44 



Campbell's 1902 Soil Culture Manual. 



The experience of the writer in his own work in 1894, demonstrated 

 dearly these two facts: First, that moisture will evaporate very quickly 

 when soil is left in its natural condition; second, that a large per cent, of 

 moisture can be stored in the ground. In that year there was no rainfall 

 in the last of May or the month of J une, and the average field was practi- 

 cally dry when the first rain came on July 7. At that time the fields were 

 flooded by a rain of 43^ inches which came down quickly. In the fields 

 where we were conducting experiments we had previous to this time got 

 the moisture down nearly 3 feet, and the surface was in the best condition 

 to absorb the fresh rain. In ten days the ordinary field was again practi- 

 cally dry. In such fields, owing to the great resistance of the dry soil, 

 percolation was very slow and the extreme heat which naturally followed 

 quickly evaporated all the water which had fallen. But the field we had 

 been carefully cultivating and had i)rei)arfd for just such an emergency, 

 was found to have a moist soil over 2i.^ feet deeper than before, or down 

 to a depth of 6 feet. 



During the season of 1901 there were many demonstrations of the 

 remarkable results following extra work done just at the proper time. A 

 farmer near Fairmont cultivated once more after a heavy rain which came 

 about the middle of July, after the farmers in that locality had '"laid their 

 corn by." This extra cultivation, which could not have cost over 30 cents 

 an acre, added 15 bushels per acre to his yield of corn. James Armstrong, 

 of Phelps county, double-disced his ground early in the spring, then 

 cultivated his corn once more than his neighbors, at a total cost not 

 exceeding 60 cents an acre, and got 20 bushels of corn per acre for his 

 extra labor. This may seem like an exaggeration, but the comparison was 

 made between this field and an adjoining field on his own farm not thus 

 treated, as well as a comparison with the crops of his neighbors. Dozens 

 of similar illustrations could be given of the immense value of this prin- 

 •ciple. If the work is done at the right time results are great. 



Evaporation of the rainw^ater on the great plains country has made 

 many a man hopeless and homeless. Prevention of evaporation of the soil 

 waters by proper cultivation means better crops, better homes, better 

 people, happier children, and a better country. 



Evidence from^ all over the semi-arid west proves conclusively that if 

 every farmer had fully understood the theory and principles of conserving 

 the soil water by proper cultivation, there would have been no short crop of 

 ■corn in 1901 in that section of country. The excessive evaporation of the 

 rain-water all over the great plains country is the direct and sole cause of a 

 greater loss to the farmers of that belt than any other one thing. Educate 

 the farmers of the semi-arid belt to store, conserve, and utilize the rain- 

 water and we have paved the way for thousands more ideal farm homes 

 .and a higher state of prosperity than this belt ever experienced or the 

 people anticipated. It is by and through knowledge of certain great 



