Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-07-29

past few days can not be described In
words.
"There are compensations for our
losses in such seasons as this" said
John r. Sage. of the weather and crop
bureau. THE influence is not wholly
bad. For instance, l was on the farm
at the Iowa State College in Story coun-
ty on Saturday, and Professor Curtiss,
who showed me over the farm, stated
that in his opinion the value of the
straw for feeding purposes is this year
as great as the best timothy hay under
ordinary circumstances. They are
and there is not a particle of rust or
smut. The grass. where it has not been
pastured too closely, is cured into good
hay. All forage is of fine quality. Then
in many parts of the state there is an
abundance OF hay and oats. The corn
has been injured, but the late corn can
recover in part. 1t is a way nature has.
of taking care of her Own Another
thing farmers need not lose sight of is
the fact that in seasons like the present
the parasites and bacteria are all killed
and many kinds of weeds are cleared
cut 1t is also the almost invariable rule
that year of drouth is followed by sew.
eral years of fatness. The earth seems
to be in better condition for crops. In
fact, it is not drouth that does damage
in Iowa. usually. but too much water.
On an average Iowa farmers lose
great deal more from too much rain
than from too little. believe the drouth
has been broken for this year in Iowa
and that we need anticipate no further
danger on that score. The rain has come
in time. as it always does. TO save the
most of our crops.
What caused it all?" Mr.. Sage re-
peated the question. There is nothing
mysterious about it. Natures ways are
as simple as it is possible TO be. We
co not have to look to the unknown and
unknowable for answer to the question.
The drouth is responsible for the excess
of heat we have had There is nothing
to prevent this great valley from becom-
ing a desert every year but the moisture
and the clouds which protect us from
the suns rays. The sun has not shors
any hotter this year than usual. We
lave not been protected from the heat,
because adverse currents of air have
combined to drive the moisture to other
portions of the earth's surface. Similar
conditions are found every year at some
toint There is Deaths Valley. where
this same sun beats down on the sand,
and because there are days and days
without cloud in the sky the earth
becomes superheated and desert. This
may occur on any interior plain when-
ever the clouds are dispersed by some
agency. If we We're up on mountain
1.-THE suns rays would not show any hot
ter this year than other years. But 1t Is
here where the ground becomes heated,
where the heat is added day after day.
Until the temperature is great II is the
accumulation of heat tina. has caused
the high temperatures. I see a good deal
in the papers about explanations of the
heat Much OF this is nonsense. Some
enc has put forth the theory that the
sunspots cause the heat Nothing could
be farther from the truth. 1t IS the be-
lief of astronomers. and proved by eN-
perence, that sunspots, If they have
any effect at all on our climate. lessen
the temperature. But il is three or four
years before we reach maximum of
to go far TO explain our hot summer.
The theory that the planets Jupiter and
Saturn have something to do with it is
also absurd. They would have about as
much influence as two tallow candles up
III the sky mile high. We have never
been able TO discover that the light from,
any of these planets has the slightest in
f'uence on the temperature of the earth.
or any power whatever. We do not have
to resort to the mysterious or the super
natural to understand the simple phe-
nomena of a hot season under cloud
less sky"
This week closes the county conven
ltions in Iowa. There is no prospect of
anything in any of the connties yet TO
hold conventions for Mr.. Cummns ex-
cept in Worth and Fayette All the
others are strictly anti-Cummins coun-
ties.
riMArlIM TO ENcIANb