Evening star., 1941-07-26
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henry.


The United States Is having one Of the
best crop summers in It's history.
For the first time in q decade there
is plenty OF rain everywhere and 1t looks
as if the long drought period is done.
Such is the opinion of DR.. j. B. Kineer.
chief of the Genealogical section OF the
United States Weather Bureau. Early
this spring DR.. Kineers division warned
the Secretary of Agriculture that bad
drought was in prospect for most OF the
country. All winter there had been less
than half Of normal rainfall east of the
Mississippi and the dry area was spread
ing. A Drought Emergency Committee
was appointed.
Unexpectedly, about the frst of June
the situation was reversed. There were
plentiful rains everywhere. Farmers be-
gan to complain of too much mud. The
dust bowl turned green. Crops were re-
ported q week or more ahead Of their
normal condition. This situation has
continued for month, through the
most vital part of the growing season.
The soil Is soaked so that even If dry
weather should come now 1t would make
no difference.
The nearest parallel, DR.. Kineer says,
is found in the l886-18s5 decade. Every
year the rainfall was below normal
Homesteaders we're ruined and aban-
doned their farms by the thousands.
The year 1896 brought plentiful rainfall
everywhere and this continued for
nearly 80 years. There were minor, local
droughts, but for the country as a whole
every year brought somewhat better
than normal precipitation.
This eliminated in the early 20s with
the plowing of the cattle ranges. There
were bountiful wheat crops. The wealth
er had changed, folks believed. Rains
follow the plow," declared optimistic
farmers
Then came the worst dry spell in the
country's history Two years broke all
records. 1t was far worse than the '86-
to-'95 period. Although there were some
fair years in the decade, none of them
had quite normal precipitation for the
Nation as a whole.
again. Mr. Kineer is cautious. For
the next decade" he says, Il think there
is a much higher probability that any
given year will be fairly wet But there
may be some dry years interspersed
But a farmer certainly can put in his
crops with more confidence than he has
been able to in the past 10 years. But
hope nobody revives the idea of rain
following the plow. 1t can only lead to
tragedy again
He has no idea Mr.. Kineer says, Of
what caused the striking change in June
after farmers in some parts of the coun-
try-notably Virginia and Kentucky
had nearly given up all hope. They
thought their crops were ruined beyond
redemption.
1T just happened he says, like so
many things in weather. A man is fool
ish to predict seasons
Some parts Of the country got much
more rain than they needed, but this
did the crops no harm. Through the
Great Plains from the Rio Grande to
the Canadian border precipitation
ranged from l29 to 1877 per cent of
normal.
One crop which has suffered slightly
is corn. This Is the time of tasseling.
The hotter the weather the better
Through much of the corn belt it has
been abnormally cool. with the result
that a two-week head start over most
recent years has been lost
Wheat has prospered more than any
other crop. In North Dakota harvesting
is 10 days ahead of time. The cotton
crop has done exceptionally well, but
the farmers now are praying for a few
days of dry weather.