36 



THIRD ANNUAL SESSIONS 



end to the other. There is more good land in the state of Iowa from 

 corner to corner than in any other state in the Union. But, I say without 

 fear of contradiction, that this area of cultivated land in Montana will 

 produce more pounds of grain that the state of Iowa. Not only that, 

 but commencing in the Big Horn Basin in the northern portion of Wyom- 

 ing, and we have an extent of country nearly 300 miles long extending 

 from the Rocky Mountains east 150 miles that has the most equable cli- 

 mate of any section of the y/hole United States. That area is just about 

 the area of the state of Illinois, and as I have said time and time again 

 to friends back in my native state of Illinois, that we can raise more 

 grain acre for acre in that section, the belt comprised in that section I 

 have just described, than they can in the whole state of Illinois. Now 

 out of this, one and a quarter million acres is irrigated land, and there 

 is 6,000,000 acres possible of irrigation in this tract. 



Dry Land Area. 



"After deducting all these portions we yet have 25,000,000 acres 

 above the ditch of good arible land in the state of Montana. I have not 

 included in this the mountain valleys. "We do hot appreciate what we 

 have in those mountain valleys. It has been my good fortune to spend 

 several years in Europe, and I have seen dairy farms there in the moun- 

 tains nestling up in the hills with the perpetual snow lying 

 above them. I have seen profitable business carried on there and happy 

 communities living there, and we have places for thousands and thou- 

 sands of prosperous homes in the mountain areas rn the state of Mon- 

 tana. 



Immigration Increasing. 



"Considerable attention has been given in the last few years to the 

 development of this land above the ditch. It has attracted settlers from 

 the East that are coming out in large numbers, and we of Montana feel 

 that we have a moral obligation resting on ourselves to educate these 

 new settlers in the methods adapted to the locality in which they locate, 

 which will produce crops and enable them to make comfortable homes. 



Agricultural College Work. 



"I now hold in my hand the last word from Montana on this sub- 

 ject, right from the press, Bulletin No. 1, issued by the Farmer's In- 

 stitute office, and edited by Proessor F. S. Cooley, and contributed to 

 by members of the State Agricultural College faculty, and it is right 

 up to date, with 228 pages teeming with information and statistics re- 

 garding what has been done and what can be done in the state of Mon- 

 tana. It is profusely illustrated and can be obtained by writing Profes- 

 sor F. S. Cooley, at Bozeman, Montana, and you will find it is right 

 up to the minute. 



Soil Treatment. ^ 



"How large a proportion of the farmers of the semi-arid belt are 

 practicing really scientific methods of soil culture? I am free to admit 



