THE IRBIGATION AGE. 



207 



is heavy and full and the yields are large and bring 

 good prices. Flax and potatoes are also raised extensive- 

 ly. Dakota potatoes can not be excelled, being large, 

 smooth and white, and when cooked are mealy and de- 

 licious. A yield of two hundred bushels of potatoes per 

 acre is not uncommon. Alfalfa makes a good stand. 

 Cattle fatten on the rich native grasses without being 

 fed with grain. This section is particularly adapted 

 to diversified farming. There will be plenty of cheap 

 pasturage for a number of years, and the man who will 

 start a dairy herd will become independent in a few 

 years. Chickens do well. Spring chickens and eggs 

 bring excellent prices. All sorts of garden truck grow 

 exceptionally well. Along the streams different varieties 

 of wild fruit and wild berries are common. 



HOMESTEAD LANDS IN MONTANA. 



Ouster County. 



In Custer County, Montana, are several million 

 acres of Government land open for homestead entry, 

 much of it near the railroad. This country is well 

 grassed and has been one of the greatest stock-raising 



rainfall varies annually from fifteen to twenty inches. 

 For five years considerable farming lias been carried 

 on without irrigation with the greatest success. Last 

 season thirty-five bushels of hard winter wheat were 

 produced on the average in the entire district between 

 Lewistown and Garneill. The drinking water in Fergus 

 County is unsurpassed and is found everywhere at mod- 

 erate depth. Coal underlies almost the entire Judith 

 Basin and sells at the mines at about $3.00 per ton. 

 The mountains are covered with timber, and, although 

 in the Forest Reserve, the Government permits it to 

 be cut by actual settlers for domestic use. The climate 

 is extremely healthful and good. The winters are not 

 as cold as farther east, being tempered by the famous 

 Chinook wind. The summers are delightful, the heat 

 being tempered by the altitude, which is about 3,000 

 feet. 



Indian Reservations. 



In addition to the above lands, which may be en- 

 tered upon at once, there are, contiguous to the lines of 

 the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, four In- 



Home of F. W. Fletcher, Near Reliance, a Town on the Pacific Extension of the C., M. & St. P. Ry. 



ranges in the West. It is now to turn from stock-rais- 

 ing to farming, and thousands of settlers will gain a 

 comfortable home and independence, where heretofore 

 there has been a handful of ranchers and herders. Lig- 

 nite coal is found everywhere. It can be dug by the 

 settlers themselves where it outcrops, or it may be pur- 

 chased at a low price from those engaged in that busi- 

 ness. 



Yellowstone and Rosebud Counties. 



In Yellowstone and Rosebud Counties, Montana, 

 there are large areas of Government land, and at dif- 

 ferent points, notably at Forsyth and Broadview, south 

 of Lavina on the Musselshell, experimental farms have 

 proven that with proper methods of cultivation the soil 

 yields abundantly without irrigation. 



Fergus County. 



Fergus County, Montana, contains about 1,000,000 

 acres of farm land open for homestead entry. Like most 

 of eastern Montana, the soil is fertile to an extraordi- 

 nary degree, and the land lies well for farming. The 



dian reservations, already named. These reservation 

 lands differ from the other lands open for entry in that 

 they are adjacent to developed farm lands, the prices 

 of which range from $25 to $40 per acre. The Gov- 

 ernment has therefore decided to allot them to the pub- 

 lic under conditions slightly different from those gov- 

 erning the main body of free lands. With the possible 

 exception of the Standing Rock reservation, these In- 

 dian lands are expected to be opened for settlement in 

 the spring of 1909. Full information regarding dates 

 and points of registration will be announced later by 

 the General Land Commissioner of the Government at 

 Washington. 



WHO MAT SECURE A HOMESTEAD. 



Under the homestead laws of the United States, a 

 person who is not the owner of more than 160 acres of 

 land in any State or Territory, who is a native-born 

 citizen of the United States, or who has been naturalized 

 or declared his intention to become a naturalized citizen 

 of the United States, who is over the age of twenty-one 

 years or the head of a family, may make a homestead 



