The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1905-10-11
ABOUT DRY LAND MING.

AbOVI lKN LAND fANMlNOe
The new system of dry land farming
known as the Campbell process is at
tracing 80 much attention that a Chi
cago newspaper recently u az
interview with Mr., Campbell upon the
subject. The interview is reported by
William f. Curtis, who describes the
system in these remarks:
l. Catch the rainfall and store /,
where the roots of the plants can reach
it..
2. Keep the soil always fine and
loose.
3. Have a firm, solid found alton
under the sofia bottom to hold wa
ter.
"The careful, regular application
of these principles in farming will pro-
duce at least three times the results of
ordinary farming, and often four or
five times the results" said M. Camp.
bell. ''Under my system any palms.
taking farmer, by sowing twelve quarts
of wheat to the acre and cultivating
it carefully, will harvest anywhere
from forty to fifty-six bushels with.
out fail. We can get forty bushels to
the acre in the foothills of the Rocky
mountains, Or anywhere 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."
How do you do it,"
SPY storing the rainfall in the
Soils" answered MIR. Campbell: Shy
keeping the surface of the ground al
ways loose, which stops evaporation.
1t is impossible for moisture to rise
to the surface through loose soil, and
that leaves the ground in the best con.
dition to receive the rainfall. Thus
you can make fourteen inches Of rain
go as far as twenty-five or thirty inch.
es in raising all kinds of crops or
plants or trees. We do moi lose any
of the rain-we have the full benefit Of
it. We keep it stored where the roots
Of the plants can reach it when they
need it,"
show do you accomplish this:"
Wy stirring up the soil with a re-
volving disk, and then going yer it
again and filling up the furrow. We
call this double disking. 1t pulver.
ICES the soil and levels it Off. We keep
going over it again and again, begin
ming early in the spring and continu-
ing until the last of June or the first
of July. After every rain we stir up
the soil, either with a disk or an
Acme harrow. Finally We pillow seven
inches deep in the ordinary way and
follow the pillow with a sub.surface
packer-a machine which makes q
compact, solid bottom. four inches
from the surface, under the loose soil.
Then we go over it again with the
Acme harrow, sc as to keep the tor
soil loose aud pulverized. After work
ing the soil a year in this way by wha'
we call summer tilling' We put in Oul
wheat, either in the fall or in thu
spring, as is usual. The first year w
do not put in any seed. We simply
keep stirring up the soil, so that it viii
remain loose and pulverized, and at
ter one year Of this sort of GUILTY. atior
three crops eau be grown in success
sion without renewing the tilling. Ii
some cases 1t is better to till every
other year and raise u crop alternat
years.
"If crops are planted every year
the reaper must be Immediately fol
lowed by the pillow and the stubble i'm
mediately turned under and the sol
disk and harrow kept at work all win
ter, If it is spring wheat. or from tn
June harvest to the September plant
ing, If winter wheat. The same rul,
must be applied to all other kinds o
crops.
ITO repeat: 1t is simply a question
of the thorough working of the soil
as | have described. That is NOR
important than the rainfall. No mar
a expect a crop who simply turn
under the sod and hauls a harro,
carelessly over the field. Labor n,
pains are necessary to produce GOO
results, whether you are farming o
making furniture or publishing
newspaper.
EXPERIMENTS IN PUBLIC OWNERSHIP