276 CAMPBELL'S SOIL CULTURE MANUAL 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 



THE DOMAIN OF SOIL CULTURE. 



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Who shall bound the domain in which scientific soil 

 culture is destined to be in fact a redeemer? It is a new 

 thing, but many there are who inquire anxiously as to its 

 limits. But no man can yet tell. It surely is far reaching 



One thing is certain, scientific soil culture is not a sys- 

 tem adapted solely to farming in the dry regions, but it is 

 a system useful also to the farmer who may have in most 

 years an abundance of water. Let it be remembered, and 

 this is something within the knowledge of all, that there 

 are very few places anywhere on the globe entirely free 

 from the danger of disaster to crops by reason of waste of 

 the water. The farmer, no matter where he lives, is indeed 

 rare who has never seen his crops wither and decline dur- 

 ing a drouthy period for want of perhaps a small amount 

 of moisture at the critical period of growth. 



But there are regions where it is indispensible, where 

 irrigation is impossible, and the plan of adopting desert 

 plants has not been made a success. This area is large. 



Like other useful things in the world, scientific soil 

 culture is a child of necessity. The system was developed 

 in adversity. Failure was its inspiration. There is an ir- 

 regular and variable line running through the Dakotas, 

 Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, which has long 

 been supposed to mark the extreme limit of profitable soil 

 tillage for ordinary crops. It was on the border line of the 

 farming regions, right where they merge into the broad acres 



