THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF DRY FARMING 39 



tal way since 1901 are Montana, North Dakota, Wyom- 

 ing, Nebraska, Colorado and New Mexico. 



From what has been said it is very evident that no 

 man can justly claim to be the originator of dry farming 

 as now practised on the American continent. This 

 claim has been virtually made for H. W. Campbell, now 

 of Lincoln, Neb., and it has received the endorsement of 

 an uninformed public both in this country and abroad. 

 The facts that bear upon this question show that the 

 claim is groundless. It is not only true that the Campbell 

 system did not shape the method of dry farming as now 

 generally advocated and practised, but it is also true 

 that it is essentially based on the said practise and is 

 in its main features the outcome of the same, as will 

 now be shown. 



The Campbell system as outlined by its author in 

 his book "Soil Culture Manual" is, in its essentials, as 

 follows: (1) To grow crops successfully in dry years 

 it is necessary that water shall be stored in the soil by 

 proper tillage. (2) Such tillage includes discing the land 

 as soon as the crop has been removed, following with 

 the plow sooner or later thereafter, using the subsur- 

 face packer after the plow and the harrow after the sub- 

 surface packer, and maintaining a dust mulch on summer- 

 fallow land. (3) Sowing grain thinly and if too thick 

 harrowing some of it out. This practise is founded on the 

 fundamental principle that in dry areas it is absolutely 

 necessary to retain by tillage as far as this may be prac- 

 ticable the moisture that falls, if crops are to be grown 

 with success. As has been shown, this principle was rec^j 

 ognized and acted upon by farmers in Utah, in some in- 

 stances at least two decades before the Campbell system I 

 as now practised was evolved. This system, however,; 

 laid more stress on discing unplowed land and the sub-j 

 surface packing of plowed land than had been previously 

 accorded to those practises. 



