WEATHER AND CROPS. (i? 



acreage was small. Sorghum making was in progress at the close 

 of the month and the crop was reported very fine. Tobacco was also 

 an excellent crop. Apples continued to drop to a greater or less ex- 

 tent, and there was some complaint of bitter rot, especially in the 

 southeastern counties. Plowing for fall seeding was considerably 

 retarded in the southern sections during the fore part of the month 

 by the dryness of the ground, while during the latter part the soil in 

 some of the northern and western counties was too wet. 



September. — September was remarkably cool throughout the State, 

 the mean temperature of Ihc month. 63.2 degrees, being about 5 de- 

 grees below the normal, l-'or the State as a whole it was the coolest 

 September during the past fifteen years, but at nearly all of the older 

 stations lower September means arc on record. Light frost occurred as 

 early as the 4tii, and killing- frosts, with thin ice, occurred in localities on 

 the i2th, 13111 and T4th. The highest local monthly mean, 68.6 degrees, 

 occurred at Caruthersville, and the lowest, 60.2 degrees, at Maryville. 

 The highest temperature recorded during the month was 95 degrees, at 

 Willow Springs on the 7th, and the lowest, 30 degrees, at fronton and 

 Potosi on the T4th. The precipitation was very unevenly distributed and 

 exceeded the normal amount over much the greater portion of the State. 

 The heaviest rains occurred in the central and western sections, portions 

 of those sections receiving a total of from 6 to over 10 inches. Exces- 

 sive rains in several of the western counties during the last decade of the 

 month caused destructive floods in a number of the smaller streams. The 

 average precipitation for the State was 4.78 inches, 1.22 inches above 

 the normal. The greatest local monthly fall was 10.92 inches, at Wheat- 

 land, and the least, t.8t inches, at Hermann. A fall of 6.55 inches in 

 twenty-four consecutive hours occurred at Bethany on the 23rd-24th. 

 The cool, showery weather was unfavorable for maturing the corn crop, 

 but by far the greater portion was out of danger by the 15th, and practical- 

 ly the entire crop was well matured by the close of the month. Cutting 

 was generally completed by tjie 20th. Killing frost on the 13th damaged 

 some of the latest corn in portions of the northern and eastern sections, 

 but the loss was comparatively slight, except in a few counties. During 

 the last decade of the month, however, there was complaint that corn in 

 shock was molding, and that on the stalk sprouting and rotting where 

 down, as a result of the continued rains and cloudy weather. In a few 

 of the western counties floods in the smaller streams washed away some 

 corn tl;at was in shock and covered standing corn with mud. Some stock 

 was also caught by the floods and drowned. Cotton picking, in the 

 extreme southeastern counties, progressed favorably during the fore ])art 

 of the month, with fair yields, but was considerably retarded by rains 



