The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1910-01-15
"A MODERN o
THE BAPTIST
L. L. Klinefelter, Editor
obar Progress, Talks
About Dry Farming.
CAMPBELL
SYSTEM

H. l.. klinefelter, editor of the Obar
Progress, 10 one Of the best Informed
men In Campbell's System Of Dry
Farming, in Northeast New Mexico
and the following article recently pub.
lished In the II Paso Herald will like.
ly be Of interest to the fellow who Is
trying to do something In Quay county;
AZ showing how much more interest
the general public IL taking In matters
relating to improved methods Of farm.
ing, especially those adapted 10 the con.
ditious found In the region along the
eastern base Of the Rocky mountains,
which In the Biographies Of 30 years
ago was marked "The Great American
Desert" I mention the fact that a lii.
erary friend Of mine, about ten years
ago, wrote q magazine article describing
the Campbell Method Of Dry Farm.
ing"
Tie had been quite intimately sssociat.
ed with Mr.. Campbell and his article
treated the subject understandingly,
and which he offered to all the leading
magazines, bu, they all, with one ne.
cord, turned IL down.
Note the change in ten years. A year
ago, the World y Work asked my friend
TO prepare an article on the subject,
lie resurrected the same old article and
sent IL in. Tho magazine paid him n
handsome price and was glad to get IL.
IL was through this friend that l
made the acquaintance Of II. W. Camp.
bell a dozen years ago.
Mr.. Campbell was not then Of sufh-
cicnt prominence 20 be especially re.
m~embered, but I recall n large, red.
bearded man, with an aggressive nose
and quite the manner Of an enthusiast.
he had been working for half q dozen
years on his plan Of conserving moisture
in the soil.
II il not material whether or not II.
W. Campbell was the FIRST man to dis.
cover the natural law whereby evapor.
alton may be greatly retarded by prop.
er cultivation, and I do not know that
he lays claim TO the discovery. 1t is
said that surface cultivation TO prevent
evaporation has been practieed many
years in various parts Of the world.
But this much seems clear; Mr..
Campbell was the first TO comprehend,
in It's f%ullness. the vast economic value
Of n thorough education Of the farmers
Of the semi-srid regions rs to methods
for preventing evaporation, and to de.
vote his entire time and energy to the
work Of demonstrating in concrete and
tangible form, the value Of the methods
which he had found, by his own expert
mont, best adapted to secure the de.
sired result, under the conditions oh.
tanning In the vast Rocky plateau and
the inter. mountain valleys Of the west.
One fundamental truth he mastered
more completely than any other man
ever did, and like ever other great
truth once known, il il very simple.
II. W. Campbell understood the truth
that with the right treatment Of the
soil, Is inches Of rainfall eau DO made
to do the work Of SO.
Looking then, at the vast areas of
tillahle land, rich in the elements Of
fertility, hut valueless under the usual
mode Of farming, because the annual
precipitation ranged from II to 90 IN
ches, he reckoned the value Of this truth
to the agricultural region known As
semi-arid, and II. W. Campbell, he of
the red beard and the aggressive nose,
became an evangcl Of hope, a prophet,
fortelling the glory that is to be and