396 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



I do not include wood ashes in this list of manures because they cannot be 

 obtained in sufficient quantity in this section. Valuable if obtainable. 



THE WEATHER. 



Judging from the usual remarks on the weather one would conclude that 

 as a general rule every season is "exceptional." But 1888 seems to get a 

 nearly unanimous vote as to its exceptional quality. The people of Craw- 

 ford county claim that the past summer was exceptional both as to rainfall 

 and temperature. Uufortunately no meteorological records have been kept 

 in this county. The summer in the central and southern portions of the 

 State has been very dry. At the Agricultural College the rainfall for six 

 months, April to September, was only 13.48 inches, while the average for the 

 same months during 25 years was 18.54 inches, a deficiency of 5.06 inches. 

 The deficiency for four months, June to September, was 4.39 inches, or one- 

 third the average rainfall for those months. From all I can learn the 

 drought was more severe in Crawford than in Ingham county. The temper- 

 ature also was abnormal. The minimum self-registering thermometer at 

 the College marked a temperature at or below frost point on May 1st, 15th 

 and 16th, and again September 13th, 14th and 27th. This thermometer was 

 suspended four feet above ground and under cover. The temperature at 

 ground level and under the open sky would be 8 to 10 degrees lower. Tak- 

 ing this as a starting point we find that frost point was reached in open 

 grounds on May 1st, 2d, 5th, and every night from 12th to 20th, and on 31st; 

 on 2d and 3d of June, on 22d, 27th and 31st of August, and on 4th, 5th, 12th, 

 13th, 14th, 27th, 28th and 29th of September. This list shows six general 

 and eighteen white frosts at Agricultural College between the 1st of May 

 and 30th of September. Grayling is 130 miles north of the College, and 

 would show, if not a greater number, an. increased severity of frosts. 

 Plants that will endure such drought and cold as were seen in Grayling last 

 season may be considered weather proof for Michigan climate. 



THE CONSERVATION OF SOIL MOISTURE. 



One prime condition of vegetable growth, and one, in absence of which, 

 all other conditions of fertility are vain, is a supply of water in the soil. 

 Over the rainfall we have no control. Man may make the soil, but God 

 makes the weather. It is as true today as in days of old : " He sendeth His 

 rain on the just and on the unjust." If we cannot command the rain, it is 

 our problem to husband the rain that falls and hold it for time of need and 

 to draw upon the sub-soil water as occasion requires. To this end we may 

 increase the retentive power of the soil for moisture, lessen its evaporation, 

 and increase the capillary power of the soil ; and in all these ways we may 

 render an increased amount of moisture in the soil available for the use of 

 crops. 



The presence of a certain amount of vegetable matter in light soils 

 increases their power to take up water, and it lessens its loss by evaporation. 

 An increase of vegetable mould in the soil of the plains will greatly improve 

 its quality. The annual fires that burn up the surface accumulation of 

 leaves and vegetable matter are among the worst foes of the plains. 



