WEATHER AND CKOrS. 6o 



heavy over many of the central and northern counties, while in the south- 

 ern sections there was a marked deficiency. Over nearly all of the north- 

 west section, the northern portion of the central section and a numhcr 

 of counties in the southwest section the total precipitation for the month 

 exceeded 6 inches, and in a few localities it even exceeded 8 inches, while 

 over a considerahlc portion of the southeast section there was less than 

 2 inches, the extreme southeastern counties receiving less than one-half 

 inch. The average precipitation for the State was 4.59 inches, 0.40 

 inch above the normal. The greatest local monthly precipitation was 

 10.77 inches, at Oregon, and the least, .15 inch, at Caruthersville. The 

 heavy rains in portions of the northern, central and western sections re- 

 tarded threshing, oat harvest and haying to a considerable extent during 

 the forepart of the month, and in some districts wheat in shock sprouted 

 badly and oats were beaten down so that a portion of the crop was lost, 

 but in most sections wheat that was well shocked suffered but little dam- 

 age, and the bulk of the oat crop was secured in good condition. Some 

 hay was damaged in a few of the northern and western counties, but in 

 general an excellent crop was secured in good condition. The vield of 

 wheat proved to be even better than was expected, and notwithstanding 

 the unfavorable weather conditions during harvest, the crop of 1902 goes 

 on record as the largest ever grown in the State. In a few of the ex- 

 treme southeastern counties, where the rainfall was lightest, corn was 

 seriously injured by drouth, and along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, 

 and also on some of the smaller streams in the northern part of the State 

 considerable loss was caused by floods, but elsewhere the crop made ex- 

 cellent progress throughout the month. Early corn was in the roasting 

 oar stage by the 25th, and at the close of the month the largest crop in 

 the history of the State was indicated. Flax, in the southwestern coun- 

 ties, proved to be a poor crop, being poorly filled and weedy, but tobacco, 

 cow peas, sorghum, kafifir corn and millet made excellent growth. Cot- 

 ton, in the southeastern counties, suffered considerably from drouth and 

 there was much complaint of shedding. The melon crop in that section 

 v/as also damaged, gardens dried up, pastures became short in localities 

 and there was complaint of a scarcity of stock water, but elsewhere gar- 

 den vegetables were abundant, and pastures continued in excellent con- 

 dition. Early potatoes were an exceptionally good crop but rotted con- 

 siderably in some places. Apples continued to drop to some extent, but 

 what remained on the trees promised to be of fine quality. An excellent 

 crop of peaches was gathered in some of the extreme southern counties. 

 Plowing for fall seeding was in progress during the last week of the 

 month, but in man}- of the southern counties the gromid was reported 

 quite hard. 



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