Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-06-24
Farm and Garden Notes
pull out nice. thrifty plants, but he
should remember that II all are al
lowed to remain, few IL any will
mature satisfactorily.
Cultivation and Rainfall.

/
Cultivation and RainfaIl..
| The belief that the cultivation of
semiarid lands increases the amount
of rainfall in that region OF the
J United States is discredited by re-
cords kept by the weather bureau.
Special attention has been given by
the bureau to this question and the
assertion Is now made by It's special
ties that cultivation does not cause
any appreciable difference in the
rainfall
There las been q decided increase
in the area under cultivation in the
| Great Plains States during the past
cultivation In any district increased
the precipitation. the specialists point
out, a steady rise In the annual rain
fall OF this region could be expected.
Instead Of regular increase. the
records show there are well de-
fined but comparatively short per-
iods OF increasing and decreasing
rainfall, but which can not be due to
cultivation.
Over the western Great Plains the
average rainfall for the % years from
| 1858 to 1892, inclusive. was 1872 in
ches. and from 1893 to 1917. inclusive.
1874 inches. The average rainfall
| over the southern Great Plains for
the rs years from 1868 to 1892, in
elusive, was 1873 inches. and for the
next Is years only 17.S inches. The
average precipitation over the. CEN
trail Great Plains for the flrSA piriod
was 1874 inches, and for the second
! 1871 inches. Over the northern Great
Plains the average fall for the first
period was 1876 inches, and for the
second 1914 inches.
An interesting fact in connection
| with the precipitation records is that
dry years occasionally occur during
the wet period or wet years in a dry
period. The opinion is expressed by
some students of weather data that
dry years and wet years come in
groups OF two or three each, but this
belief is not substantiated by the re-
| cords OF the weather bureau. In other
words, 1t II not possible to predict
from past records the total precipi-
tation for any year. A wet year may
be followed by another wet one or by
| very dry year. or vice versa.
Years OF abundant and well-dis-
trtbuted rainfall encourage q western
| extension OF the cultivated area, and
When there Is a succession of favor.
able years farm operations may be
| pushed 80 tar into the semiarid dis
tricts that In ordinary years the rain
tall Is entirely insufficient for crop
needs. and disaster results. During
those periods of unusual rainfall, the
opinion frequently is expressed that
the rainfall IL increasing and that
this increase must be due to the en-
lArgement Of the areas OF cultiya-
ton. The records. however. do not
support this belief.
America 10 Building Good Roads.
The remarkable rate at which the
number Of federal-aid building
projects has increased since the war
10 shown in q summary relating to
all such work from September 80,
1878. to April 80, 1920. which has
been prepared by the bureau of pub
lilo roads. On the latter date the
states had flled with the bureau
2.ssb project statements, OF which
| ESQ had been approved, represent
Ing 27,7S8 miles of highway. The
totals on April 30. 1919, were little
more than one-third these amounts.
Up to May ! OF this year 1874
projects had proceeded to the stage
at which plans. specifications, and
estimates had been delivered to the
bureau OF public roads. The plans,
specifications. and estimates Of 1927
OF these had been recommended for
approval. representing 1885 miles.
Project agreements had actually
been executed and construction work
was Ia Dro1ress on 1859 projects.
tstaling 1i,tS7 miles. In addition,
WORK had been bsgun on about 100
protests for which agreements had
not actually been signed, thus OK.
psGltin1 the progress Of the work
and bringing the total mileage under
ecnstruetlsh up to 1880. The SUM
mary shows that great reduction
has BEEN made In the time required
Tor preliminary work bofore actual
osnitruotion 10 begun.
On the average the states have
subz1ittsd project statements for
nearly 95 per cent Of their respective
alletnaents and have entered into
agreement to construct highways
which call for about one-half OF their
fsdsral-aid money. The projects
actually completed and paid for are
comparatively few, but they are ma
tsr1Ally exceeded in number by those
which arc practically completed.
California, Delaware, Illinois. ldaho,
Indiana, 1swa, Kansas, Louisiana,
Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Ne
braSlka, New Hampshire. New Jersey,
North Carolina, Ohio. Oregon. Penn
sylvania, Rheds Island, Utah, Wash
ington. West Virginia. and Wyoming
have each submitted approved
propect statements for all or nearly
all of their allotmaut0