sS CAMPBELL'S SOIL CULTURE MANUAL 



If water is stored in the soil of our western prairies, 

 nature has formed perfect and complete conditions to 

 bring this moisture back by capillary attraction to that 

 stratum, or one known as the root bed, where it not only 

 plays its part as drink for the plant, but as above stated 

 to keep up its part in combination with other elements 

 in the development of available plant elements, upon 

 which the plant not only exists but thrives during pro- 

 longed dry periods, causing a prolific growth instead of 

 withering and sometimes total failure under the coarser 

 or more common conditions of the soil. 



OF UNIVERSAL APPLICATION. 



In fact, when the conditions are understood and the 

 necessary labor properly applied, records of phenomenal 

 yields will be numerous as far west as the foot hills of the 

 Rockies. 



The following from E. F. Stevens, of the Crete nursery, 

 shows the value of summer culture, even in the more 

 humid portions of the semi-arid belt. He says: " Regard- 

 ing the possibility of carrying moisture conserved one 

 year over into the next season for use for the next crop, 

 we remember that one year we grew a crop of seedlings 

 on elevated tahle lands on a part of the divide between 

 the Blue and Salt creek, just southeast of Crete. Seed- 

 lings for their best growth require very frequent culti- 

 vation. They are cultivated weekly and oft times twice 

 a week, to secure the best possible growth and the best 

 grade obtainable in a few months. This superior culture 

 conserved moisture, but we did not so understand it then. 

 As a rule a crop of seedlings does not take up all the annual 

 rainfall, so quite a portion of this conserved moisture 

 was carried over until the next season. The following 



