The Greeley tribune., 1904-04-21
The Weather and
the Crop Prospect
+o+o+ o.i.o.so4.o4 oi.olrU

past in any country are prOverbially
unreliable. Consequently, when l
am asked, as frequently have been
Of late, II we ever had In the years
eoue by such an open winter as the
last one has been and II I think it
likely we will have any rains this
spring or any water In the river this
summer, l have uniformly replied
that having been here but short
time, coming as l did only forty four
wears ago, l do not therefore as yet
fully understand our variable climate
and cannot with confidence predict
in advance concerning the weather.
| have, however, little data
bearing on the subject, that is for
very good reason uppermost just now
in many minds. and without pretend
ing to deal in probabilities for
even a week ahead, ! can give few
facts and everyone can be his own
Judge OF the chances, just as well as
| can.
We have had many mild. open
winters, very similar in general char
acteristics to the one which just went
out in the winds of March, but
hardly think we ever before had one
quite SO open, quite so dry and mild
from fall to spling as this last one
has been. And as for the chance
for our usual spring rains l may say
that they never entirely failed US but
once in the thirty-four years that
have elapsed since we began opera
tion here IN the spring of 1870. But
IN the entries 10 my farm journal for
the year 1880 l find the following
comment under date OF April 8:
Exceedingly dry spring up to date.
Two or three flurries Of snow, but
not sufficient to germinate grain.
Ground too dry in many places to
plow No snow Cf any depth during
the winter.
On the evening and night following
the above entry there fell little wet
snow, and on the eleventh some
more; but" the entry goes on to
state, mot wetting the ground to
any depth" Just such stories In
fact as the ones we have been getting
so far this spring. Our usual May
rains failed US entirely that year,
and not a sprinkle OF moisture worthy
OF . notation in the journal fell be-
tween April IL and July Is, when l
find this significant entry, Com
menced raining at 4 O'Clock and
rained heavily for an hour. moro rain
falling In that time than had fallen
at any one time for year.
also find by the same record that
March 25 finished putting in wheat.
At this date no snow or rain sufi1c-
lent to germinate grain, much Of
which has been in the ground ever
since the first Of the month.
"May l5. Commenced irrigating
wheat"
"May "a. Commenced planting
potatoes: plowed and irrigated to
bring them up"
"June IL, Watering my cora to
bring it up. :"
may add as a pertinent comment
on this record now that neither corn
nor wheat nor potatoes yielded more
than half crop that year.
The winter of 1881 and 1882 was
another winter almost exactly like
the one just closed, but the spring
rains in abundance after April IL,
upon which date / find the following
entry: "No snow since last Novem-
ber; no rain in March or April up to
This date, Ground too dry to plow
for corn Wheat only partially
terminated, the larger share of the
grain already sown still lying un-
sprouted in the soil. High winds
prevailing almost daily during April!
up to April II, when it began snow
ing at a. m and continued during
most of the day"
Our memories are poor when we
come to make comparisons of the
present with the past. Hence, when
nothing ike it has happened within
the memory OF the oldest inhab-
itant," unless he has the dates and
the data right down in black and
white we can not tie to him. And
even il he has, IL is also true that
although ''the oldest inhabitant"
may know we'll everything that has
happened since his advent here, he
can not tell what may happen next
week or next month. Colorado has
a climate in which One extreme al
most invariably follows another, and
moreover 1t can break its own record
at any time. recall the fact that
once since we have been settled In
Greeley, it showed % inches on the