Rocky Mountain College - Yellowstone / Poly Yearbook (Billings, MT)

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I ff, .t 4f LF. L THE LQLY L f w:1sL..l ' . 1 we , 1 2 1 ' ' . S 1 A CLASS IN ANIMAL HUSBANDRY They learn lu handle every kind of farm machinery. 'lfliis past year the Avery Comany has furnished the school with a threshing machine outlit, gasoline? engine, and plovvs. The boys have threshed the grain and plowed the land with the tractor. .ln connection with their classes in animal husbandry, the students have actual experience in caring for the herds of .lersey and Holstein cattle, the thoroughbred Poland China hogs, and farm horses. The fruit has been gathered and sorted by the boys and a part of it put up for market. The trees in the orchards have been pruned, and practical lessons in grafting have been given. A canning plant has been installed, and the surplus vegetables and fruit, such as sweet corn, beans, peas, plums, and apples, have been caned for winter use. At the State Fair at llelena, the products from the Polytechnic farms won five first premiums, Five second premiums, and three third premiums. At the Yellowstone 'County Fair, the Polytechnic products won fifty-six premiums in all, of which twenty-eight were first premiums. It also won the silver loving cup oiiierd by the Great Northern Railroad for the best farm exhibit. Along with all this instructive work and experience, there has been much pleasure. The boys will long remember the abundance of apples, plums, and cider. One of the beautiful pictures that will be treasured up in the minds of the students this year, is the cider mill in x l!!! Y . 'V . s -4'i- , -. ' -7 1,1 eff , fp J? A . ' Wd?'zi A' 'Fig ,,,, 412 CLASS IN ORCHARDINC

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Agricultural Department AGRICULTURAL EXHIBIT AT ANNUAL BANQULT, I9ll The great purpose of the Polytechnic is to train students to become useful and happy citizens uf a great industrial empire. XX'ith this in minil, all courses have been so arranged that much time is spent in getting lsnowlerlge bv actual experience in doing things. As farm- ing must ever be the most important industry ot our country. much attention is given to the practical agricultural course. Like all other vocational courses of the lnstitute. there are no entrance reruiirements, and each stu.lent is given just the studies that will help him most and give him that knowledge and culture that will arlrl to his usefulness and happiness. Along with his studies, he is given the opportunity ol' learning much on the farm first- hand by observance and actual work. lle studies in boolis about the best methods of caring for farm crops an-'l animals. but out in the great labriratorv-eatlie farm-he works out these theories for himself. under the eve of a proctical and sriccesslul farmer. lt is not stating it too strongly lu say that the Polytechnic farm school can offer better advantages to farm boys than any other school in the countrv. This statement is not made because the farm has, at present. the best farm buildings. or the linest array of farm equip- ment of blooded stoelq' for it has not. lt does have one hunrlrerl and sixty acres of the best irrigated land in Montana. -Xnv farm crop that can be raised in the Northwest. can be raised successfully on the Polytechnic farm. The Polytechnic has one of the best orchards of bearing apple and plum trees in the Northwest. The famous orcharcls of XYashington and Oregon cannot surpass it in quality of fruit or in the yield per acre. Other agricultural college farms may surpass it in size, but this quarter section will vield larger returns and a greater varietv of crops than any section of land in the lfast or Middle West. The bov who enters the agricultural department of this lnstitute, sees everv varietv of farm crop growing under natural conditions, where actual demonstrations are being made with approved varieties and best methods. Tests are being made to see how much protit each acre can be forced to vielrl. lfarni books are kept by the boys themselves and they iind out what farm crops are niost pi-1 ilitable under given conditions. 4 , , -ggd

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Ti-113 POLY I .., -1.3--wgwl-3 A.. .1 N .. CLASS IN AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING operation uncler the trees, arounfl which are gatherefl over fifty boys anil girls, eating' apples ancl clrinlqing' sweet cifler. Another pleasant feature of the farm has been the egg feeds and the abunclance of fruit and vegetables on the tables. 'Ifhe farm has niacle it possible lsr surrouncl the school with that icleal honie influence which woulcl, otherwise, have been impossible. Every stuclent of the Polytechnic this past year will praise the name uf Blr. blames tl. Hill for making the splentlicl gift of this farm to the school. -L. T. E. lYest hears a great commotion in the hall as of cyclones mixefl up with battering rams. and as he hastily inquires into the trouble, is tolcl by one of the innocent bystanclers that the radiator was in its last spasm anil the gurgle he hail just hearrl was the railiator's will mafle out in the name of Peace filasj A-Xt the finish an inch may measure the ilistance between success anil failure: but the next clax' the distance is measurefl in miles. HARVESTING THE GOLDEN CROP I