Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1885-05-22
The DrOuth.

hO Dlouth
The prevailing topic among farmers at
present is the extraordinary drouth which
is now prevailing and which now serious
y threa ems to irreparably blight the grass
and wheat crops. 1t is now said that un-
less we have rain within week the grow
ing wheat wi be destroyed beyond recov-
cry, while the crop of corn is also said to
be coming up poorly in consequence of
the protracted drouth. The yield of hay
is also said TO have been already very ma
teraIly shortened by the continued dry
weather and unless it rain soon that i'm
portant product will also be total failure.
This state of affairs is source Of much
anxiety to farmers and following as it does
close upon the blighring d:outh of last
summer and fal, it is naturally subject
of the gravest concern to farmers If he
materially shortened corn and tobacco
crops of last year be now followed by g
failure of the crops of wheat and hay, the
effect upon the poorer class of farmers,
who have not much capital in advance,
will be direfu! in the extreme. And yet
fear is en- ertained by some that this may
not be ALL and that the drouth may be pro-
tracted into the summer to the destruction
Of the corn and tobacco crops of this year.
When we review the condition of the
weather and the quantity and apportion
ment of the rain fall in the past twelve
months the prospect is not very encoursg
ing, even to the most sanguine. l. will oe
remembered that in the i,ll Of 1888 there
appeared a certain peculiar haze or halo
about the sun, which was said to he I'M
precedented in the memory of scientific
observers. Various theories were present
ed by men of science as an explanation of
the cause of the extraordinary phenome-
non, the best accepted of which appeared
to be that it was due to cloud of meteor
ic or volcanic dust which was suspended
either near the limit. or outside OF the'at-
mosphere of the earth.
This phenomenon vas followed by an
exceedingly heavy and long continued
fall Of rain, which commenced early in the
year 1884 and continued until the latter
part of July, when il suddenly ceased and
was 70 lowed by an unusually protracted
dry period Of over two months duration,
during which no rain at all fell This was
succeeded about the middle of October by
light rains by which the moisture was
gradually restored to the earth. Bat it
has been remarkable that the rain fall
since thu period has boon unusua IL light
AID par ial. The various streams and
swamps traversing the county. which, in
tie usual order of things, are frequently.
during the winter and spring Sc sons.
swo len far beyond their beds by hoods
and treshets, have not during the pas
winter and spring been once known 10 be
filled with water
This comparative drouh during the or
dinarily wet seasons Of the year gives rise
u dppiehcHS!tis, !" HlCH are not without
toun !a'ion, that when the usual dry ser
iod shall arrive, we shah have another
drou h. similar 70 the one Of last
year. This would indeed be a scourge
without precedent, perhaps, in the mem
DRY of any one now living 7dKq st The mani
g., - s.s--- oTulaary-T )
pheric conditio which has followed tie
phenomenon of the fall Of 1888, and the
grea' injury which has already been sus-
tanned in Consequence. naturally give rise
to vague apprehensions for the future.
Bur there is wisdom, no doubt. in the
scrip.n IRA declaration that sufficient unto
the day is the evil thereof" 1t is we'll in
hese days Of gloom and disaster not 10
borrow trouble l. is the Christians be
lief that things are guided by an al
wise and all-mercifui Providence; and
that nothing happens without His knowl-
edge and acquiesceace. This is com
forring belief in ca amitous times ike the
present. 1t behooves US at such times to
fortify ourselves with faith and hope: to
hope for The best, but to endeavor as far
as we are able to prepare for tina worst