The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-06-22
A De1uge Has Swept The Black Belt. BOTTOM LANDS SHOW
 A RUINED CONDITION Not so Bad in The Upper Part of
 Alabama. 1t is Estimated that 7S;ooo Acres of Land in the Bisbee watershed Have Been Iaundatea sises
 Fioods of May.

refusing to open the skies for dry spell. hut predicting more showers to- day, the prospects for the Alabama farmer have taken on . gioomier as- , pect than ever. He was already feel- ing himself crushed under the weight of the disastrous rains. '.
 That was a week or moro ago when 1t seemed that no end of the wet reign would come. But there followed few days of sunshine and he began to crawl out of his shell of pessimism and 2 hope a bit. Hardly had he re-entered the field for the war on grass when the deluge again swept the State.
 Commissioned, of Agriculture J. A. Wilkinson declared yesterday that re- ports from the creek and river bottom lands and personal observations show an almost ruined territory. He said the soil, in some places inundated and in others badly eroded, was rendering both corn and cotton easy victims to- the nourishing grass. The ground is soggy. basins of water stand around the plants that ordinarily stand alone and there has been no chance to cut away the oncoming grass
 Tt is not so bad in the upper por- ton of the State." said the Commission CT, Out in the Black Belt the condi- tions are very discouraging. Tn some of the lowlands the crops are com pleteIy ruined. do not know of any advice could give except that the farmer should brace up and plant some cowpeas and forage crops so that he may not have to buy anything to keep his farm going"
 MT. wilkinson was asked if the rains should suddenly cease. could not the farmer hustle about planting new crop of corn. He said such a thing had been done In Alabama with sue cess, but that not much encourage ment is given by history in Alabama. The reason is that usually one extreme follows the other. and agricultural inc tsrssts lock s s. ssas sqS sSes. gsf'oe De aS vice not to repiant There is time yet to make good stand of corn.
 Along Tofnbigbee Valley.
 As an indication. of the despair in the Tombigbee Valley Hon John Me- DufIe. of Monroeville.f who is in fhe city, said that he had the latter part .-ef1sust week come up to Jackson. Ala. on the Tombfghee River from Mobile. There he saw all along the bottom a distressing state of farm iands. The watershed of the Bigbee had been flooded and although the flood was in the latter part of May, but little re- Nef had come on account of the con- tfnuous rains since the high river stages. MT McDuffie added that sew erai farmers in his country whom he personally knew had twice planted their crops only to have them buried beneath . deluge of water and mud and grass.
 A report was received yesterday by Assistant U. g. Observer B. c. Hor- ton giving a summary of conditions In the Tombigbee Valley, especially be- low Demopolis, which is the confluence of the Black Warrior and the Bigbee els heights to which tue recent flood reached and in general way recount ed the damage. It was estimated that no. less than 75,000 acres of land in the Bigbee watershed had beenSinun- dated as the result of the heavy pre- cipitation which began in the last week of May, that about $200.000 worth of damage to the crops was traceable thereto. but that very few. thousand dollars would cover the loss on all property other than farm lands and appurtenances. There were frequent warnings against the impending floods and this enabled much property to be saved. ,
 The weather authorities maintain that not since 1900 has there been re- corded->su a high stage in the Tom bigbee River so late after the plant ing of crops. It is recited that oecauss of the lateness of-/the rainalls the damage has been unusually great. There Is no real way of estimating the total loss to farmers in that region as the figures referred to apply mostly to the situation right after the May flood. And 1t has fained almost continuously, with the exception of the week begin- ming June 2, since May 24.
 The fiood conditions have not been so disastrous on rhe Alabama, the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, eecords' ing to the weather station. Yet the crops in all South Alabama are bad enough. There is water standing in level fields, the unhfndered grass fs ciinching its hold on the weazened corn and cotton and unless the rain ceases the crop prospects will assume c darker hue.
 Will Teach . Lesson. ona farmer who mixes horticulture with agriculture. said significantly yes terday: This year will teach the Alabama farmer valuable though costly lesson, Without boasting. may say I am in the same boat with other farmers on corn and cotton but nave hedged on peaches, on cabbages ana strawberries. If can only get dry spef1 fin two weeks to pick my peaches I will make more than enough to make up for losses in other directions. l got a better return from my strawber- ries than I have in eight years past: I believe it does good to mix 'em up a bit and if you fail on one crop you can rely on another"
 The weather sheets of the local weather observer indicated yesterday that about a month of the greatest precipitation in many years in this State for a similar period was near ing a close. There were the south easterIy winds sweeping over the southeastern erea running into the cooler northern winds. forming condi- tions ideal for more rain. Those were the signs, but many are hoping the signs will fail
 The exact rainfall from May a to June 20, marking the wet spell, was 0.70 inches at Montgomery. During the remarkable week of May 24-3I the l total precipitation was 3.06 Inches while in June to date it was 6.e4 inches | For the total of May the rainfall was 4S1 as against normal for that month of 3.92. but with the exception of May 16, when there was a down pour of 1.0e inches, thst fire three quarters of May showed but little 1 rain. forming an ideal plantipgf sea .awr