FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING. 



45 



The second element which demands attention in estimating the' 

 climate of Kansas is the 



RAINFALL. 



The annexed table indicates the amount of rain in inches, includ- 

 ing melted snow, for each month of the period under discussion : 



Table V.— Rainfall in inches for each mouth, at Lawrence, Kansas, from January first, 1868, to 



January first, 1873. 



The above table shows the peculiar distribution of rain through 

 the different months of the year. Beginning with February, in which 

 the average precipitation is reduced to its minimum, there is a con- 

 stant increase in each month until July and August, when the rain- 

 fall reaches its maximum and begins to decline, each succeeding 

 month showing a decrease in the average amount until the minimum 

 is again reached in February. And while this regularity is seen to 

 exist in the average monthly supplies of rain, it will be observed that 

 in no single month of the growing season in either of the five years 

 was the rainfall so light as to interfere in any considerable degree 

 with the proper growth and ripening of the staple productions of 

 the farmer. The comparative amounts of rain for the different 

 seasons and the annual amounts are exhibited in an additional table: 



Table VI.— Mean Precipitation of Rain for Seasons and Years at Lawrence. Kansas. 



A remarkable feature in the rainfall of Kansas is made evident 

 by the preceding table, from which it appears that only about one- 

 tenth of the annual precipitation occurs in the winter months. In 

 the eastern States the amount of rain, including melted snow, is 

 nearly as large in winter as in each of the other seasons. In Kan- 



