39 



•are in attendance, and the campus consists of half a section — 

 320 • acres of land. I was cordially welcomed by Dr. J. M. 

 Hamilton, President of the College, Mr. F. B. Lindfield, Director of the 

 Experiment Station, and Mr. A. Atkinson, the Professor of Agronomy. 

 The average rainfall for the whole State of Montana is sixteen inches per 

 annum, and it comes mainly during the months of April, May, and June 

 (spring and early summer). The soil varies from five to forty feet in 

 depth, and is chiefly a sandy loam underlaid with gravel. The dry- 

 farmer of Montana, in seeking for a sign, believes that, generally speaking, 

 where the buffalo grass and the blue joint thrive there is good land, but 

 where he finds cacti the soil is apt to be shallow and dry. The great 

 benefit derived from the summer fallow in Montana is believed to be not 

 so much from the conservation of soil moisture as to the increase in the 

 fertility of the soil by reason of the release of plant food and the activity 

 •of the nitrifying bacteria. Two days before I reached Bozeman there had 

 been a heavy fall of snow, but at the time of my arrival it was rapidly 

 melting away, although, as the Canadians quaintly put it, " I carried my 

 homestead on my feet" all day. 



Montana is the third largest State in the Union — Texas and California 

 being bigger — and has an area of 147,000 square miles, or 93,000,000 

 acres. Of this amount 36,000,000 approximately are level enough to 

 farm, the remainder being mountainous or broken land. Five years ago 

 the outlook was very dismal ; the stock ranges had been over-grazed, and 

 the cattle and sheep men were selling out. They supposed that their 

 lands were quite worthless ; and the railroads were glad to sell their 

 lands at 50 cents per acre. The credit of being the first to advocate the 

 utilisation of the level range for grain raising belongs to Senator Paris 

 •Gibson, of Great Falls. His faith has been amply justified, and the extra- 

 ordinary development of this State within the last three years can be 

 traced entirely to the dry-farming movement. Settlers are pouring in 

 to take up farms on the dry-lands, and instead of 50 cents per acre land is 

 now selling at $5 to $10 per acre. Professor Lindfield, now Director of 

 the State Experiment Farm, had seen the magnificent results of dry-farm- 

 ing in Utah, and on coming to Montana advocated making a start in this 

 -direction, while his colleague, Professor Atkinson, began an active cam- 

 paign on his arrival some two years ago. It is of interest to know that 

 both these gentlemen are graduates of the Ontario Agricultural College 

 in Canada. 



The first dry-farm investigations in the State were started in 1905. 

 The Federal Government contributed $2,000, the Northern Pacific Kail- 

 road Company $2,000, and the State of Montana $500. Next year the 

 Federal Government ceased to contribute, and these experiments were 

 continued with the sum of $2,500 from the Northern Pacific, $500 from 

 the State, and $2,000 from the Great Northern. On 1st March, 1909, the 

 appropriation was as follows : — The State gave $16,250, the Northern 

 Pacific Railroad $5,000, the Great Northern Railroad $2,000, and the 

 Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad $2,000, the Federal Govern- 

 ment $2,500, making a total of $27,750 for aid in dry-farming. Now, it 

 is a most interesting fact to note the cordial co-operation of the railroad 

 .systems with the State Agricultural College. It benefits both parties. 



