The Grit-advocate., 1905-07-28
THE CAMPBELL SYSTEM OF FARMING
ON ARID LANDS WITHOUT Irrigation

AAN~oo
aid. writing from Hill City. Kansas.
says:
What Is known as the Campbell
method OF dry farming" is being prac.
ticed on the semi-arid plains Of west
ern Kansas and eastern Colorado with
remarkable success. The results ac-
complished on several model farms.
under the direction Of the inventor.
discoverer or promoter-whichever
you may prefer to call him-are re-
markable and are entitled to the re-
spect of every one who is interested
in the development OF the high. dry
plains between the Rocky mountains
and the Missouri river. Its advocates
declare that they have received no
encouragement from the Agricultural
Department at Washington.
We all believe in irrigation. OF
course. 1t is the safest, the most sat
isfactory and the most profitable
method Of farming. but vast areas In
the central western states cannot be
reached by water, and the rain that
falls upon them is not sufficient to
produce crops by ordinary methods.
1t is that class of lands which Mr..
Campbell is trying to redeem.
Mr.. Campbell is at present engaged
in the development of model farm
near the thriving little town Of Hill
City. belonging to J. F. Pomeroy of
Colorado Springs. The latter, who
came into this country seventeen or
eighteen years ago, has been a rail-
road and town-site promoter. He has
between twenty and thirty thousand
acres Of dry land in Graham county.
which cannot be reached by irrigation.
and founded the town of Hill City at
about the center of it in beautiful
:location. He advertised his scheme
all over Kansas and Colorado, brought
:homeseekers and spectators from
every direction on free railway trains.
sold his town lots at auction and gave
an overcoat to every purchaser. The
town has been quite successful 1t
now has about 800 inhabitants. an ex-
'cellent hotel, several fine business
blocks filled with stocks Of goods, two
newspapers, and all the
other essentials Of first-class frontier
town. Just outside the limits Mr.
Pomeroy fenced of 240 acres of land
about six years ago and brought H. w.
Campbell from Holdridge, NebraJka.
to lay out model farm on his system
of soil culture.
Anyone who has doubts of the prac-
ticability of the Campbell system
should come here before harvest and
compare the crops on the Pomeroy
farm with those upon the farms that
surround it, for the yield of wheat.
oats, corn. potatoes and everything
else that is growing will be four or
five times as great as will be har-
vested on the other side of the fence.
Mr.. Campbell has been working in
North Dakota, South Dakota Ne
braska and Kansas for twenty years
or more. trying to induce farmers to
adopt his plan of "soil culture" as he
calls it, and everywhere he has been.
from the James river in the north to
the Arkansas, he has been equally
successful in producing without irri-
cation the same results that are
usually expected with irrigation. with
comparatively little more expense, but
good deal more care and labor.
There is no secret about it. The
whole thing is simply the exercise of
care and patience, and any man of
ordinary intelligence can work it as
well as college professor could.
Mr.. Campbells principles. as he ex-
planned them to me, are:
1. Catch the rainfall and store 1t
where the roots of the plant can
reach it.
2. Keep the soil always fine and
loose.
8. Have a firm, solid foundation
under the sofia bottom to hold the
water
What will this accomplish" I
asked.
THE careful, regular application of
duce at least three times the results
of ordinary farming, and often four
and five times the results" said Mr..
Campbell.
What is the additional expense?"
In Iowa or eastern Kansas not
more than twenty-five per cent. more
labor is necessary than is usually ex-
pended upon crop by good farmer.
On the prairies, as rule. farming is
cheap and slipshod and twice the la
Dor is necessary. But this Is onset
to a certain extent by saving of two
thirds of the seed. An ordinary farmer
sows forty quarts of wheat to the acre
ana gets lTOul Holulh6 " t"ShIs
bushels thirteen bushels to the acre
being the average crop of the state.
and fifteen bushels the highest state
average that has been reached IN, Kan;
sas for ten years. Under my system
any painstaking farmer by sowing
twelve quarts of wheat to the acre
and cultivating his soil carefully will
harvest anywhere from forty to fifty
six bushels without fail. We can get
forty bushels to the acre in the foot
hills of the Rocky mountain or any
where else with fourteen inches OF
rain. You can get the same difference
in every other plant or crop that grows
in gross or the acre."
This particular farm where I am
working was cultivated on the old
plan for fourteen years and never
yielded but one good crop. came here
in February, 1900. and very soon will