WKATIII^R A^D CROPS. 63 



eastern counties, did well, as did also flax in the southwestern counties, 

 except in a few locaHties. Good rains in the northwestern counties dur- 

 ing- the first week of the- month caused a marked improvement in the 

 wheat crop in that section and throughout the State the crop continued 

 unusually promising, although there was some complaint of rust and 

 lodging in the central and southern sections. Rye also did finely. Oats, 

 as a rule, made good growth and were heading by the close of the month. 

 In some of the northern, central and eastern counties the growth of 

 grasses was retarded by lack of moisture during a part of the month, 

 but toward the close there was a rapid improvement, though many of 

 the old meadows were reported very w-eedy. Millet and sorghum did 

 well, and gardens and potatoes were very fine. The outlook for the 

 apple crop, however, was not encouraging. In many of the central and 

 northern counties orchards that were not sprayed were defoliated by 

 caterpillars, and during the latter part of the month there was consider- 

 able complaint of dropping. 



June. — Except in the southern portions of the State the month of 

 June averaged decidedly cooler than usual, the deficiency in temperature 

 being most marked in the northwest section, where it was about 5 de- 

 grees. During the first halt of the month the temperature was generally 

 above the normal, but during the latter half the weather was unseason- 

 ably cool, remarkably low temperatures for the last decade of June being 

 recorded on the 22d, with light frosts in localities in the northern and 

 eastern sections. The mean temperature of the month for the State, 

 70.9 degrees, is, with one exception (70.7 degrees in 1889), the lowest 

 June mean recorded during the past fifteen years, and at Oregon, Holt 

 county, it was the coolest June during the past forty-seven years. The 

 highest monthly mean, 75.4 degrees, occurred at Poplar Bluff, and the 

 lowest, 65.4 degrees, at Conception. The highest temperature recorded 

 v.'as 100 degrees, at St. Charles on the nth, and the lowest, 37 degrees, 

 at Edwards on the 226. The average number of days with maximum 

 temperature above 90 degrees was 5. In a number of the west-central 

 counties, and also in a few of the extreme southeastern counties, the pre- 

 cipitation was deficient, but over much the greater portion of the State 

 there was a marked excess. The heaviest rains occurred in portions 

 of the central and southwest sections and along the northern border of 

 the State, the total for the month in those districts ranging from 8 to 

 over 12 inches, or from 4 to 8 inches in excess of the normal. The aver- 

 age precipitation for the State was 6.57 inches, 1.79 inches in excess of 

 the normal. The greatest local monthly precipitation was 12.55 inches, 

 at Mt. Vernon, and the least, 2.55 inches, at Lamonte. At Princeton 

 6.08 inches fell in nine hours and five minutes on the 27-28th. The un- 



