Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1904-12-23
The Winter Drouuht.

The lack of rain extends from the Gulf
to the Canada border, and very likely
beyond and it very severe through the
Ohio valley. 1t is pronounced one of the
worst dry spells in the history of the
Weather Bureau. In the greater portion
of the eastern half of the country less
than ten per cent of normal quantity Of
rain has fallen in the last two months,
and i'm some places practically none at all
The Hartford Courant has just re-
ceived returns from its correspondents
over Connecticut. While they report va
rious degrees of suffering. the eastern
portion seems to be in the worst shape
Mills I'm many places are running on short
time, with the unwelcome prospect of
soon having to suspend altogether, thus
throwing hundreds. and. perhaps thou
sands, of people out of employment. The
general manager of the Willimantic
Company. who has been connected with
that concern for fifty years. says he never
before saw the Willimantic river so low
mt this time of year and all through the
manufacturing districts the oldest in
habtants" are singing small with respect
to their previous experiences.
But it is not alone the manufacturing
towns and cities that are suffering. The
water supply for stock and for domestic
purposes is low in all sections. and in
many places the people are putting them
selves upon an allowance. and thankful
that they can still do as much as that. A
similar collection of facts would disclose
an equally grave situation in probably
every other New England state. In YER
mont and New Hampshire there are nu-
merous complaints Of scarcity. and
throughout our own valleys the
outlook is not encouraging. The
snow helps somewhat in keeping down
the dust. with its burden of bacteria.
but in other respects it does not give
much comfort In some towns typhoid
has developed probably through the con-
tamination Of the water. which has fallen
below the line Of purity. We might sup
pose it too late to injure crops, but the
fall-sown grains are suffering seriously
from the Atlantic clear out to the Middle
West. Moreover, the conditions are very
bad for curing the tobacco crop, which IS
such an important industry through the
Connecticut valley The weather should
be moist for the proper stripping of the
plant but now as the growers attempt to
1 remove the leaves they crumble in their
hands. and a heavy loss from this cause
! Is expected. Cornfodder has also lost
much Of its value for the sape reason.
Professor Henry of the forecast di-
vision OF the Weather Bureau is dis
/ posed to give full credit to the old say
| ing that "all signs fail I'm a dry time He
says. we do not understand why dis
turbances that ordinarily produce rain
/ fail to bring it at certain periods Of the
! year. The atmospheric conditions in No
1 vemler were favorable for rain in a num-
/ Der Of cases. vet no rain fell. 1t seems
to be a sound principle that there are
/ times in the year when ii Is exceedingly
difficult to condense the moisture of the
air and thus produce rainfall. We have.
/ however. the hopeful prediction that 9s
| the season advances the atmospheric dis
/ turbances will move eastward in lower
attitudes and as a result rain will fall
/ throughout the Ohio valley and over
other states that are suffering.-G Boston
/ Transcript.