STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 191 



same, however unequal in each locality in any year, month, week, or 

 day. The precipitation may be not only due, but actually fall in the 

 rain belt and wind currents of the disti'ict, that such belt and cur- 

 rents properly belong to. The tidal sway, to and fro, exerting also a 

 relatively similar pressure upon the atmosjdiere, per aniunn, unless 

 we except the more rai)id cooling of the earth's crust under the ocean, 

 and consequent subsidence, and the proportionate upheaval of the 

 lands, by the elasticity of the fluid or other matter within the body of 

 the globe. 



These reflections, however, still go to show the general law of com- 

 pensation, which in longer periods may recur in any and every local- 

 ity, and the observed periodicity of our droughts and rains, both being 

 only relative terms, to which t have called your attention, seems to 

 tally, therefore, with such general principles of ultimate compensation, 

 without even seeking for interi)lanetary or lunar causes. Neverthe- 

 less, both may have particular influences at particular times, which, 

 although seemingly abnormal, may, in fact, be periodical also. 



CYCLES OF DRY SEASONS. 

 [Record-Union, Jan. 2ij, 1S84.] 



That the dry seasons of this State recur in almost unvarying cycles 

 of about seven years, which fact is just now receiving attention, 

 although none the less interesting, is not a new discovery at this 

 time. Soon after the compilation by Sergeant Barwick, of the table 

 showing the rainfall by seasons, etc., at Sacramento, for a then period 

 of thirty-two years, which table first appeared in the Record-Union, 

 an editorial upon the subject was published in that journal Septem- 

 ber 5, 1881, in which occurred the following: 



The statistics of rainfall have been kept for thirty-two consecutive rain seasons, and the 

 periodicity of maximum and minimum rainfall has been ascei-tained with a degree of reason- 

 able probability, not to say certainty. The statistics show the recurrence of dry seasons with 

 such regularity of interval as to almost establish an unvarying periodicity. For example, the 

 first years of maximum rainfall exhibited on the rain tables for thirty-two seasons, recently 

 published by the Record-Union, was the season of 1S50-1 ; the second, in 1856-7; the third, 

 1863-4 ; the" fourth, 1870-1 ; the fifth, 1876-7. Here are five dry seasons, occurring at intervals 

 of six and seven years. From the date of the last there have elapsed but four seasons. The 

 analogy of the past recurrence would fix the season of 188.3-4 as the next dry season, or two 

 seasons beyond that approaching. But there is a still greater regularity observable in the 

 aggregate amount of rainfall in the seasons divided into groups by the minimum years. As 

 this is a new observation of the statistics, it will he fully presented. 



The first minimum season was that of 18.50-1. Now, from the season of 1851-2 to 1856-7, inclu- 

 sive, we have the first group closing with a minimum season — that of 1856-7. The aggregate 

 rainfall of the period was 118.51 inches. The second group is from 1857-8 to 1863-4, inclusive, 

 and the aggregate rainfall is 128.05 inches. The third is for 1864-5 to 1870-1, inclusive, aggre- 

 gating 136.31 inches of rain. The fourth is from 1871-2 to 1876-7, aggregating 113.17 inches. 

 Thus the average rainfall during the periods ending in minimum seasons is ascertained to be 

 124.04 inches. The current series, which is to end with a minimum season, has accomplished 

 but four seasons. The aggregate rainfall in these is but 95.76 inches, or thirty-eight inches less 

 than the average of the former cycles. Herein analogy gives a second strong infereiKse in favor 

 of a heavy season for the ayjproaching Winter. But still a third is to be found in the fact that 

 in four of the five cycles noted above, the maximum years exceeded thirt}' inches of rain in a 

 single season. Thus in the first group, the maximum was 36.66 ; the second, 35.55 ; the third, 

 32.79, etc. The current series has so far no maximum beyond 26.57 inches. The observations 

 of the past present these prominent facts, which, by the extension of analogies, indicate a heavy 

 rainfall for the ajtyjroaching season, and in favor of the probable recurrence of another dry season 

 not earlier than that of 1883-4. 



Upon this subject. Sergeant Barwick, in a communication, says: 



What I say and refer to in the following article about the dry seasons in the past thirty-five 

 years, and judging from their returning at stated intervals of six and seven years, must not be 



