CAMPBELL'S SOIL CULTURE MANUAI n 



lodged behind a windbreak in the field. The average 

 farmer will readily explain it all by a statement that 

 where the snow piled up on the ground it gave a certain 

 protection to the grain, and that it acted like a blanket 

 to preserve the grain from harm, thus assuring a better 

 stand of the grain. But this explanation fails to explain. 

 It does not get at the real truth. But investigation will 

 show that the snow melted gradually in the spring, and by 

 this slow melting process the water was able to percolate 

 into the soil so that the moisture reached a great depth, 

 and that this moisture was stored deep in the soil as in a 

 reservoir, that later in the season, when the hot days came 

 and evaporation was rapid from the surface, this stored 

 moisture was supplied to the roots of the plants so that 

 they kept on growing at a time when other plants in 

 the field were checked in growth by the drouth. The soil 

 conditions were different beneath the snow drifts. There 

 was an abundance of moisture and it was deep in the soil. 

 By capillary movement of the water at the right time, and 

 having an inexhaustible supply of water at the source, 

 the plants were supplied with what they needed, and 

 growth was perfect, regardless of the climatic conditions 

 which prevailed. 



The incident is a valuable lesson in the storage and 

 conservation of moisture in the soil, and the matter of 

 the production of the proper physical condition in the 

 soil to secure best results. 



In the pages of this Manual it will be shown that the 

 results which followed this accidental development of 

 proper soil conditions may be duplicated on whole fields 

 and that what was done by the chance piling up of the 

 snow behind a fence or hedgerow has shown us what can 

 be done in a larger way by cultivation in the right way 



