OCR Text |
Show GREAT DRY FARMING MISSIONARY Herbert Quick, editor of Farm and Fireside! wiites nn adtlcle In tho current issuo of his periodical period-ical about H. W. Campbell, the dry farming missionary, mis-sionary, who taught tho peoplo of nn immense part of our country to farm In tho face of comparative drought. It was Campbell who, moro than any other, showed tho American 'farmer how a small rain fall can-mftturo a good crop it tho plants hnvo tho uso o'fMl Ho showed how tho plants can bo mndo to hay! tho uso or slight rainfall. Following is an extract from the artlclo: "Tho 'scientific' sneerers at Campbell now Bay that all tho elements In his system nro old. They nro not; his subsurfneo packer 1b a real discovery,, and bo Is his system of holding tho molsturo of two seasons to mntuTo ono crop, nut what of It Most now things nro mndo up of combinations of old things. None of tho 'scientists' hnd a peep of liopo for tho arid West when Campbell began his ministry. "No agricultural innovation ever spread faster. Two years ago 1 traveled, perhaps, ten thousand ml'es In western Nebrnska, Colorado, Wyoming, western South Dakota, western North Dakota, Montana, Mon-tana, Manitoba, Saskatchewan nnd Alberta; and fvorywhore I found tho summer tlllngo advocated, by Campbell practised on nn Immense and increasing increas-ing scale. The government wnsn't Interested in tho crank's scheme, tho states woron't Interested, and Campboll was 'busted,' with a family to support. Hut nt last Campbell began to get converts Of theso, I suspect that Mr. E. L. Mntthows of Minneapolis, Min-neapolis, then piesldont of tho Thorpo Elevator company, not a very largo concern, wns tho first of Importance. Ho helped more, perhnps, In proportion pro-portion to his real selfish IntorestB, than nnyono else, and nt a time when help was greatly needed Tho first big Interest enlisted wns tho Northern Pacific Railway, through tho far-sightedness of Mr. .1. W. Kendrlck, then Its general mannger Others." who are entitled to much credit wero Frank H Penvey, tho grain king; Georgo W. Holdredge, of tho R. & M. In Nebrnska; Georgo H. Henflord, of tho C. M. & St. P. and an olllcer of tho 'Soo' Lino, whose nnmo I forgot. Theso made It possi- -bio for Campboll to circulate about 10,000 of his papers from month to month, to travel nnd lecture and, inoro Important thnn nil, to operate model farmB at sovcral points In North Dakotn, South Da kotn, Nebraska, Colorado and Kansns." |