20 SUMMARY ANNUAL REPORT 



and the Northwest Potato Exchange conducted by the Commissioner. 

 The findings of the Commissioner of Agriculture and Mr. Fred C. 

 Sumner, who was asked to sit as joint commissioner in the hearing, re- 

 sulted in modifications of the marketing contract of the Northwest 

 Potato Exchange, which have resulted in much more satisfactory re- 

 lations between grower and seller during the past year. 



In September, complaint was made to the Commissioner of Agri- 

 culture that there was no market for the bean crop of the Yellow- 

 stone Valley, reported to exceed one million pounds. Immediately the 

 department got in touch with over fifty firms in the east and on the 

 west coast which handle beans as a specialty. The numerous inquiries 

 and offers* receievd by the department were turned over to the growers 

 and to local dealers with the result that a number of car lot sales 

 were made, the price for beans at Billings rose one cent a pound 

 withni a week, and an ample buying market was brought to the growers. 



This fall the Commissioner's office undertook to bring the growers 

 of the turkey crop of the state, which this year was considerably 

 larger than usual, in touch with the buyers and dealers in all the 

 important markets, in order to prevent a glut of local markets and a 

 fall of prices. An early bulletin was issued describing turkey grades, 

 giving instructions as to proper methods of killing, dressing and 

 packing turkeys for the best marketing advantage, and giving lists 

 of over one hundred big dealers ac 1 their needs. This was supple- 

 mented by later bulletins giving specific price quotations and offers 

 by these dealers, any one of a dozen or more of which controlled a 

 demand sufficient to absorb the entire turkey crop of Montana. This 

 work is now under way and no check on results are possible as yet. 

 Next year the service should be extended by holding schools in con- 

 nection with the poultry department of the Montana State College, to 

 instruct turkey growers in dry picking and proper methods of packing 

 for shipment. 



Numerous investigations were made direct from the Commissioner's 

 office. A study of the possibility of transporting wheat grown in Gar- 

 field and McCone counties to rail shipping points by steamer on the 

 Missouri river reduced the project to a definite plan with definite 

 figures of cost which cannot be profitably met at the present price of 

 grain. Investigation of conditions in Clark county, Idaho, from which 

 place it was desired to ship timothy hay into Montana, was made, 

 resulting in refusal to modify the quarantine which prohibits ship- 

 ment of hay from that part of Idaho into Montana. In co-operation 

 with the office of the State Entomologist, a careful examination of all 

 alfalfa fields between Dillon and the Idaho boundary along the Oregon 

 Short Line Railway was made, during the summer when damage by 

 alfalfa weevil would have been detectible. No sign of weevil was 

 found. 



Investig-ation of Colonization Projects: Two applications were 

 made to the Commissioner's office for certificate of approval of land 

 colonization projects, one by the Shields Valley Colonization Company 

 of Wilsall, and the other by the Great Western Land Company of 

 Poison. Neither had arranged an amortization payment sales plan as 

 definitely required by the law, and certificates were withheld. In the 

 case of the Shields Valley Project, extensive investigation into the 

 agricultural possibilities and the water rights were made by the Mon- 

 tana State College and the Montana Irrigation Commission, at the 

 request of the Department of Agriculture. 



Aid to Poultry Sliows: The Department of Agriculture was made 

 heir to the duties of the former Board of Poultry Husbandry without 

 having been given any financial appropriation for its work. The sum 





