The Ordway new era., 1906-08-03
Is NOT I hUMBUe|
cAMpsglL SYSTEM pgcLAREo A
oloRlous euccEee.
REALLY GREAT DISCOVERY
insurss Regular Crops on Arid Land
-WIIl 30 Adopted slowly Because
Farmsrs Prefer to Gamble on Wet
Seasons.
(By John e. Leet.)

Seasons.
(By John z. Leet.)
"The Campbell system Is q glorious
success. 1t IL not mere wet season
humbug. destined to collapse with the
next series OF dry years. have doubt
ed. watched. investigated constantly.
for nine months, and have become alb
sclutely convinced that It is the great
est agricultural discovery OF recent
history. 1t will rapidly settle the fer
tile, sunny. beautiful. healthful. rolling
plains Of eastern Colorado and western
Kansas with dense and thrifty popu-
lation."
This says the Denver Republican. is
the summing up of the dry farming
outlook by John +. Leet. tie veteran
real estate man and writer on eco
nomic and business questions. who
during the past year has travelled some
1900 miles through the arid region.
as n real estate expert for large Chi
cago and Kansas City land investors.
But the Campbell system needs 10
be saved from its fool friends" contir-
ued Mr.. Leet, with some warmth.
.They are actually claiming that the
fine crops raised in eastern Colo
rado this year will be repeated
every year because they are the result
of the wonderful Campbell system.
This Is not true. This years
good crops on the plains. as
well as those OF last year and the
year before. are due almost wholly TO
wet seasons. These crops have not
been cultivated according to the Camp
bell system on one farm in n hundred.
But In the rare cases where that
method has been correctly followed
the wheat will average thirty-five bush
els, contrasted with twenty bushels III
the surrounding fields.
while the Campbell system will
double the wheat yield anywhere. 1t
has not been needed this year TO make
paying crop in the semi-arid and arid
regions, except In few drouth spots.
And II is In one of these. In Kansas.
that ! witnessed its absolute triumph
and final. decisive demonstration.
While Kansas is making another big
wheat crop II has had no general rain
this season. Capricious showers have
done It all. But they wholly missed
ono strip. some fifteen miles wide and
nifty miles long, embracing Hays City
and Hill City. 1t is here that the hun
dredth meridian crosses western Kan
sas and marks the eastern edge OF the
arid region. The altitude is about
$500 feet and the annual rainfall av.
erages twenty inches. And 1t is here.
At Hill City. that the original Campbell
system farm has been developed by
the liberal experimental expenditures
of ]. p. Pomeroy of Colorado Springs.
q remarkable young-old man of sew
enty. who is crack rifle shot and
ideal capitalist.
"1n the middle OF June he drove me
through a field of wheat on his Camp
bell farm. cultivated in strict accord
with Campbell's directions. and though
still green 1t was SO far advanced as
TO be certain of from forty to fifty
bushels to the acre; while the wheat
fields all around it were burned up ana
will not average seven bushels. This
green, Campbell -Pomeroy field covered
rolling hill and was like an island in
a yellow sea- A brisk breeze caused its
ibillows to simmer in the sun until we
had a picture that was beautiful and
a contrast that was prophetic of an EN-.
pire- For five or six years the Camp
bell system has produced thirty-five
to forty bushels per acre on this farm
compared to good, wet-year. twenty
bushel crops on the surrounding wheat
farms. But the neighbors continued to
cultivate by the old method. They at
tributed the extra yield to the extra
work put on the land and were dubious
of the result IL drouth should come.
This season they got the drouth. good
and plenty as they say. and the Camp
bell system has been vindicated be-
yond all question. All are converts
now. ~ T. ST.
"All over eastern Colorado people
are talking constantly about the Camp
bell system. Many have but a vague
idea OF what it is. and yet they are
honestly stumbling in the right direc-
tion. A few deride 1t as nothing new.
Some have ridiculous misconceptions
of 1t. No two that met could give
the same description Of 1t. The know
ing ones dismiss it with an airy wave
OF their deprecating hands and say IL
is only deep plowing and thorough cul-
tivation, something they have always
understood perfectly. They stop short
Just here and do not explain why they
have not practiced what they know SO
well. Quite sprinkling of farmers
who read about 1t last winter for the
first time and then gave their land an
extra narrowing, will tell you blandly
that they have adopted the Campbell
system and that It is good thing. If
something effective Is not done to dis
iliusionize these well-meaning people
they will, by their failures when a dry
season comes, give the Campbell sys-
TEN an undeserved but terrible black
eye.
Nov assert that the Campbell sys-
tenn IL something new; that 1t is not
deep plowing; that It Is not thorough
cultivation, in the sense in which that
term fs commonly used; and that there
y not single acre in eastern Colorado
that has ~ yet been farmed in full con-
formity with its requirements. Many
are preparing the soil strictly accord
ing to the Campbell system this year
IA which to plant crops next year, but
no r1Al Campbell crops can be har-
vehtel this year simply because the
,oo0 Woo not prepared for them last