EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 337 



who have come from the older agricultural regions where the timber 

 and stumps have long since disappeared. To them and the others who 

 seem disposed to follow,' the important question is to know the value 

 which may be derived from kinds upon which little if any of the 

 machinery to which they are accustomed can be used during the sev- 

 eral years while the stumps are decaying. The simple, yet very im- 

 portant question which this station ought to be able to answer in the 

 near future is: How many pounds of beef, of mutton, of pork, or wool 

 or butter will an acre of stump land produce?^ There are thousands 

 of such acres now, and the rapid disappearance of the timber, due to 

 its constantly increasing price, makes it safe to state that there will 

 be hundreds of thousands of such acres within less than five years. 



WEATHER CONDITIONS- DURING 19C5. 



t 



In the mean the weather conditions of the season of 1905 were favor- 

 able for all crops. The total rainfall during the six months of the 

 growing season was 19.75 inches, as against 20.61 inches for the preced- 

 ing season. The greatest depth of snow was 30 inches recorded on 

 January 13, The snow was covered with crust several times during 

 the winter, especially at the close of December and in the latter part 

 of February. Beginning with the middle of March, the day tempera- 

 tures were uniformally high, though the night temperatures, until the 

 forepart of May, were generally below freezing point, and thus the 

 snow did not completely disappear until the twenty-eighth of April, 

 although the ground was mostly bare on the ninth of that month. Plow- 

 ing was practically completed and the seeding well under way in April. 

 May continued cold, and as growth started a w^eek later than usual, 

 there were no late frosts to damage vegetation or blossoms, except that 

 corn was slightly injured late in the season on low ground. The 

 usually cool summer nights were warmer than normal during August, 

 and tills did much to offset the lateness of the season. Two rather 

 heavy frosts occurred on September 13 and October 6, with a killing 

 frost on October 11. Permanent snow fell November 24, the ground 

 being unfrozen at the time. 



Several severe wind storms caused a partial destruction of fruit trees 

 in the unprotected orchard. Windbreaks are essential on the south and 

 west side of Upper Peninsula orchards. 



WEATHER CONDITIONS DURING 1906. 



In many respects the weather conditions of the season of 1906 were 

 even more favorable than those of 1905, the most conspicuous exception 

 being the early part thereof. The total rainfall during the six months 

 of the growing season was 18.61 inches. The greatest depth of snow 

 was 35 inches, recorded on February 4. Warm weather started with 

 the beginning of April, the ground being partly bare on the 12th, and 

 the last traces of snow having disappeared on the 19th. Night tempera- 

 tures thereafter remained cold and were frequently below freezing point 

 until May 12. The warm and often hot and dry weather which followed 

 43 



