362 DRY-FARMING 
to northern South Dakota in 1879, where in 1882 he 
harvested a banner crop, — twelve thousand bushels 
of wheat from three hundred acres. In 1883, on 
the same farm he failed completely. This experience 
led him to a study of the conditions under which 
wheat and other crops may be produced in the Great 
Plains area. A natural love for investigation and a 
dogged persistence have led him to give his life to a 
study of the agricultural problems of the Great Plains 
area. He admits that his direct inspiration came 
from the work of Jethro Tull, who labored two hun- 
dred years ago, and his disciples. He conceived 
early the idea that if the soil were packed near the 
bottom of. the plow furrow, the moisture would 
be retained better and greater crop certainty would 
result. For this purpose the first subsurface packer 
was invented in 1885. Later, about 1895, when his 
ideas had crystallized into theories, he appeared as 
the publisher of Campbell’s “ Soil Culture and Farm 
Journal.” One page of each issue was devoted toa 
succinet statement of the ‘‘Campbell Method.” It 
was in 1898 that the doctrine of summer tillage was 
begun to be investigated by him. 
In view of the crop failures of the early ’90’s and 
the gradual dry-farm awakening of the later ’90’s, 
Campbell’s work was received with much interest. 
He soon became identified with the efforts of the 
railroads to maintain demonstration farms for the 
benefit of intending settlers. While Campbell has 
