40 DRY LAND FARMING 



The weak points in the Campbell system include the 

 following: (1) The insistence on discing land and fol- 

 lowing with the plow under all soil conditions. (2) The 

 insistence on the use of the subsurface packer after the 

 plow, without regard to the character of the soil. (3) 

 The absence of any provision for the maintenance or 

 renewal of fertility and humus in the soil. Moreover, in 

 practise it is difficult to carry out certain of the methods 

 recommended, as for instance always discing stubble be- 

 fore plowing and plowing summer-fallow in August, 

 because of the season at which such work must be done. 



The Campbell system is not what it was at the 

 first. It began by sowing grain in rows in the early 

 spring, far enough apart to admit of cultivation. This 

 was abandoned because it was too costly. Even as re- 

 cently as 1896 the farm paper which Mr. Campbell edited 

 makes no mention of summer tillage when giving what is 

 avowedly a full statement of the system. He admits 

 that it was not until 1891 that he became positive that 

 he could secure good crops under droughty conditions, 

 and that the first victory of the Campbell method was 

 won in 1894 in Brown county in South Dakota, when 142 

 bushels of potatoes per acre were grown in a very dry 

 year. It should also be borne in mind that Mr. Campbell 

 conducted his experiments near the eastern border of the 

 semi-arid belt, where the more severe drought conditions 

 do not prevail to the same extent as they do farther 

 to the west. It is true, nevertheless, that Mr. Campbell 

 has done much to rivet the attention of the public on the 

 important place that must be assigned to dry farming 

 in the agriculture of the future, by the persistency of his 

 advocacy. For this he should be given the full measure 

 of the credit which is his due. 



The future of dry farming. From what has been said 

 'it will be apparent that dry farming in the future will 

 hold a wide place in the world's industries. It will be 



