THE CALL OF THE LAND 



be available in very many localities, but they 

 are not available everywhere. If, therefore, 

 precipitation falls much below 15 inches the 

 precept would be: Prospect for subterra- 

 nean water. If you find none or find it only 

 very far down, you must irrigate. 



The other moot point which I will name 

 relates to the practice of fallowing land, 

 letting it rest every other year, diligently 

 cultivated all the time, but without planting 

 or sowing. This usage Mr. Campbell 

 recommends for areas of low rainfall as a 

 means of massing two years' rain for use 

 in a single year's crop. Such massing is by 

 proper cultivation to a great extent possi- 

 ble. Moreover, where it is necessary that 

 is, in regions of very scanty rain it would, 

 so far as water supply is concerned, be also 

 desirable. 



But fallowing with Campbellite culture, 

 while nobly conserving water, appears to 

 waste fertility, particularly nitrogen, which 

 rapidly escapes from a naked surface, while 

 crops of clover or alfalfa draw it from the 

 air and store it in the soil, being a net benefit 



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