Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1896-02-27
WILL HOLD MOISTURE.
How Ground Can be Cultivated
to Greatly Prevent
Evaporation.
Figures Show the Loss OF
Moisture Compared
After Rainfall.
The Method to be Shown Here
This SeaSOn.-ItS
PractiCability.

H. w. Campbell of Sioux City, Ia.,
arrived Saturday and IN the after.
noon addressed an audience at the court
house on soil culture and the copserva-
ton OF moisture. n. F. Spear OF Fargo,
the state agent OF the Sioux CITY Iron
Works accompanies Mr.. Campbell and
assists in the work of dissemination OF
the principles of soil culture which Mr..
Campbell advocates, and on the side
makes arrangements for sales OF machln-
cry especially adapted for this method OF
soil cultivation.
The principles which Mr.. Campbell
advocates can be summed up as fol
lows: Deep or subsoil blowing to form
a reservoir for the storage of rain and
snow water, subsurface packing OF this
plowed soil, and surface or shallow cul-
tivation that retains the moisture by
preventing evaporation. Mr.. Campbell
is an exceedingly interesting speaker on
this subject, to which be is now devotipg
his entire time. He has conducted ex-
periments in many states for number
of years besides thoroughly testing these
principles on his own farm with the
greatest success. There is SO much IN
the subject that two hour address ls
insufficient to satisfy the average audi
ence. The subject is fascinating to all
of an inquiring disposition to say moth
ing of the practical benefits which seem
sure to follow this method OF soil tlllage
if only a part Of what Mr.. Campbell
says is true.
The mere suggestion of the cnltiya-
ton of wheat is not enhancing to the
average farmer, but Mr.. Campbell says
that it pays and an average crop OF from
40 to 60 bushels per acre can be raised
by this means, sowing the grain IN Grips
Is inches in width. with tillable soil OF
the same width intervening. The extra
labor necessary to raise crop by this
method, he claims is more than paid by
the increased yield. A crop of wheat
averaging as indicated by the foregoing
is not a possibility, as 81 or '95 yield
in this state, but Is an assured fact all
seasons, no matter what the rainfall
may be.
The meeting at the court house Sat-
urday to hear discussed the new method
of growing wheat and other farm prod
ucts by subsoil packing and surface
cultivation was not large. At every
other point where Mr.. Campbell, the
lecturer, has appeared in this belt OF
country, he says good audiences have
been present; that farmers are recognize
ing the merits of the plan, and express
ing willingness to try it. The great
objection to getting fair hearing and
tests is the prejudice against him as one
who acts as agent for the necessary
machinery. Mr.. Campbell says he has
no connection with any machinery house
and there is no bar to any firm making
and selling the necessary machinery,
which will be done as soon as there is
demand.
The other objection that acts against
hearing of his method by farmers Is
that they have little confidence in COL
lege professors or theorists, as q rule.
Mr.. Campbell is neither. He is farmer
himself, operating farm in South Da-
kota and putting the results OF his ex-
perience and investigation into a
monthly paper called Soil Culture, pub.
lished at Sioux City. Ia. He has finally
secured the attention Of all the agrioul-
tural colleges in North and South Da-
kota, Nebraska and Kansas, and this
season experiments will be made on an
extended scale to aid IN determining the
results of his plan in different parts Of
the country.
The lecture here Saturday was illus
trated by charts showing the difference
in plowed furrows where the soil had
been packed and given shallow cultiva-
tion and in the ordinary method without
packing. The charts showed that pack
ing pressed down the spaces left under
the burrows by the plow. ex-
cluded the air, and greatly pre-
vented the moisture from escaping to the
surface along the capillary lines that
extend from below. The plant roots
were shown spreading out later
ally near the surface, where the
ground had been cultivated with
packing, and shallow surface working
and not going down for the required
moisture as they generally do in dry
ground. The increase IN yield is insured
ma protitable and the extra labor re-