CAMPBELL'S SOIL CULTURE MANUAL 183 



and we have noted instances when three-fourthi of the 

 stalks or stools would die down in a single hot day simply 

 because the root system was too narrow and the movement 

 of moisture by capillary attraction too slow up to the nar- 

 row strip. Because of the excessive heat the demand of the 

 plants for moisture was greater than the condition of the 

 soil could supply, and therefore the little strip becomes 

 depleted of its soil moisture and down goes the plants one 

 after another to the number that can be fed by the avail- 

 able moisture through the present root system. 



In the next section we see how the closed hee! shoe 

 drill has deposited its seed into the fine firm moist soil. 

 The root system in this condition is not only perfect on 

 the start, but is lasting because the entire plowed portion 

 has been made fine and firm to the very bottom. These 

 points mean much when you consider all kinds of seasons. 

 Farming is not successful farming until you are able to 

 overcome all possible conditions that tend to a small crop. 



LISTING WHEAT. 



During the past few years of desperate efforts to over- 

 come drouthy conditions and to if possible improve on 

 the methods of insuring annual crops, there have been a 

 number who have tried the plan of putting in v/heat with 

 a lister. In cut No. 18, we show the plan more for the 

 purpose of putting some inquiring minds right as to the 

 real merits of the method in the 'conditions which follow. 

 It is claimed by the most sanguine advocates that the great 

 advantage is that the rains run down into the bottom of 

 the furrow, then on into the soil below, to the roots of the 

 plants, and cause a strong healthy growth. But close in- 

 vestigation shows a root development similar to that 

 shown in the cut, and that instead of the real feeding ground 

 being below the furrow, it is in the ridges between the 



