OCR Text |
Show DRY LiND HOMESTEADS. The following from the Butte (Montana) (Mon-tana) Miner is of interest to the members mem-bers of the Congress: "In the last few years Montana has become greatly interested in dry land ifarming as distinguished from the irrigation form of agriculture and much headway has been made along these liivcs, both in the Eastern and Western sections of the state. That land which was formerly considered arid, can be cultivated and made to produce valuable crops under a certain cer-tain sysUem of cultivation, is now generally recognized. "When the present homestead bill was passed, its framcrs did not have in mind so much the arid, as the other oth-er states of th'e Union, and the id'ea was to give away to every home-builder home-builder one hundred and sixty acres of arable land. "Now many of the Western representatives repre-sentatives in Congress fccjl that the dry land home-steader should be put upon an equality with his moe fortunate for-tunate brother outside of the arid belt, .and in order to accomplish this it has been proposed to give him three hundred and twenty, instead! of one hundred and sixty. "The theory is that if the Dry Fai-mcr Fai-mcr can only crop his land every other, year, he ought to have twice ai muchground in order to' even things up. "Tins' measure, according to the Miners' Washington correspondent, will come up at the next session of congress. Last winter it was defeated defeat-ed because the toll was loosely drawn and might have permitted of some fraud if it lrad been passed1. "A dry farm of three hundred and twentyacrcs docs not appear to be too much to allow a man for his homestead, but, of course, land taken up under this law would have to be absolutely incapable of being irrigated, irrigat-ed, or, .complications might ensue. If men with an cyg to the futur.c could secure land that might afterward be I included in some government irriga- I tion project an injustice would be Mb worked1. Throughout a large section H of Mpntana the three hundred and J twenty acre homestead would prove I an inducement to settlers, and would help to build up a state and odd to I its taxable wealth. "The experience of other semi-arid I countries has been that the breaking up of the soil and its cultivation has changed climatic conditions and in-creased in-creased average annual rainfall. "The experience is certain to be duplicated in Montana in time, a" Dry Farming extends over a greater area of this state." Apropos of this editorial is the following fol-lowing resolution forwarded by the Board of Control of the Congress to the Wyoming representation in Congress Con-gress last week: "RESOLVED, That we, the mem-bcrs mem-bcrs of the Board of Control of the Third Trans-Missouri Dry " Farming Congress, to be held in Cheyenne, Wyoming, February 23-24-25, 1909, do hereby endorse and urge early passage sage of the Mondcll bill, now befor the Congress of the United States providing for three hundred and twenty-acre Dry Farm homesteads, and wc pledge our support to that msis urc and the Secretary is hereby in- structcd to forward copies- of this rcsoution to all Wyoming nicralc of the National Congress.! i " |