The Columbus journal., 1895-03-13

WhY 1e Ho1D0s
CONDENSED nom Farmers' Review Steaoe's-
phic Repostl
At the Iowa dairy convention A. g.
Lucas spoke on "Why It Rains" He
did not believe that cutting OF the
timber causes . decrease Of rainfall.
Cultivation of the soil makes rainfall
greater rather than less. The cutting
of of the forests does not bring
drouths. The sayings Of the Preacher
apply to-day Is well Is thousands Of
years ago: ''Ssy not why were the
former days better than these, for thou
dost not inquire wisely concerning this
matter" This last year the total rain
fall for the state in the four
crop growing months was small,
but in 1892 the total rainfall was 5.37
inches per month. That was only two
years ago. There had been . great
deal of ditching done prior to 1881, and
vet that year the fall of rain was over
fifty inches. He then quoted statistics
to show the great variation in the rain
falls of different years. The past five
years gave us mere rain than the pre-
ceding five years, and the two preced-
ing decades were as great. We have
records of dry summers that are past,
among them that of 1916. Mr.. Irish
says that year water was wanting. and
none was to be had from wells or
streams. Not drop of rain fell in
johnson county during that season:
During all that time the weather was
excessively dry. In many places water
had to be hauled long distances from
lakes and ponds. Two years before
that New England suffered from .
similar drouth, and two years after
the people of Ohio. In 1854 occurred
what is known as the ''great drouth."
1t should be noted that at that time
the great forests had not yet been de-
stroyed, and the frog ponds contrib
uted their usual quota of vapor and
malaria. We should have for the year
fifty-two inches of water, or one inch
per week. Now these wet and dry
seasons came in the course of nature,
and we have not yet been able to
settle the reasons of their variations.
The common theory is very plausible,
but has no facts to rest upon. Moist
ure is valuable, but SO is the tempera1
ture. Cultivation does not prevent
evaporation or lessen it. Cultiva-
ton helps it. It has been sup
posed that the waters of the present
run off faster than in old times, but
the opposite is true. The waters ran
off faster then than now. The water.
does not run off so fast now as then, be-
cause now the fields are cultivated and
the waters sink down slowly. As
matter of fact the fields of this part of
the country are not watered by moist
ure that rises from this locality. The
moisture that rises from this and
neighboring states goes eastward
toward the ocean, while the
rain we get is imported by the south
west winds from the Gulf of Mexico
and territory far to the southwest,
The water surface of Iowa is only $50
miles. According to the average depth
rs set by the geological survey, that
amount of water, if all made into vapor,
would give us only one half inch of
rainfall. In order to give an average
amount of rain, which is an inch per
week, the total amount of water nec-
essary to water our state, say thirteen
inches for three months, it would re-
quire the total evaporation of q lake
ITO miles long, so miles wide and II feet
deep. 1t would take a big frog pond
to give us.that amount of water.