THE SEASONS. 



43 



sca.son of 1908. Thi.s, of course, was duo to a dill'eroiicc in conditions, 

 which is shown by the following tabic, in which it will be seen that 

 the rainfall of July Avas just twice as great at ^IcCleary\s camp as at 

 Tucson, slightly less iu August, but still a good amount, and decidedly 

 more in Septeml)er: " 



Comparison of monthly totals uf jtrecipilation at Tarson and McL'learif s camp."' 



Mouth. 



Jainiiiry 



February 



March 



April 



May 



June 



.July 



August 



September 



October 



November 



December 



Yearly total 



« Observations at Tucson from U. S. Weather Bureau reconln, and at McCleary's 

 caiui) by Mr. W. B. McCleary. 



The unproductive condition of the present puldic lands is often 

 attributed to drought during recent years. It is a very common thing 

 to hear ranchers speak of the prolonged droughts during the last few 

 years, and attribute to these the shortage in feed and the consequent 

 decrease in the cattle industiy. The majority of ranchers, however, 

 agree that the carrying capacit}^ of the lands is necessarily small and 

 alwaj^s has been, but that they were led to believe in the early history 

 of the cattle business and at a time when the old vegetation upon 

 the ground was an accumulation of long standing that the cariying 

 capacit}^ was much greater than it really is. This old vegetation 

 having been eaten oti' and tramped out by more stock than ever should 

 have been placed upon the land, coupled with the evil effects of 

 erosion, described elsewhere, account for the present conditions. 



The following table shows that the precipitation during the past tive 

 years has been somewhat less than during the previous four j^ears, 

 and that the average for the past five years has been but 0.95 inch 

 less than the average for the past fourteen years. This table, pre- 

 pared from Weather Bureau observations at Tucson, shows the total of 

 precipitation b}' months and years for the past fourteen years. 



