The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-01-12
MAKES STUDY OF DROUGHTs
to Tell When Spell of Dry
Weather is Approaching.

It probably will be possible to pre-
dict dToughts with fair degree of &C.
curacy within a few years, DR.. Charles
A. Shull Of the University of Kansas
believes, after a years work in the
governments new effort to discover
what drOughts are made of and how
to lessen their harmfUlness. Doctor
Shull has charge OF the governments
| drought observatory at the University
and is now classifying the daily OBJ
servations for the station for the nine
months ending November 80. In that
time the evaporation was 56.378 inches,
and the rainfall 23.6 inches. The an
nual rainfall in Eastern Kansas is
about thirty-six inches.
The weather bureau is making an
effort to establish at least one such
observatory in each state. Two were
established in Kansas in the fall of
1916, one at the university, the other
at Tribune. The evaporation at Trib-
une has run one to tow inches month
more than at Lawrence.
IF drought forecasts become prac-
teal they will enable. growers to les
sen drought evils by cultivation that
mulches the soil and lessons eVapor-
ation," says Doctor ShulI. The prob
lem is to eliminate evaporation from
the soil and let the moisture be evap-
GRATED through the growing plants.
Kansas gets enough rain to raise
much larger crops
X
No Milk Famine in Kansas.-Kan-
sas is to be spared a milk famine, such
as Eastern states have suffered, &C.
/ cording to dairymen, who have ex-
pressed themselves as highly pleased
with the reduction of thirty cents a
| hundred in the price of bran, which
was announced Christmas morning by
| Food Administrator lines. Men who
| had contemplated selling their dairy
herds because of the high cost of feed
have changed their minds.
x x
Lawrence Remembered Poor.-One
hundred and forty-four half-bushel
| baskets of food were distributed
among the poor of Lawrence by the
! Salvation Army and Social Service
League. In addition clothing was dis
| tributed.
Spanked a 4o-Year-OId Woman
"That woman got one good spanking"
said H. W. Cook in Justice Wagstaff's
court at Salina when he was fined SO
for spanking with a piece of pine
board Mrs. Omega Clemens, 40 years
old. neighbor. She had borrowed
Cooks horse and he said she mistreat-
ed it.
Another Bank Shows LoyaIty.-By
unanimous vote of the stockholders
the name of the German National
Bank of Northern Kansas at BeIoit
was changed to the Union National
Bank. This bank was organized May
5, 1903. and on its last call had de-
posits of s1,304, 8O4.79.
Appointed Farm Agent.-Prof R.
Kenny, an instructor at the State Agri-
cultural College at Manhattan for sew
eral years, has been named as farm
agent for Geary and Riley counties
and will take up his new work at once.
4 x
Woman in Federal Serviee.-Miss
Agnes King. for four years head of
the school department of the State
Normal Library, has been called to .
position in the War Department at
Washington. D. c.. as a catalog and
| index expert.
Storing Of Ice Urged.-An appeal to
every patriotic Kansas man to store
ice this winter. if he possibly can, was
made recently by Walter P. lines.
food administrator for Kansas. This
applies to storekeepers, farmers and
ice companies.