El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-09-30
Drouth Causes Crop Failures
Efforts Are Now Being Directed To-
ward Growing Plants Capable
of Retaining Moisture.
- ~ 4 rcdnrIl. L Hnakfn
-By Il rcderIc !. HaskiR

w other condition to which grow
ing crops may be exposed is 50
| fatal as dry weather. Wet weather has
| sometimes produced crop failures, and
| bic for deficient food supplies, but, as
| a rule, the farmer finds drouth the
| worst enemy that can come between
/ him and the growing food supply.
| North Is Most Productive.
| The major portion of the food of the
| world always will come from the north
! ern hemisphere, not only because It
| contains a much greater proportion of
| arabic land, but also because it has
| greater amount of rainfall. 1t is es-
| timated that the average amount of
| rain falling in the northern hemisphere
| is at least One-fOurth greater than that
/ falling in the southern hemisphere.
One can scarcely realize that his food
supply is largely dependent upon the
! moisture that is lifted up into the sky
from the seas OF the antipodes, and
! carried by friendly winds to our lati-
tude. Yet it is a fact well known to
meteorologiSts that the Water-carrying
winds from the southern seas make
possible millions of tons of food that
we would not get if we had to depend
solely upon our own hemisphere for
our supply of moisture.
1t is estimated that the average rain
fall of the earth amounts to "A inches.
1t varies from 4S 1-2 feet, in the re-
gion south of the Brahma Pootra val
ley, to almost nothing in the Sahara
desert. The average is highest at the
equator and lowest in the polar regions.
7 1t is beyond the human mind to con-
ceive the vastness of the work of the
world great pump and water carrier
| the sun and the wind. A mathematician
| has calculated that the annual amount
of water taken out of the sea by the
sun approximates eighty-five trillion
tons. In other words, it would be suf-
ficient to fill lake with an area equal
to that part of the United States east
of the Missippi river to a depth of 40
I nil To
way, the average annual rainfall per
acre throughout the world apprOxi-
mates 200 tons year.
Heaviest Rain in India.
Where there is less than 20 inches of
rainfall a year the region is said to be
semi-arid, until it drops down to 10
inches of rain, where desert conditions
prevail About the highest known mo-
mentary rainfall was the record made
some years ago in India, where at one
place it rained 80 inches in a single
hour. There have been innumerable oc-
casions when 1000 tons of water to the
acre have fallen in an hour.
The energy of the sun, utilized in the
evaporation OF water, is past magma
ton. An mixing of its vaStness may
be Cleaned from the statement that
the heat given off by the gulf stream
IS sufficient to drive 400. 100000 ships
like the ''Lusitania" The heat given
off by the Gulf stream is only an un-
imaginably small fraction of that which
the sun sends to the earth in its pro-
cess OF pumping up water TO irriSate
the habitatiOns of man.
The assertion frequently made is that
winters formerly were colder than they
are today, and that summers were
hotter, that fewer SHOWS now fall and
that greater floods are experienced.
These impressions find support in the
changes of the distribution of crops
and the dates of harvest Grapes, corn
ana ollyeS are no longer cultivated in
parts Of Europe where formerly they
were widely grown Some point to this
as evidence OF climatic changes. Others
point to the fact that in many parts of
the world lakes are drying up, or that
in other places the river flow seems to
pc greater But, as a matter of fact, the
climate OF any given place has not
changed during historic times. The rec
ord of the grape harvest of Europe has
been kept since the 18th century, and
in all that time there has been no
marked fluctuatiOn.
The modern forester finds a mute but
eloquent witness of the persistent quail
ity of a climate in the trees which
have weathered the centuries For in
stance, some of the giants of the for
est in California were standing thou
sands of years ago, and, as the wood
man examines the rings of a new cut
tree, he finds a silent record of the
years OF plenty and the years of fam
inc
Irrigation System Old.
Man has long struggled to free him
self from the terrors of a drOuth. His
llTSl mGlnOu was OlS a QlIcn ana 10
1rrigate his land All of the civilizations !
of the worlds early history were stu
ated in the arid and semi-arid regions !
of the earth Their comparative free |
dom from famine was due to their /
Utilization of their rivers as well as of |
their rainfall. But, as the earth's popu- |
lation grew from the $4,000, 900 of the /
era of the emperor Augustus to the |
10000 100000 of today, the irrigation |
ditch no. longer sufficed to meet the /
needs Of humanity.
The next effort was in the direction |
OF the improvement of transportation /
methods. But, so long as the OK cart !
and the man-drlVen boat were the only
means of carrying food into interior /
regions. starvation followed crop fall |
ureS. Governments sought to combat
the dangers of famine by forbidding
the expectation of commodities from
regions likely to suffer from crop fail
ures- But it availed nothing. When !
railroads were built, however, food
found new and constant channels
through which to flow, and wherever |
they were put into regular operation
there was little danger of excessive
ia mintes in spite of crop failures
The latest method of combating
drOuths is a scientific one The agri- |
culturists of the world are ranSacking
the earth for drouth-resisting plants, J
which will grow where nothing grew
before. Many of these plants have been !
successfully cultivated IN our own !
country and in the dryer regions |
abroad 1t is confidently expected by /
scientific agriculturists that millions
of acres of semi-aFid regions, where |
irrigation is Impractical bic, by the ap- |
plication of the methods of dry farm
ing and growing drouth-res1stinS
crops, will be made to contribute their
share of food for the worlds growing
population.
Tomorrow: Great Famines of History.