass and sweet clover. 



The rve crop is the hardiest and surest of all the grain crops that can 

 be grown. When given a fair chance it should seldom or never fail. But it 

 should not be gTOwn as a directly marketable crop by those who can feed it, 



as it will be worth much more when judiciousl}^ fed on the 

 Rye the farm. Every farmer with stock should grow some rye every 



Hardiest year. The aim should be as far as practicable to follow rye 



and Surest. with corn to prevent the volunteer rye from remaining in the 



land. 

 Tlie wheat crop is the greatest of the cash crops of ^Montana and in 

 much of the dry-land area the winter v^'heat crop will give better returns 

 than spring wheat. Only on the western border of the State is it much 



liable to injurv in the winter in the absence of protection. It 

 Wheat Is ^^'^^^ equally well on summer fallow or on corn or potato land, 



the Big The Turkey Red. the Karhov and Bufifonis beardless Turkey 



Cash Crop. Red are the varieties of most promise. Of the spring varieties 



Durum is the best yielder, but the Marquis also has given 



good yields. 



As a marketable crop, tlie flax crop ranks next to wheat. The climatic 

 and soil conditions are so peculiarly favorable to the growing of flax that 

 in the near future jMontana must stand first in flax production among all 

 the states in the Union. The normal yield of flax in ^Montana 

 As to the jg about eight to ten bushels per acre, but there have been 



rowmg instances when the almost unprecedented yield of 25 bushels 



per acre have been realized. Flax may be best grown on sum- 

 mer fallow or corn land. Good crops have been grown on 

 breaking, but to this there are some objections, as is shown under the dis- 

 cussion on rotations. AYhen growing flax every care should be exercised to 

 secure seed free from the germs of that dread disease known as flax wilt. 

 To introduce that disease into the virgin soils of ^Montana is in a sense 

 calamitous, as where once introduced it will reniain many years in the soil. 



-The same effort ivill pay a higher dividend in Montana. 



