Miscellaneous Papers. 289 



by amounts worthy^of consideration." This statement, however, 

 may be considered correct vvith regard to the western third of Kan- 

 sas and Nebraska, as shown by the records of Dodge and North 

 Platte ; but it is not correct in regard to the eastern and central 

 portions of those states, where the breaking and cultivation of the 

 soil upon a large scale and the great increase of forestation have 

 combined to produce conditions favorable to an increased rainfall. 

 In the western portions of Kansas and Nebraska the conditions are 

 practically the same to-day as they were in the eastern portions of 

 those states when settlement first began. 



There never has been a better opportunity to test the question 

 of the eflPect of the sudden human occupation of an agricultural 

 region upon climatic conditions than has been afforded in eastern 

 and central Kansas and Nebraska during the last fifty years. Three 

 millions of people now occupy this agricultural region, where fifty 

 years ago the entire area was unplowed prairie. When I came to 

 Kansas, in 1866, to begin my life-work as a member of the faculty 

 of the State University, the only timber consisted of a narrow belt 

 along each stream ; and during the late autumn and winter I often 

 counted at night as many as fifty to seventy simultaneous prairie- 

 fires from my study windows in the University buildings, on the 

 summit of Mount Oread. At that time by daylight, from the same 

 point of view, every house in the city of Lawrence was plainly visi- 

 ble from foundation to roof, while at the present time the buildings, 

 although greatly increased in number, are completely concealed 

 from view by the foliage of the multitudinous shade-trees. The 

 surrounding country also has been so changed in appearance by 

 the growth of trees under human direction as no longer to bear the 

 remotest resemblance to the original prairie surface. 



Not only has the rainfall increased, but the atmospheric hu- 

 midity has also increased. The average relative humidity for the 

 first half of the period of my observations was 68.76 per cent., while 

 during the second half it had risen to 73.21 per cent. When I 

 came to Kansas, in 1866, .and for several years thereafter, no dew 

 was deposited upon the grass until toward morning, and one could 

 walk through the grass at any time before midnight without wetting 

 one's shoes. Of late years, the dew generally begins to be depos- 

 ited on the grass before the twilight is over, as in the Eastern 

 states, thus corroborating the observed increase in the atmospheric 

 humidity. 



In regard to the velocity of the wind. Doctor Moore, in his hear- 

 ing before the congressional committee, stated that he was quite 

 -19 



