GENERAL REVIEW 



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PICTURE of the Montana crop situation in 

 1926 must include an inset of east central 

 and southeastern Montana, where the sea- 

 son was almost a repetition of the disas- 

 trous experience of 1919, in contrast with 

 which the rest of the state ranged from an 

 average crop to yields the best m years 

 in central and south central Montana. For 

 the state as a whole, production of princi- 

 pal crops in 1926 exceeded that of 1925 by 

 about live per cent despite the drouth in 

 the eastern sections and the severe freeze 

 of September 24th and 25th which badly 

 damaged the corn, potato and apple crops. 



THE GROWING SEASON 



In general the growing season was char- 

 acterized by temperatures above and rain- 

 fall below normal, which in east central 

 and southeastern Montana combmed with a 



very light winter reserve of soil moisture to seriously impair the early growth 



of winter wheat and spring grain crops. 



General rains of June 12th to 20th came in time to save the crop prospect 

 in central, western and to a large extent northern Montana although some per- 

 manent damage had already occurred on light soils in this latter area and extreme 

 northwestern Montana. These rains were too late to make much difference in the 

 situation in east central and southeastern Montana, except in the higher eleva- 

 tions along the Wyoming line in southeastern Montana, where drouth had been 

 less severe. 



July and August were not unfavorable, considering the type of weather 

 expected at that time, but drouth areas were needing weather much more favora- 

 ble than average. 



September witnessed a reversal of the season's trend of high temperatures 

 and low rainfall, being marked by excess precipitation and subnormal tempera- 

 tures that culminated in the freeze of September 24th and 25th and brought zero 

 weather to central Montana and damaging temperatures generally. For low 

 temperatures in September, this weather broke all state records. 



THE FREEZE DAMAGE 



The cold September cut short the growing season for corn which, in the 

 eastern third of the state, was planted later than usual due to the dry weather. 

 Less than a third of the crop was matured at the time of the freeze. Nearly 

 half of the apple crop in the important Bitter Root and Flathead sections of 

 western Montana was still on the trees, the unpicked portion of the crop being 

 nearly a complete loss. The bulk of the potato crop was still in the ground and 

 suffered a loss of frozen stock that is expected to reduce the state's exports of 

 potatoes to about half those of last year, with damage to stored potatoes showing 

 more badly than first supposed. Lighter damage from freeze and wet September 

 weather occurred in case of beans and peas and unthreshed grain crops. 



AGGREGATE PRODUCTION LARGER IN 1926 



From a crop production standpoint and compared with 1925 and the 1920-1924 

 average, the western half of the state, in 1926, has rated above both last year 

 and average, the northwestern quarter of the state was generally below last year 



