H. W. CAMPBELL 363 



long been in the service of the railroads of the semi- 

 arid region, yet it should be said in all fairness 

 that the railroads and Mr. Campbell have had for 

 their primary object the determination of methods 

 whereby the farmers could be made sure of successful 

 crops. 



Mr. Campbell's doctrines of soil culture, based on 

 his accumulated experience, are presented in Camp- 

 bell's "Soil Culture Manual," the first edition of which 

 appeared about 1904 and the latest edition, consider- 

 ably extended, was published in 1907. The 1907 

 manual is the latest official word by .Mr. Campbell 

 on the principles and meth(jds of the "Campbell 

 system." The essential features of the system may 

 be summarized as follows: The storage of water in 

 the soil is imperative for the production of crops in 

 dry years. This may be accomplished by proper 

 tillage. Disk the land immediately after harvest; 

 follow as soon as possible with the plow; follow the 

 plow with the subsurface packer; and folli^w the 

 packer with the smoothing harrow. Disk the land 

 again as early as possible in the spring and stir the 

 soil deeply anrl careful 1\' after every rain. Sow 

 thinly in the fall with a drill. If the grain is too 

 thick in the spring, harrow it out. To make sure of 

 a crop, the land should be "summer tilled," which 

 means that clean summer fallow should be practiced 

 every other year, or as often as may be necessary. 



These methods, with the exception of the subsur- 



