The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-08-15
THE DROUGHT OF 1911 No
CIRCUMSTANCE TO THAT OF fSf5-

TIE DROUGHT OF 1911 No
CIRCUMSTANCES TO THAT OF fsf5.
Then There Was No Rain From the
First of April Until the Middle OF
August-Catavb a Farmers Went I'd
the Mountains to Get Corn.
The present brought in Catawba il
no comparison 10 the drought in
1S45. The last rain that fell was a
drilling rain from the east. about the
first OF April. from that time until
about the middle Of August before any
raiE fell. / then was ab0dt IL years
old and knew ali about 1.-THE corn
on upland was very small! and as the
~tassels would appear they died. and
a blade or two down the stalk would
all die and urn white. But the corn
along the streams in bottom and low
land was good. wherever il had been
properly cultivated.
Many of the smaller streams and
branches went dry. 1t was a pretty
hard time to have rinding done. All
mills then were oVershot- wheels, and
the streams would get SO low that
the mills did not run on full time.
The water could accumulate during
he night so that the mills could
run about th~ree-quarters of the time.
1t was said that a man could jump
across the river at the sandy fork
on Henry Fork by placing a rain in
the middle of the stream. Many
springs went dry. 1t was said that
that when he began to gather his
upland corn he found it so bad in
his red upland fields that he had to
stop and grease the wagon before he
got a load. SO was the report. The
upland m would so to the noun
tains with their wagons and teams
for the supply of corn until the
mountain county was almost Graipad
of corn.
1t is said that Ezekiel Wilson and
Jacob Lutz also went to the mountain
for corn and both bought their corn
from one man. They measured up
Wilson'S corn first. The man said,
Mr.. Wilson, how do you want your
corn measured ?" He said strictly
straight measure. Then when he be-
gan to measure Jacob LutZ's corn, he
asked him how he wanted his corn
measured. LutZ nsWered him that
he was not particular, and he rounded
the half bushel.
My father had all low bottom land
out and he made an excellent crop of
corn, SO that the people came to his
crib for corn from a distance and all
got good measure.
During this long. dry spell my IA
Their predicted that there would be
rain at tho full moon. AS the moon
changes is the sign of the waterman.
And sure enough when that day came
the clouds came from the southwest
and rain fell in abundance.
This always was a sign of the old
Dutch people. Sc when the moon is
full, is the sign of the waterman. &C
cording to the Dutch sign.
The editor Of the Newton Enter
prise makes the following interesting
comments and additions TO the above
letter:
The Drought of 1915.
An interesting comparison of this
years drought with the one Of 1915
will be found on the first page by
our regular correspondent, X. Y. H.,
known to adj our readers as Col. G..
NJ. YOder. In that year there were
no rains from April till the middle OF
August, and the corn crop was 50
short that Catawba people had to go
to the mountains for corn.
This year there were no general
rains from April TIL August Sd. Some
parts of the county had local mower
the latter part of June and the first
of July, while some parts were virtual
~ without rain from April till August.
But the injury is nowhere comparable
with the injury in 1916 or 1881. Early
upland corn is cut short and cotton in
the driest sections Will not be a full
crop. But there is much good bottom
corn and there is a great deal or late
corn that will do we'll with good sea
sons from this time on. Cotton stood
the drought reasonably we'll. 1t will
not be a full crop. but there are many
fields that. will compare favorabiy with
he best years and the fields that were
slow in fruiting in July may put on
a good August crop. The wheat crop
was good and the sweet potatoes. now
an important crop in the country. nave
plenty of time to make a big crop