The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-02-28
CAMPBELL gave
VALUABLE talk
ALL CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA
REPRESENTED AT HUGE MEET
ING AT DARLINGTON WHEN
CLEVER SOIL EXPERT TOLD OF
DRY FARMING.

Darlington Independent: More in
terest than was anticipated was shown
by farmers of this section OF North
Dakota in the address by H. w. Camp
bell on scientific farming at Buchan-
ans hall. Not only was the turn out
from Foster county large, but nearly
all surrounding towns sent in good
delegations. Nearly eighty farmers
came in on the Turtle Lake train,
which was held until o'clock in order
that the passengers might get full
benefit of the lecture.
The talk by Mr.. Campbell should re-
suit In much good and his theories
VIII be put in practice by many OF the
farmers who heard the talk. The
main objection against the system ad-
Vocated by the speaker was that IL
was more practical for small farmers.
Whefe hundreds OF acres are farmed
by a single man, it was urged. the
proper care could not be given to the
soil. This objection, however, is off,
SET others claim, by the improved ma
chinery that is used in this section.
Gasoline engines will permit of plow-
ing, pressing and drilling at one oper-
alton, as well as discing the land at
the same time the grain is cut in the
tall. Mr.. Campbell is a great advocate
Of summer tillage. Another radical
departure is that wheat should be har-
rowed until it is several inches high.
Farmers in this section will recall
that is was always the practice of the
late E. ]. D. Miller to harrow his
wheat and that it always paid him
well.
The questions taken up and dis
cussed by Mr.. Campbell were too nu-
merous and lengthy to permit of a
comprehensive report being given in
newspaper columns. But those who
heard his talk are thoroughly con-
WINGED that he is arguing the system
of farming that must soon be adopted
on every Foster county farm.
Il am going to live to see seventy
five bushels of wheat grown to the
acre under my system Of scientific
farming" said H. w. Campbell TO a
newspaper reporter following his
address TO the farmers of this section
of the state Monday afternoon. when
we were first able to get forty-two
bushels, and our neighbors that year
got practically nothing, 1 thought we
had made about all the Roadway we
could. Since then, however, at the
North Platte experimental farm in
Nebraska We have been going stead
lily ahead, getting a larger yield each
succeeding year despite weather con-
ditions and we have now established
a record Of sixty -seven bushels on
that farm. I am absolutely sure that
1t will make the seventy-fi five mark
in very few years.
You people at Darlington must
farm better Until you do your land
Will have no real permanent valuation,
but will raise or stand still according
to the preceding crop. 1t would be
very easy to raise the value of pro-
duce on every acre in your county $50
an acre. II could be done at an added
expense Of not quite 81 an acre
Let's see, how many acres are you
cultivating in Foster county? If two
thirds of the land, or a third of a
million acres in your case, were made
to produce $25 an acre more, do you
realize the extra wealth that would
be created for Foster county farmers
In rough estimate it would mean
over $8.00O,0O0. Seems impossible, yet
1t could be done right here the same
as 1t had been done in other communi-
ties. Eight million dollars-which,
understand, is only the amount of in
crease-is many times more than your
fields are yielding altogether at the
present time. Forty bushels of wheat
and every year is reasonable to ex-
pect from your land. BY extra work
and the exercise Of good Judgment
that yield could be increased mater
tally. Yes, you bet, it's worth while
to make the effort
"But your farmers around Caring
ton won't start scientific farming this
year. They know l am right in my
system and all that, but prejudice and
rut ideas keep them from actually 60
ing at 1t. The best we can hope for
is that one or two extra progressive
farmers will this year farm their land
according to the rules l gave them
this afternoon. Then next fall their
land will be an object lesson to all
and the day of real scientific farming
should dawn brightly in Foster county.
The farmers here, the same as those
everywhere else, must actually be
shown the benefits to be derived be-
fore they will start following the sys-
tenn. You can't talk or argue the bulk
of them into it. In the western part
of your state last fall two brothers
got forty-two bushels of wheat per
acre from a quarter section. Their
neighbors did not get their seed back
You will see some good farming out
there next season.
IT have been an experimenter on
better farming methods for twenty
eight years. I have been an advocate
of my particular system for twenty
years. am just beginning now to
see the great benefits of the Campbell
system and the farmers of the nation
are just beginning to realize it's i'm
portance. We now have more sub
scribers to our paper in North Dakota
than in any other state. That shows
that North Dakotans are vitality i'm
terested in scientific farming and are
going to do better in the future. Our
fight is not now so much along the
line of fighting drought as 1t is in in
creasing yields. We, as well as other
experimenters. are having marked
success in this line and the American
farmer is going to be in clover in the
near future"