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 follow the packer with the smoothing

harrow. Disk the land again as early as possible in the spring and

stir the soil deeply and carefully 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 subsurface packing, are

sound and in harmony with the experience of the great dry-farm

sections and with the principles that are being developed by

scientific investigation. The "Campbell system" as it stands to-day

Is not the system first advocated by him. For instance, in the

beginning of his work he advocated sowing grain in April and in rows

so far apart that spring tooth harrows could be used for cultivating

between the rows. This method, though successful in conserving

moisture, is too expensive and is therefore superseded by the

present methods. Moreover, his farm paper of 1896, containing a full

statement of the "Campbell method," makes absolutely no mention of

"summer tillage," which is now the very keystone of the system.

These and other facts make it evident that Mr. Campbell has very

properly modified his methods to harmonize with the best experience,

but also invalidate the claim that he is the author of the dry-farm

system. A weakness of the "Campbell system" is the continual

Insistence upon the use of the subsurface packer. As has already

been shown, subsurface packing is of questionable value for

successful crop production, and if valuable, the results may be much

more easily and successfully obtained by the use of the disk and

harrow and other similar implements now on the market. Perhaps the

one great weakness in the work of Campbell is that he has not

explained the principles underlying his practices. His publications

only hint at the reasons. H. W. Campbell, however, has done much to

popularize the subject of dry-farming and to prepare the way for

others. His persistence in his work of gathering facts, writing, and

speaking has done much to awaken interest in dry-farming. He has

been as "a voice in the wilderness" who has done much to make

possible the later and more systematic study of dry-farming. High

honor should be shown him for his faith in the semiarid region, for

his keen observation, and his persistence in the face of

difficulties. He is justly entitled to be ranked as one of the great

workers in behalf of the reclamation, without irrigation, of the

rainless sections of the world.