July, 1909.] 



Miscellaneous. 



harvested per acre ; also 250 bushela of 

 potatoes, 69 bushels of oats, and other 

 hardy crops in equally large quantities. 



The altitude of this station is be- 

 tween 2,000 feet, and the climate is much 

 milder than of the western Dakotas. 

 The average annual precipitation is be- 

 tween 13 and 15 inches, Last year, when 

 the yields above mentioned were secured, 

 there was little more than 13 inches of 

 rainfall, 6 to 7 inches of which came 

 during the growing season, 



There is every indication that a large 

 percentage of the tillable land of 

 eastern Montana heretofore grazed will 

 be brought under cultivation within the 

 next few years, Each month new 

 settlers are moving into this country. 



My chief purpose in visiting Montana 

 at this time was to begin work on the 

 Fergus Country sub-station, recently 

 established. The first crops are to be 

 seeded this spring, but owing to the 

 lateness of the season it was impossible 

 for me to accomplish anything by visit- 

 ing the station itself ; hence, I did not 

 go farther than Bozeman, Mont., where 

 I met Professor Atkinson and Mr. Nelson, 

 the two men in charge of the work. 

 Mr. J. S. Cole, recently appointed in the 

 Office of Dry-Land Agriculture Investi- 

 gations, accompanied me and remained 

 in Montana to look after the spring 

 planting. Our work will be thoroughly 

 established there this spring, We are 

 planting this year in plats and in the 

 nursery a hundred or more varieties of 

 spring grains, and hope to secure con- 

 siderable information that can be used 

 immediately to good advantage by the 

 farmers, as well as to accumulate data 

 of value for the further and permanent 

 improvement of crops for this section. 



The principal grain crop now grown 

 here is wheat. The two main varieties 

 are Turkey Red winter wheat and 

 Kubanka durum spring wheat. The 

 winter wheat is preferable, as it yields 

 10 to 20 bushels more per acre than the 

 best spring wheat known. Various 

 crops are being introduced this year, 

 looking toward the elimination of the 

 one-crop system of farming by substitut- 

 ing a variety of crops that can be grown 

 to advantage in rotation. 



Ploughing with Gasoline Traction 

 Engines, 



While in Montana I had an opportunity 

 to observe for the first time a gasoline 

 traction engine in operation. A 22-horse- 

 power outfit was at work ploughing up 

 sod land on the open prairie. I spent 

 one day following this engine in order 

 to collect reliable data on its perform- 

 ance. From the information obtained 

 at this time, together with that pre- 



viously secured from reliable men who 

 had had experience with gasoline engines 

 with ploughing, I am convinced that its 

 success is practically assured. The 

 gasoline engine is quite simple in its 

 mechanism and is easily handled, only 

 two men being required to operate both 

 engine and ploughs. 



This outfit had been running tor ten 

 days, and had averaged during that time 

 a little more than 25 acres a day on heavy 

 sod, ploughing to a depth of 4 inches 

 and turning it over in good shape. The 

 cost, including labour, was about 80 cents 

 an acre. The two young men operating 

 the engine were inexperienced hands, 

 and yet everything seemed to be moving 

 smoothly. They informed me that 

 they had thus far met with no serious 

 delays on account of breakages, The 

 contract price for breaking sod land in 

 Montana varies from $4 to $5 per acre. 

 It would require twenty-five horses and 

 five men at a cost of not less than $3 - 50 

 to $4 '50 per acre, to do the same amount 

 of work per day that these two young 

 men were doing with their engine. 



The gasoline-engine proposition for 

 ploughing and other farming operations 

 is entirely feasible where farming is 

 done on a large scale, but it would not 

 be practicable for the smaller farmer to 

 owu and operate an outfit. However, a 

 number of small farmers could join 

 together in the purchase of an engine 

 without involving themselves as heavily 

 as by purchasing the horses necessary to 

 do the same amount of work- This 

 method is followed in the West in 

 buying thrashing outfits and is found 

 thoroughly practicable. 



If it is possible to produce crops at a 

 cost of $2 to $4 less per acre by the use 

 of gasoline engines on our dry farms 

 this method should be adopted. The 

 saving would be remarkable, especially 

 where the average yield of wheat per 

 acre probably does not exceed fifteen 

 bushels. Some twenty of these plough- 

 ing outfits have been placed in Montana 

 this year. In my judgment the gasoline 

 ploughing outfit is here to stay and will 

 aid materially in the cheap production 

 of farm crops on our dry lands. 

 Dry-Land Agriculture in Utah. 

 At Logan, Ucah, I spent one day 

 at the Agricultural Experiment Station 

 and two days visiting among the 

 dry farmers of the Bear River 

 Valley of northern Utah and the 

 Malad Valley of southern Idaho. These 

 two valleys offer splendid opportunities 

 to study dry-land farming where it has 

 been practised for the last forty years 

 under an annual rainfall of less than 

 13 inches, with an average of less than 

 5 inches during the growing season. 



