-THE DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



195 



right. We happened to get ideal conditions. Just before the harvesting 

 of this crop, we had our last rain fall and no rain during the autumn 

 whatever. At stacking time it was the hotest weather I ever experienced 

 in that cotmtry. At noon one day I was on top of a stack, ten or twelve 

 fee high, and I climbed up on that same stack after dinner and I had to 

 give the work up, it was too hot. We had a great deal of wind that autumn. 

 Three hundred acres we had in wheat and 260 acres we plowed that fall, 

 and the following spring we plowed 40 acres, the balance. The 260 acres 

 gave practically no crop at all, while the 40 acres gave us a very good 

 crop. We had a little consultation among the neighbors on the question, 

 which to us was very complex, and we decided one of two things must 

 be true. We were wearing out the soil very fast or spring plowing was 

 the proper thing, consequently a portion of the ground was left over the 

 next year. The next year our best crop was on the fall plowing and our 

 poorest crop on the spring plowing. A common remark among the neigh- 

 bors at that time was, the longer we stay here the less we know about it, 

 and it was a good many years before we found out the difficulty. Had it 

 not been for a" diary kept by my mother, I doubt if we would have ever 

 known. I went back to this old diary and I found this: In 1882, in the 

 autumn, there was no rain but during the winter we had considerable 

 snow. That snow went off in the spring with a long rain, consequently 

 the ground was wet to a good depth. 



Soil Treatment. 



"As soon as the ground was in condition to plow we began plowing 

 40 acres in two 20-acre pieces. We followed immediately with the har- 

 row and the seeding of that piece was done right away and harrowed 

 again, consequently the ground that was moist in the spring went all to 

 pieces. The harrow worked it down, going over it with the harrow pre- 

 vious to seeding, and harrowing after seeding, while the ground plowed 

 in the fall broke up lumpy and full of little cavaties underneath; it was 

 not an uncommon thing to look down and see rows of wheat, which, on 

 investigation, showed that it was nothing but the horse's hoof that caused 

 it. The following autumn we had abundant rain and the ground was 

 moist, consequently the fall plowing was done when conditions were 

 better and it went through in nice shape. The winter was an open winter, 

 freezing and thawing all winter and windy and dry in the spring, and 

 when we got to plowing in the spring the ground was dry; that is the 

 secret of the whole thing. This little illustration means a great deal. 



PROF. JARDINE: -Then I understand you Mr. Campbell in the 

 autumn you plowed the land and in the fall it was very dry?" 



PROF. CAMPBELL: "Yes, sir." 



PROF. JARDINE: "You had snow on the ground in the winter?" 

 PROF. CAMPBELL: "Yes, sir." 



PROF. JARDINE: "You plowed the land in the spring and it was 

 in good condition in the spring''" 

 PROF. CAMPBELL: "Yes, sir." 



