The Irish standard., 1910-10-01
IRISH CROPS ARE
IN GRAVE DANGER
The Past Season is Considered the
Wettest in Living
Memory.
The Last Week in August Brings
Heaviest Rains of the
Year.
Crops Are Being Harvested in the
... Wet to Prevent Second
Growth.

"There is sad news in Genoa" It'll
is not possible always to send good
news from Ireland, writes DR.. Ma
guire, Dublin correspondent of the
Catholic Columbian.
One question has, unfortunately, for
the past week overshadowed all 9TH
ers. Stated in the simplest terms the
question is: Must Ireland face an
other famine as the result of the worst
and wettest summer and harvest in
living memory? Ireland's is proven
bially wet climate. This has been
the wettest year in living memory, and
the summer has been the worst part
Of the year. 1t is all the more deplor-
able because this was the year for the
Irish-American home coming; and tn.
tourist may return with very false
impression of Irish climate The cli-
mate is moist, it is true, but this is
not dampness that arises from ma
laria marshes It is moisture that is
blown in from the Atlantic in the form
of high fogs and clouds, where these
are constantly forming under the lit.
fuence of the gulf stream. Hence our
rains all come from the west and
southwest, with the exception of an
occasional storm from the northeast.
From the first two points it is always
warm, 0fs has that character which is
appropriately expressed by the Irish
peasant in the word "soft." But the
impressions received and carried back
by the tourist are of minor import at
present compared to what Ireland may
have to face as a result of the dread
full and prolonged rain storms of this
year. WE had wet winter followed
by wet spring and that succeeded bv
a wetter summer. It is not that the
total precipitation is so very great.
The average annual rainfall in Ire
land would compare favorably with
that at many points in the Atlantic
oI1SCo' DuC ~ may 1dIA d. ally season,
and indeed at any hour of the day.
Besides, we have no "dry season" or
rainy season" that is fixed. More
over, wet winter or spring does not
necessarily imply a dry summer or
autumn. Last year from July list .he
weather was ideal until the middle Of
October. This year July and August
have been rainy throughout We had
a few weeks of good weather in March
which gave an opportunity for seed
ing; and again two weeks in June
that gave the crops a good start. I'm
der the warm rains everything grew
to luxuriance. Not in generation dill
crops give such promise. This was
the hopeful report from all parts nf
the island about the middle of July.
But the rains continued with very few
intervals of dry weather.
A MerciIess Storm.
Now in the last week of August we
have had the most merciless storm of
the year-not an isolated storm nut
the climax of succession of rains
that have drenched the country since
the middle of June. Prior to this de-
.luge the prospects for this years har-
vest were not entirely hopeless. In
this northern climate the grain har-
vest is late. A week or two of 1ry
warm weather in August with a fair
September, would have saved the Sit
uation. Now from all parts of the
country comes the news of hay being
washed away; Of potatoes rotting IN
the ground; of uncut oats being bat.
tered and shelled by the storm; Of the
impossiblity of saving sufficient turf
to tide the people over the winter.
In the north. where the flax is spread
the problem of getting it dried and
ready for the scutch mills presents
seemingly insuperable difficulties Dub
lin merchants who bought the potato
crops in the ground with the expecta.
ton of realizing a fair profit are said
TO be losing heavily on their contracts
from the very counties in which the
crops gave the best promise now come
the worst reports. But not only .he
crops have suffered; the storm of the