Semi-weekly herald., 1909-09-06
OWES ALL TO OLD MULE.


east a discouraged farmer in South
looking over his ruined field
for the last time before going back
TO Vermont noticed that in the tracks
made by his old lame mule, where the
soil was packed by the weight OF the
animal the wheat had grown strong
and tall
AS result of this observation South
Dakota Is just now harvesting one OF
the largest wheat crops of any state
in the union and is filed with prosper
Gus farmers, while the erstwhile dis
ccuraged farmer himself, w. II. Camp
hell of this city. is owner of five big
wheat farms aggregating three thou
sand acres, which produce an aver
age of sixty miles per acre. He is
known as the Bonanza farmer" of the
west And all because lame mule
tramped across his wheat field one
day.
The good stalks Of grain growing in
the mule tracks and surrounded by
puny stems set Campbell to thinking
From them he evolved a new system
OF farming His neighbors laughed at
him and remainder poor, while Camp
bell grew rich When he wanted new
tools with which to farm according TO
his new ideas the farm implement
manufacturers made light OF his ideas
Campbell made his own tools and
today they are being manufactured in
Odessa, Arad, Hungary, Hyderabad
and half a dozen cities in the United
States.
Campbell wanted to tell the western
| farmer what he had discovered, so
| he turned editor and has had the
satisfaction OF seeing his articles re
produced in a dizen different Ian
guages one of these, an article on
soil value, was translated into Russian
| BY Tscbaikowsky. the Russian political
writer while he was prisoner in the
fortress of IS. Peter and Paul at
St Petersburg.
| u. H. Hartman, as he once passed
through the great wheat country OF
the west, held out his hand to Camp
bell, who was In the railroad mag
Mates private ear, and said; ''If the
Union Pacific gave you sl,0o0,000 ev'
cry year 1t could not pay you for the
increased freight from your work. "
Campbell now lives in Lincoln. where
he maintains force of clerks to
keep the accounts of his big farms and
his other interests.
When he took up homestead in
Dakota territory in 1883 all he possess
ed besides his family was a few farm
iHg implements. plow, a wagon, etc.
la lame mule and a long horned OK
The OK and mule yol1ed together broke
the sod and put in the crop of wheat
The rains came, the water fell OF
The loose sandy soil, sank into the
ground and ran off -tust as fast as i
, fell.
Campbell had been machine shol
J foreman in Vermont and had no one
] to whom he could write for assist
/ ance He was desperate and was pre-
pairing to leave the country. going any
: where. But he walked out to lool
+ once more at his burned field and no
I ticed small lunches of good wheat
J He examined carefully and found tha
/ these punches were growing in th
t tracks of the old mule. For days HI
? asked himself the question, What di
= it?" And finally the answer came t.
7 hint was the packing of the cart
2 by the weight of the mule"
The next year when he sowed hi
l wheat he rolled 1t for days and day
, with home made roller When tn
e wheat sprouted every kernel came ur
T. Then came the long hot days and tn
J. neighbors' wheat dried up and burn
ed But Campbells didn't that wa
!. the start. Today Campbell owns an
operates 1000 acres in North Dakota
= Gao acres in Midland county, Texas
S 320 acres near Plainview, Tex; 32
acres at Ileldredge, Neb; $40 acre
y at Medicine Hat, Alberta, and see
I tion in South Dakota
. "When those farmers back in tn
e old days were praying for rain" say
+ Campbell, 81 told them that the thin
e 10 do was to put . oistern under thel
r ground and put lid ON it. The els
4 tern was the natural moisture, the Ii,
S he pressed ground at the top. Saw
e the water you've got told them
e fand quit praying for rain
Here's one of my secrets. SOY
I only about twenty pounds of wheat t
+ The acre, while the experts are SOW
D ing bushel and half, When m,
G wheat comes up 1t Is the finest yol
I can see anywhere-no a ripple on il
This year / estimated that / woul,
/ raise sixty bushels per acre on m.
. Nebraska farms. Il thrashed out six
yaeven bushels per acre. The stat,
3 experiment farm right across the roa,
I from my place, yielded about fifteei
bushels Der acre. For every poun,
of grain ! planted | reaped 4,04l
, pounds, a manifold of 202 The othe
/ fellow got manifold of only eleven
, I've got as high as 200 heads of whea
4 ipti ppo prnIn