The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1896-12-04
FOR SAFE FARMING
The Campbell System Of Farming by Soil
Culture is Fully Explained by
Henry Parry.
he Has Experimental With the Method
and Finds That 1t Largely In
Creas6S His Products.
WAS A GREAT STORM
For Two Days This Vicinity Was Swept
by aPearfll Storm Railroads Were
Badly Blocked.
THE CAMPBELL SYSTEM.

THE CAMPBELL SYSTEM.
Henry Parry Gives His Experience With
the New Farming system
sFellow citizens and farmers of Davi-
son and Hanson countess: Our insti-
tute is to be held at Mitchell on the
9th and 10th of December and it be-
hooves US, one and all to attend, as at
such meetings many subjects are dis
cussed which are of Importance for the
welfare of all tillers and owners of the
soil There is one subject to which I
desire 70 call your attention to, which
is low being discussed and experiment.
ed within all the prairie states and
even in the east and that is soil cul-
ture and how to conserve the moisture
in the soil until such time as the crop
most needs it.
The extensive drouths of the past
few years, the cause Of widespread
distress have forced people every
where and especially thinking men to-
give more consideration than usual, to
the question of rainfall, irrigation,
preservation of moisture, ETC., but it
has always been evident to few men
| that the prairie states OF this continent,
especially those west of the Mississippi
river were always liable to great
drouth and deficient rainfall at GER
tain seasons of the year, even when the
annual precipitation was normal.
Among those, Mr.. H.. w. Campbell, a
farmer of Putney, S. D., as early as
1885, began to give his attention to the
climatic conditions and the peculiar
formation of the soil of the western
prairies. Since then he has given his
whole attention to devising methods OF
culture which had for their object the
preservation in the soil of whatever
moisture was precipitated during the
year. What is the Campbell method
1t consists in complete rearrange.
ment and puLverizing OF the top seven
or eight inches of soil and turning it as
nearly bottom upward as possible. The
plant food is found at the end OF each
season very largely concentrated ir
the top four inches. This plant food
must be plowed down into the bottom
of furrow seven or eight inches deep
From this depth it will be placed by
the action of moisture just where the
little feeders of the plant roots want it
Immediately after blowing, the lowe1
four inches of the furrow slice must b,
packed as firm as possible, for severa
reasons which would take to mucl
space in this article to explain. Ate
the deep plowing and the sub-surfac
packing the next step is to keep tn
uper two inches of the surface soil con
stantly loose and dry. This forms
soil mulch or dust blanket, so as to Gu
off the moist earth below from tn
effects of the air. Water cannot pas
through loose dry soil by capillary al
traction; therefore the dust blanke
l protects the moisture in the root-be
from evaporation and saves all the ma
ural rainfall for the use of the plants
Strong capillary attraction is desire
in the root.b bed; therefore the root-be
is packed. No capillary attraction
desired in the surface; therefore, th
dust blanket is formed.
1 have the past season experiments
on the above method to some exter
and am we'll pleased with the result
Next year my intentions are to expe
iment on a more extensive scale, as
believe it will increase our crops in a
seasons. It has been tried at sever
points in North Dakota, Nebraska ar
other states with the most satisfaction
results and as Mr.. Campbell, the orgi
ator OF the method, will be with us
the institute to give US an illustrate
lecture upon the subject, this article
written to give you an idea of it ar
come prepared to ask questions and g
J.. all the information yol want. We {
would like to raise two or three bushe
where we now only have one, tina
about what the farmers did the pa
year who followed this method.
also experimental with subsoilil
and am very favorably impressed wi
! the::idea for certain kind Of soils. espt