80 MONTANA 19 lA 



per acre shoiuld be worth more than $20.00 to the farmer. There is the 

 further advantage that the ground is virtually ready to receive the seed of 

 a grain crop that may be expected to yield satisfactorily. The corn crop 

 may also be grown successfully on stubble land under conditions in which 

 grain would fail. The dry-land farmer should give every attention to grow- 

 ing corn. He may plow for it fall or spring, preferabU- the former. It is 

 usually better to plant it in hills, putting four to five kernels in a hill. The 

 aim should be to plant seed matured in the locality. 



Under dry-land conditions it cannot be said that the alfalfa problem 

 has been worked out to a finish. In some instances as many as two or 

 three tons of hay have been secured per acre without irrigation. But these 



areas are especially favored with a moisture supply from the 

 Alfalfa sky or from a subterranean source, as in proximity to foothills. 



Does Well But in other instances it has not given paying yields where 

 in Most the plants have lived from year to year. In the instances last 



Regions. referred to the crop has been usually sown on land not long 



broken, a plan of sowing that should not be followed. The 

 indications now point in the direction of growing alfalfa in rows 36 inches 

 apart and cultivating it where the crop is to be relied vipon to produce a 

 paying crop in a dry season. \Miere the crop is sown on the broadcast 

 plan there is not enough moisture in the ground in a dry season to produce 

 a paying crop. It is also more than probable that good crops of seed may 

 be grown from alfalfa that is tlnis cultivated. The crop should be sown 

 on land that is deeply plowed and summer fallowed or that has been devoted 

 to growing corn and potatoes. For such sowing not more than two pounds 

 of seed should be called for per acre. 



The best rotation in the crops under dry-land conditions at the present 

 time is probably the following: Sun-tmer fallow, winter wheat, corn for 

 fodder, spring rain, followed again by summer fallow. The summer fallow 



conserves moisture for winter wheat. The corn may be suc- 

 Rotation cessfully grown on the wheat stubble land. The corn crop in 



in Crops. turn conserves moisture for the grain crop that follows. If 



crops are grown on spring breaking, those most successful will 

 be flax, Durham wheat, corn and potatoes. But the aim should be to fallow 

 the land the first season in order to get moisture down into the sub-soil. 



The climate of ^Montana, though dr}-- in many parts, is temperate and 

 because of the comparative coolness of the nights in the har^'est season, is 

 extremely favorable to the production of large yields of grain. This, more 

 than anything else, has given IMontana first place among the 

 Climatic states of the T'nion for large grain yields. The bracing and 



Conditions. temperate character of the climate makes it extremely favor- 

 able to the growing of livestock, robust, thrifty and singularly 

 free from disease, but a discussion pertaining to livestock is not the purpose 

 of this chapter. 



— Nature was in a generous mood u'hen Montana was in the making. 



