The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1945-09-13
RAINS BREAK GRIP
OF MONTH OF DRY
WEATHER In area
Rainfall Will Aid Soybean
Stand and Dried Up
Pastures
Showers Come Too Late To
Aid Corn Crop Fired By
Drought

heaVy rainfall Saturday and
continuing the first of the week eff
fectually broke the hold of a month
long drought, but the prolonged dry
spell left its mark in prospects for
decreased yields of fall harvested
crops.
Saturdays rain was the first of
any consequence since VI Day, and
it came too late to be of any help
to the ripening corn crop and to
late potatoes which are almost ready
for harvesting.
Soybeans, altho hurt by the
drought, will receive some advantage
from the moisture. Dried fall
pastures, which were beginning to
cut into this summers record milk
production, were helped by the rain
fall but more precipitation will be
required regularly to bring the grass
back to q lush stage.
During the month-long drought
| Buttons city water consumption
was hiked, grass fires were a con-
stant menace, and conditions result
ing from the towns lack of adequate
sewage disposal facilities were ag-
gravated.
1914 Drought Worse
This years drought, however, was
not as serious as that of 1914, be-
cause unusually heavy rainfall thru
May and June had increased soil
reserves of moisture, helping crops
to weather much of the effects of the
dry spell.
This areas corn crop, which one
month ago gave every prospect of
producing a bumper yield, has been
cut about 20 per cent by the
drought, according to estimates of
| qualified observers.
Crop prospects, however, are more
widely variable than in many a year,
because of the vagaries of rainfall
which helped some sections and miss
ed others.
| Rain South of Dixie
| Four weeks ago Tuesday, heavy
rain south and southeast of town
soaked the ground at critical
period when ears were being formed
and proved the making of an antici-
pated average crop in that area.
This rain, however, missed the
section north and west of Bluffton
which usually produces the largest
yields in the district, and as a result
one of the smallest crops in recent
years is expected there.
The rain four weeks ago was so
heavy it delayed threshing for two
days south of town but threshing
operations never were halted in the
section on the other side of the
Dixie.
Cutbacks in hog feeding during
the coming winter will result from
the decreased corn yield west and
north of here. Ordinarily corn-hog
projects are the backbone of farm
ing operations in the drought
stricken district, but the reduced
corn yield is bringing about revisions
for winter feeding.
Crop Is Fired"
Much of the corn in the affected
district is fred, and some of the
crop already is being cut for silo
| filling and for stock feeding.
Drying up of pastures during the
drought has cut into the record sum-
mer milk production which kept the
local plant of the Page Dairy Co. in
high gear until mid-August, accord
ing to Harry Turner, manager.
Two months ago in July, the plant
was receiving an average of $4,000
pounds of milk daily, in comparison
with the usual summer average of
10000 pounds.
AT present, approximately $4,000
pounds of milk daily are being
received by the processing plant,
and unless heavy rainfall continues
to help parched pasture lands milk
production may fall off further.
Wafer Use Increases
During the drought, Buttons
water consumption increased from
| one-third to one-half of its daily
average of 10000 gallons.
Waterworks sources said the sup
ply had remained adequate, how
ever, and there is no prospect at
present for any eurtailment of water
| usage
Drought left Big and Little Riley
creeks at low levels, aggravating
the towns sewage situation. With
water supply for more than a month
proving entirely inadequate to dilute
domestic and industrial wastes pour
ed into the streams, the pressing
need for modern sewage pisposal
has been high-hghted again this
-.