THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



341 



this land is cultivated by the white settlers it will add 

 about 20,000,000 more bushels of grain to the nation's 

 annual production. 



Flax this year is running from 18 to 26 bushels 

 per acre, wheat from 20 to 25 bushels per acre and oats 

 60 to 85 bushels per acre. 



IT WILL GROW ENOUGH TO FEED A NATION. 



The total acreage of the reservation is 2,068,693. 

 The land allotted to the Indians is 723,693 acres. The 

 land that is thus left vacant is soon to be opened for 

 settlement and covers 1,345,000 acres. 



''On the supposition that the unoccupied lands were 

 devoted to the growing of wheat on the summer fallow 

 plan which would mean that one-half the area would 

 be in crop at one time, and on the further supposition 

 that the wheat would yield 25 bushels per acre, which 

 is a moderate estimate for yields on land thus pre- 

 pared, the aggregate production would be 19,312,500 

 bushels," Thomas Shaw, agricultural expert of the 

 Great Northern Railway, estimates. Professor Shaw 

 further says : "If this land were entirely devoted to 

 the growing of barley on the summer fallow plan the 

 yield would be 30,900,000 bushels as barley grown on 

 such land should average 40 bushels to the acre. If 

 the entire area were devoted to the growing of oats 

 on the same lines the total production would be 38,625,- 

 000 bushels, as 50 bushels per acre would not be an 

 extravagant estimate for land thus farmed." 



"There is another way of showing the immensity 

 of the possible production of this fertile tract of land. 

 On the supposition that one-fourth of the entire acre- 

 age was devoted to the growing of fodder corn, the 

 yield at the moderate estimate of 2 l /2 tons per acre of 

 cured fodder would amount to 840,625 tons. If winter 



Exhibit of Mrs. Lone Dog at Indian Fair, Poplar, Mont. 



wheat were drilled in the fodder at the proper season, 

 which is August, and if the yield were the same as on 

 the summer fallow, which would be reasonable to look 

 for, the production in wheat would amount to 8,406,- 

 250 bushels. If one-tenth of the land were devoted to 

 the growing of flax and the yield were 10 bushels per 

 acre, the flax crop would amount to 1,345,000 bushels. 

 If one-tenth of the land were also devoted to the grow- 

 ing of barley, putting the yield at 30 bushels per acre, 

 which would be high enough for land not summer fal- 

 lowed, the production would be 4.035,000 bushels. If 



one-tenth of the land were devoted to the growing of 

 oats at 40 bushels per acre the yield would be 5,380,000 

 bushels. This would still leave one-fifth of the land for 

 other kinds of production such as alfalfa, vegetables 

 and pastures. The estimated possible production then 

 would stand as follows. For each year after the first 

 year : 



Fodder corn 840,625 tons 



Wheat 8,406,250 bu. 



Flax 1,345.000 bu. 



Barley 4.035,000 bu. 



Oats 5,380.000 bu. 



Prize Winning Exhibit of Daniel Martin at Indian Fair, Poplar, Mont. 



"This would still leave ample room for other lines 

 of production." 



A striking era in the evolution of the American 

 Indian was marked on the Ft. Peck Reservation in 

 Montana October 1st, by the first County Fair ever 

 held by Indians. At this unique agricultural exposi- 

 tion there were exhibited some unusual specimens o f 

 grain and grasses which later were entered at eastern 

 land shows in competition with the prize products of 

 the white man. 



The white man has always laughed at the idea of 

 civilizing the Indians, but the primer lesson in agri- 

 culture given the Sioux tribe has worked a remarkable 

 transformation scene in the lives of these red men on 

 the Ft. Peck Reservation. In 1911 Louis Hill, chair- 

 man of the Great Northern Railway Board of Direc- 

 tors, sent a representative body of these Indians from 

 the Montana prairie to the New York Land Show. In- 

 asmuch as the Indians were about to have their lands 

 opened to the white man for settlement, Mr. Hill felt 

 sorry for the crude children of nature and decided 

 upon a novel experiment in their behalf. He figured 

 that if these people were destined, without consent, to 

 become farmers, they should be given some instruction 

 in the agricultural methods of the whites. The Rail- 

 way Chief thereupon picked the most intelligent mem- 

 bers of the tribe and gained the approval of the In- 

 terior Department at Washington, to send them to the 

 Gotham Land Show. The result was that the Indians 

 went back to their Montana tepees imbued with the 

 idea of tilling the soil and producing all of the wonder- 

 ful products which they saw exhibited at the Madison 

 Square Garden Show. 



(Continued on page 353) 



