Smyrna times., 1886-07-21
The Very Unequal Rainfall.

The rainfall this year has been ex-
tremely unequal-the result being as
damaging where it did fall by its excess
as where it did not by the drought.
We give on our first page a short ac-
count of the disastrous effects in the
Southern States, where whole counties
have been overlooked and the crops
destroyed. For over two months in
this section we have not been Il week
without capious rain falls, those of last
week being the heaviest, though doing
no material damage except in lower
Kent and Sussex counties where much
of the country was flooded. Il couse-
quently seems strange to read a state
OF affairs just the opposite Of ours in
many other places. Thus, a Detroit,
Michigan, paper of last week has the
following:
"Since the solemn summer of 1881
when Garfield was shot, forests were
burned and a drought prevailed over
nearly the whole country east of the
Rocky Mountains, there has been moth
ing quite so threatning to its prosperity
as the drouth of this year. From the
Upper Mississippi to the Atlantic there
has been little or no rain for six weeks.
Combined with the heat of the past
week it is blasting several of the crops.
The northern part of the country needs
rain as badly as Gladstone needs votes.
In this State it is, as usual, complicated
with forest fires
The following reports Indicate how
it is in other sections:
- I(oofo3 T,Tt, IRtL 7
just at present is suffering from a
drOuth, the disastrous effect of which
has rarely been witnessed in this sec
ton of the country. For nearly two
months, except in local instances. little
or no rain has fallen, and from all
directions reports have been received
OF the great damage that has been
done to the later crops, vegetables and
fruits. All through Massachusetts the
grass IS perfectly dead, while the leaves
on the trees have turned yellow and
are falling from the bOughs. All the
rivers are low, especially the COnnec-
ticut and Merrimac. Two-thirds of
the Cape Cod cranberry crop is ruined.
The barley, oats and garden vegetables
of the Connecticut Valley are ruined.
and people dread to see a locomotive
pass by, fearing a general conhagration
In Vermont the great grazing grounds
are grassless, and great trouble is ex-
perienced i'll getting sufficient fodder"
Isl. Louis, JUly 18th.-Dispatches
from the Indian Territory says: The
drought still continues over nearly the
whole of the Territory. The range is
rapidly being ruined and prairie fires
already burning in every direction.
Murrain has broken out among the cat
tie in several localities and many are
dying. 4 dispatch from Topeka saws
the present drought in Kansas is the
seVerest the State has known since
1873. Unless rain falls during the COM
ing week the corn prospect will be
ruined. The last general rain was in
the latter part of June. There has
been no rain in Colorado during the
past three months and rivers are dry
ing up and the crops and stock of the
ranchmen, as well as their families, are
suffering for want of water"
From this it will be seen that the
moisture that is usually distributed
over the whole country has been gath
cred to the Atlantic States between
New York and Florida, where for over
two months it has been excessive and
injurious.