194 DRY-FARMING 



ent c(jnditions as to soil and climate, have developed 

 practically the same system of dry-farming. In all 

 these places the best dry-farmers practice deep plow- 

 ing wherever the subsoil will permit it ; fall plowing 

 wherever the climate will permit it; the sowing of 

 fall grain wherever the winters will permit it, and the 

 clean summer fallow every other year, or every third 

 or fourth year. H. W. Campbell, who has been the 

 leading exponent of dry-farming in the Great Plains 

 area, began his work without the clean summer fal- 

 low as a ]jart of his system, but has long since adopted 

 it for that section of the country. It is scarcely to be 

 believed that these practices, developed laboriously 

 through a long succession of years in widely separated 

 localities, do not rest upon correct scientific prin- 

 ciples. In any ease, the accumulated experience of 

 the dry-farmers in this country confirms the doctrines 

 of soil tillage for dry-farms laid down in the preceding 

 chapters. 



At the Dry- Farming Congresses large numbers of 

 ]:iractical farmers assemble for the purpose of ex- 

 changing experiences and views. The reports of the 

 Congress show a great difference of opinion on minor 

 matters and a wonderful unanimity of opinion on the 

 more fundamental questions. For instance, deep 

 plowing was recommended by all who touched upon 

 the subject in their remarks ; though one farmer, who 

 lived in a locality the subsoil of which was very inert, 

 recommended that the depth of plowing should be 



