CAMPBELLS -SOIL CULTURE MANUAL 



fertile lands, level and easy of cultivation, near to the 

 irrigation districts but which cannot be irrigated without 

 unwarranted expense, which receive ample rainfall to pro- 

 duce fine and profitable crops if the water is properly 

 stored and utilized.. These lands will remain useless un- 

 less scientific soil culture is adopted. 



Then there are millions of other acres of land in the 

 same region, which are now used for farming in some way, 

 where there is sufficient rainfall to make irrigation im- 

 practicable, but where the present yield of crops under the 

 old system is not to exceed one-third what it might be if 

 the general principles of our system were fully understood 

 and practiced. 



But the value of this system will be still more shown 

 on the millions of acres of irrigated land where best results 

 are not obtained. On these areas irrigation is possible, 

 but the quantity of water is limited, and there can never 

 be enough to carry on irrigation farming by the wasteful 

 methods so common. Scientific soil culture comes in to 

 greatly enlarge the area of irrigable lands by showing how 

 good results can be obtained by much less water. 



The fundamental principle upon which the success of 

 this system is based is that of economical use of water, 

 it matters not whence it cometh, whether direct from the 

 clouds or from the flowing streams, ditches, reservoirs, or 

 wells. The first and important thing to do is to get a 

 supply of water stored in the soil to feed, nourish and 

 mature the crop in a period of dry weather; and the second 

 and almost equally important requisite is the ideal seed 

 and root bed, so vital in the success of our system, all of 

 which is necessary in growing crops by artificial* applica- 

 tion ol water required in irrigation. 



Of course if the farmer has water to waste, whether 



