Evening star., 1945-07-20
More Rain Due
1oday;;Farmers
IL
Survey Damage
Is to 500 of Wheat
In Montgomery Is "a.
Injured by Wetness

Maryland and Virginia farmers
watched the skies with concern
today as they took stock of crops
damaged by six days of rains.
The weatherman, reporting that
so far this month rainfall already
is 2.23 inches more than normal for
the whole month of July, held out
little hope that the rains are over.
The forecaster predicted that skies
would be partly cloudy today, bring
ing showers this afternoon. This
temperatures, he said, would be in
the 80s.
The forecaster reported that 5.5s
inches of rain have fallen since
Saturday, bringing the total for the
month to 6.94 inches, only 389
inches under the record of 1888
inches recorded in July, 1886. Nor.
NAL for the month Is All inches.
IN Virginia, the Richmond Weather
Bureau reported the wettest month
in the history of the State, topping
July, 1889, when ,14.01 inches of rain
fell The bureau reported that
1921 inches already have fallen,
with spasmodic showers predicted
for today.
Humidity at 100 Per Cent.
Maryland trailed Virginia In the
of rainfall recorded. The
Weather Bureau at Baltimore re-
ported last night that approximately
4.49 inches of rain had fallen in that
area since Saturday, and on the
Eastern Shore the sun was seen
during the afternoon for the first
time in days.
The Weather Bureau reported
that relative humidity early this
morning was 100 per cent, meaning
that the air carried all the water
possible without precipitation. Later,
the humidity dropped to approx
mately 81 per cent.
In the nearby Maryland and Vir-
ginia Counties farmers reported
considerable damage to grain crops,
while Eastern Shore truck growers
said the rains had caused heavy
damage to the $4,000, 900 tomato
crop. Elsewhere in the two States,
the rains were reported as benefi-
cial to corn, tobacco and late hay
crops.
Grain Damage Reported.
o. w. Anderson, Montgomery
County agriculture agent, said that
Is to so per cent of the wheat,
standing in shocks in the fields
awaiting threshing, had sprouted be-
cause of the damp weather, and that
approximately 100 per cent of the
barley crop was ruined.
In Fairfax County, Va, L. S.
Greene, county agent, said some
damage had resulted to wheat there.
but added that this could not be es-
timated at the present time.
Mr.. Greene pointed out that the
Iripeness of the grain when it was
cut, the way 1t was shocked and
other conditions would determine
the amount of damage. He said
poorly shocked grain would be dam
aged more than wheat shocks pro-
tected by adequate covering.
The county agents explained
that when wheat stands wet in the
shocks the grains sprout, spelling
the wheat for milling purposes.
Sprouted wheat. however, can be
used as stock feed.
Benefit Seen from Rain.
L. M. Walker, jr., Virginia COM
missioner of agriculture, said there
is danger of heavy fungus growth
in apple and peach crops because
of the heavy moisture. He believed
the benefit to pasture lands, corn
and tobacco outweighed the damage
to other crops, however.
Mr.. Walker said that fall hay
especially will be benefited by the
heavy rains. He pointed out that
for the last two seasons the hay
crops have been light because of ex-
cessively dry weather. Two years
ago hay was imported from Canada
and Western States as an emergency
measure.
Roads Clear.
Meanwhile, Richmond police re-
ported that a third victim was re-
covered from a bus that crashed
through a bridge Wednesday and
was carried 300 feet down raging
Gillies Greek in the city. The third
victim was identified as Pfc. Joseph
A. Bujowski, 81, of Jersey City. A
3-month-old child and another
soldier also were killed in the acci-
dent.
AS the rains dwindled to an oca-
sional shower last night, Virginia
and Maryland road officials reported
that waters had receded from high
ways that had been inundated dur
ing the heavy downpour.
Trains approaching Washington
from the South. delayed yesterday
by track washouts, were again on
schedule, officials said,