Resources of Montana . timated an additional 4,000,000 acres are susceptibleof irrigation. It costs more to farm irrigated than non-irrigated land, but returns jare more certain and the average crop yields are higher. Specialized crops are moreoften found on the irrigated lands, such as potatoes, sugar beets, and seed peas. The jtendency in many irrigated districts is toward the winter feeding of live stock formarket. Under normal conditions it is seldom that the farmer on irrigated land can jcompete with the farmer on non-irrigated land in growing grain for the market. Theformer gradually dro
Resources of Montana . timated an additional 4,000,000 acres are susceptibleof irrigation. It costs more to farm irrigated than non-irrigated land, but returns jare more certain and the average crop yields are higher. Specialized crops are moreoften found on the irrigated lands, such as potatoes, sugar beets, and seed peas. The jtendency in many irrigated districts is toward the winter feeding of live stock formarket. Under normal conditions it is seldom that the farmer on irrigated land can jcompete with the farmer on non-irrigated land in growing grain for the market. Theformer gradually drops out of the business of raising grain for market and goes in \for alfalfa and the crops whose money value per acre is large. Safety in Diversification. The majority of the settlers on the non-irrigated lands, at least during their firstfew years, have gone in almost exclusively for grain growing. They did this becausemost of them had but little money and could not afford to stock their places with LAND OF OPPORTUNITY. This Field of Wheat Grown in Flathead County and Unirrigated Threshed Thirty-five Bushels to the Acre in 1919 live stock. This has not made for a permanent system of agriculture. In years ofdeficient rainfall, the surplus of good years was consumed and no reserve was avail-able, and owners have abandoned their farms. Experience has taught the value ofdiversification. Corn has been introduced into the rotation, taking the place of sum-mer fallowing. Corn and sunflowers are certain crops on non-irrigated farms in thedriest of years, and, converted into silage, furnish the feed for cattle and hogs. Onthe non-irrigated farm, a silo and some live stock is drouth insurance. Most of thenon-irrigated farming areas are adjacent to the grazing lands, of which Montana has37,000,000 acres, and for eight months of the average year the cost to the farmer ofgrowing his live stock is nominal. That portion of Montana west of the Rocky Mountains offers more varied agricul-tural o
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectagriculture, bookyear
