The Elbert County tribune., 1908-07-23

to support and the active mind of a true
pathfinder he refused to give up and
also to accept his precious lot as destiny.
There must be way to get crops every
year and he would find it. For a quar-
ter of a century he watched, waited and
studied. 1t meant hunger often and
bitter disappointments plenty. After
long days in the fields his wife and
mother would plead with him to turn to
something worth while. Often he would
promise he would, but when another
morning came he could only say: II can
not give it up" and go of again to the
fields. Failure was the inspiration OF
the Campbell system which was devel-
oped in adversely and es child of ne
cessity. One year Mr.. Campbell noticed
that wheat in field grew several inches
higher where wagon had crossed the
land. The tracks of the wheels could
be traced in tall grain for the whole dis
tance. This started train of thought
and study that resulted in what has
since become known as packing the soil.
But the problem was not as simple as it
looked. Mr.. Campbell found after
years experimenting that any method of
surface packing caused the moisture to
raise and evaporate more rapidly than
ever. Then came the conclusion that
to retain the which is of
course. the purpose Of dry farming the
subsoil only must be packed. This re-
suited finally in the invention OF the
new implement, the subsoil packer,
which is composed OF wedge shaped
wheels that cut into the ground and
compress the earth. But the earth still
lost its moisture in spite of the subsoil
packer, although not as rapidly as before.
One day fractions team with which he
h ctn rod
field of young grain, dragging the har-
row with them. In a few weeks the
narrowed grain, which Mr.. Campbell
had supposed would be badly injured,
was hourishing ahead of the unhar-
rowed From this accident was evolved
the principle of the soil mulch which
consists in keeping the top layer OF soil
broken up so that the moisture will find
no channels through which it can rise
by capillary action to the hot surface
for evaporation and which will readily
take in and store any moisture that falls
as rain. Still another incident directed
Mr. Campbell to third important prin-
ciple. In 1888 he harvested good crop
from but forty of his 800 acres. The
forty had been plowed in the spring,
the remainder the proceeding fall. His
neighbors had the same experience and
decided on spring blowing. But the
next year conditions were reversed. The
fall plowing gave by far the better re-
turns. The neighbors gave up the prob
lem in despair, but Mr.. Campbell set
out to find the reason he knew was
there. He found II, and here IL is:
Flowing should be done when the ground
is moist, regardless OF season. Then
the moisture must be conserved by the
finer consistency Of the surface. Plow-
1rU nd lar
Jumps and greater exposed surface
from which the storedup moisture is
quickly drawn by the sun. These facts
but illustrate Mr.. Campbell's problem
and its method of solution. There were
many other problems, and some of them,
according to Mr.. Campbell himself, are
still to be solved Scientific soil culture,
as Mr.. Campbell calls it, is thus epito-
mized: The ground must be plowed at
the right time to save all possible
moisture, the subsoil must be packed to
save all possible moisture, and the sur
face soil must be kept broken up through
the entire growing season-again to save
all possible moisture. All this means
term intensive farming, which means
the work on half the area
of land and getting three times the crop
every year. Scientific soil culture finds
its most spectacular field in the regions
where twenty five inches of rainfall a
year is the maximum. There, with the
old methods, the chances against getting
a fair crop, no matter how rich the soil,
are about ten to one. But the principles
of the Campbell system are applicable
under any conditions, although varied.
Even the deserts usually contain
enough water to grow crops il we can
but conserve and use the water that is
B. Taylor, in Field and
Farm