KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 39 



the commonwealth of Kansas the proudest position in the sisterhood of the 

 Union. I am happy in believing that there is no subject that concerns the 

 safety of human life, too lowly or insignificant to be introduced here; nor is 

 there any prejudice or vice, or evil or crime, so insolent or contumelious as 

 to intimidate the Goddess of Liberty and Humanity, who has her home 

 within this temple. 



THE RAINFALL IN ITS RELATIONS TO KANSAS FARMING. 



BY H. R. HILTON. 



Political economists tell us that the foundation of the wealth and pros- 

 perity of a nation lies in the productions of its soil. 



Science tells us that the successful production of crops is dependent princi- 

 pally on the climate, or the proper distribution of heat and moisture. 



The climate of a country bears the same relation to its agriculture that the 

 products of the soil do to its general prosperity; and successful farming must 

 rely as fully on a properly-adjusted supply of moisture and heat, as the pros- 

 perous State or Nation does on its agricultural production. The farmer may 

 bring drainage, fertilizers and a thorough system of cultivation to his aid, 

 but his success is, after all, proportioned to the kind of season with which he 

 has been favored. That system of farming approaches nearest perfection, 

 that takes into consideration the varieties of climate under which the system 

 is to be carried on, as well as the varieties of soil to be tilled, and engages in 

 the cultivation only of such products as are adapted to both soil and climate. 



The resources of Kansas are almost exclusively agricultural, and in Kan- 

 sas agriculture is specially dependent on the climate. Every business inter- 

 est in the State is affected, favorably or adversely, as our crop seasons are 

 good or bad ; and a thorough and intelligent knowledge of our climate is one 

 that concerns the welfare of our State and every resident in it. 



That the system of cultivation and variety of crops in this State should, 

 in so many instances, be so much at variance with the climate and the soil, 

 must be attributed not so much to ignorance on the part of our farmers, as 

 to the fact that both soil and climate were new to them, and difierent from 

 that to which they had been accustomed in other States further to the East. 

 They had no precedent to follow, and naturally adopted whatever rotation of 

 crops or whatever system of cultivation they had been accustomed to at their 

 former homes. It required, and is still requiring, years of experiment to de- 

 termine what crops must be abandoned and what adopted, and under what 

 plan of cultivation the best results can be secured. The first ten years of the 

 settlement of any portion of our State may be termed the experimental stage 

 of its history, and many failures have to be recorded and drawbacks over- 



