Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-10-29

profitable for farming, except in the val
leys where water Is near enough the sur
face to permit the abundant growth OF al
falfa or grasses
Suppose two or three million acres OF
our territory must forever remain in for
est. it does not by any means follow that
such part OF our domain is wasted on the
contrary. I have elsewhere pointed out
that forest farming in our state could be
made even now distinctly and happily
lucrative beyond most businesses and this
is likely to be increasingly the case as the
demand for timber grows and the natural
supply dlminishes.
Dust Mulch Farming.
about 10000 square miles Of land west
Of the ninty-eighth meridian can be dry
farmed with more or less profit by the
Campbell plan, but this should include a
periodically seeding OF alfalfa or grasses
to maintain fertility.
THE principle of Campbellism is simple
Plough as early as possible so as to turn
under all the moisture winter and spring
have left. Then, necessarily often enough
to prevent any part of the surface becom-
ing crust until the crop is a foot or
more high, lightly harrow or agitate the
surface SOIL keeping it in the form of a
mulch. You thus entrap every particle of
moisture from sky or air and at the same
time, by foiling capillarity imprison the
water below and keep It from evaporating,
or rather. forcing it, II it gets out into the
air at all, to escape through the trunks or
branches of growing plants, giving up to
them its life.
To certain extent the advancing culti-
walton, the rise of forests, groves, hedges
orchards and shade trees. the presence Of
many buildings and the growth of crops
VIII constitute a new and Independent
source Of a west NebrasLa's agricultural
productivity. This is proved by the his
tory of eastern Nebraska Kansas and Da-
kota, and the phenomenon is not difficult
of explanation
Buildings, trees, massed single,
hedges, fences and crops are so many wind
breaks, helping to prevent bowouts and
all sand drifting, and also assuaging the
ravages of hot winds from the south. Trees
or hedges and plants, moreover conserve
moisture and so GOODNESS and retard the
runoff of rainfall.
More than this, theoretically, at least,
they must, by drawing moisture from the
earth and exhaiing 1t into the air, help the
| formation of clouds and cause precipitation
| to be greater than it would be If they did
not exist. 1 am aware that the statistics
we have do not show this, but these sta
tistics are not yet complete enough to dis
prove what allege. There is a measure
of truth to the popular belief, which the
scientists so often ridicule, that the rainfall
in Nebraska is moving west to grow up
with the country.
Where Crops VIII be Sure.
"A remark of the utmost significance re-
lating both to the irrigation and to the dry
pultttra Of ata 70 10 hat
: culture under these conditions is to be
some day the typical and the most success
full of all agriculture. No over-wet seasons
| or periods occur, such in humid areas
either destroy crops outright or ruin their
quality. Harvest weeks are sunny enough
! for the work. Farming loses it's gambling
aspect almost entirely, at least as much as
manufacturing. 1t must be that this fea-
| ture will enable rural pursuits to command
and retain first-class talent to a greater
extent than is now the case.
There are probably between 1900 and
5000 square miles of land west of the ninety
| eighth meridian that are not now adapted
/ to the growth of any crops aside from
grasses. This so-called bad land is washed
and quilted so to be very rough. The
! soil is gravelly and contains much mag
nesium carbonate. Some of this Is by no
! means barren, but It tends to infertility
rather than to richness. Though this is the
most arid portion of the state and much
| of the ground is quite bare, the slender
vegetation seems caused more by rapid
erosion than by light rainfall or barren
soil. In protected places along valleys
grass shrubs and even trees grow. Grazing
| is considerable industry. l believe that
means will be found of checking the gully
! ing process in these lands, now apparently
the chief cause of their desolateness, render
ing them at least as productive as the
semi tracts are.
THE people of western Nebraska must
work, investigate, adapt and, above all,
stick in spite of any drouths that may
come. Conditions there differ from those
in Iowa and Illinois, whence many Of our
fellow citizens hail, but, save dear fuel
and low rainfall, they not on the whole
more adverse. Afforestation will nightly
aid in supplying the fuel need while the
other resources discussed, being controll-
able, will prove even more valuable than
/ rainfall that is capricious, now failing
utterly in the hour of need, now Noah s
food"
a fIA ank uVNgaWa