The Glenwood post., 1905-08-26
METHODS OF DRY FARMING
BY The CAMPBELL SYSTEM

TEN quite thoroughly to the 200 or
more persons who gathered there to
form the Colorado Association for Sci
entific Farming, with view to adopt.
Ing Professor Campbell's ideas In the
development of the arid lands.
~ have been at this work for a
good many years" said Professor
Campbell "Some have asked me how
happened to commence it. You have
the old adage that Necessity is the
mother Of invention haven't you?
Well, that's where I was. I started
in the Dakotas in TO- The FIRST three
years were simply ideal; l harvested
my third crop in 'S2 and obtained over
$1,000 bushels of wheat from 300 acres
"a thing that has never been done
there since.
when you consider the broad
stretch Of absolutely level country we
had and the rich black loan soil,
good water thirty feet below the sur
face, producing such results as that
for three years, is it any wonder l
became enthusiastic? invested every
dollar l had in farms, and urged all
of my friends to invest, and l bor-
rowed just as far as dared.
thought l had struck the garden spot
of this great country; but the very
Tnext year right on top of this enor-
nous crop, we raised almost nothing,
and it was here I began.
"a little incident in connection with
the work of 'S2-in the fall we com
menced plowing back this ground We
had no rain in the fall and we com
menced plowing this ground over dry.
Also got in two tracts of thirty-two
acres each on quarter section when
It froze up. That winter we had quite
little snow. In the spring, the
moisture percolated into the soil and
we had one quite early rain. The first
thing l did in the spring was to finish
plowing these lands, following with a
harrow. The result was that the two
lands that we plowed in the spring
gave us 2O-bushel crop while prac-
tically all we plowed in the fall We
never harvested. | was not alone. A
few others there had the same re-
suits. What was our conclusions?
That spring plowing was the thing.
Now you see how easily we can be de-
ceived. Fall plowing would not do;
1t was demonstrated to us; so the next
year we placed quite portion of 1t
under plow in the spring, only to find
that fall plowing gave us crop and
spring plowing nothing. This was my
experience for seven or eight years
before l discovered single fundamen-
pal principle by which l could do the
same thing and get the same result
Now we frequently see in print
the Campbell System We frequently
hear people say they know what it is
Gentlemen, l must admit don't know
myself. Every year, we find some
thing new-we reach out little far
ther. Something like ten years ago l
devised the sub-surface packer
thought had solved the whole thing,
WY to find on top of that that surface
cultivator you hear so much about is
a great thing. Then l conceived the
idea of drilling with the rows twenty
inches apart and cultivating. built a
machine which was q success. Sixty
two were built next year and put on
the market. In '96 in North Dakota
we raised twenty-five and one-half
bushels of wheat, tifty-siX bushels of
barley, and ninety-two bushels of oats;
but we soon discovered difficulty.
We had to be so extremely careful in
cultivating SO that we would not in
jure the crop.
I'VE finally dropped into the idea of
summer tilling. Begin in the spring
early by double disking. Let me illus
trate as to what the loosening up of
the soil may mean. Down in Texas in
the Panhandle district, where we are
working this year, we had four weeks
of dry weather. The fields adjoining
ours had no moisture whatever, while
our field was very moist clear down to
four feet and two inches. When the
surface is loosened up, the water can
go In and as soon as it comes in con-
tact with the moist soil below, goes i'm
mediately down. This is illustrated in
watering plant. When you turn the
water on it, at first it does not seem to
percolate at all, but it soon works its
way down in, and all disappears;
comes into contact with moist soil and
gs to the bottom.
Another feature which seems to me
extremely wonderful is the fact that
we lose no water by percolation. Ma
ture seems to have provided that this
great stretch of country here where We
get normal rainfall should not let the
water go on down in, but after it
| reaches the bottom, 1t begins to work
ITS way up again When we have had
Moisture down say three to four feet,
anNhad four to six weeks without rain,
there is no variation in the depth of
the moist soil to exceed two inches in
all that time.
I'VE have attempted to show you we
can store tie water in the soil. We
have made the statement that it will
come back. Now comes the question
Of handling that top seven or eight
inches of soil in such way as to hold
the moisture in the ground so that it
can be used during long dry spell
when we can get no rain. This is the
thing that has played the mischief. We
have found after years of eX-
perimenting that the finer and firmer
we can get that soil-say to a depth of
seven or eight inches-the more wa
ter we seem to hold per cubic inch, the
faster water seems to move by capil-
iary attraction and the greater the de-
Nelopment of roots.