21 
normal of 9.74 inches for the preceding 58 years. The drought 
was broken on July 4-6, but drought conditions continued through- 
out most of August and September. The brown lawns showed 
almost no trace of green color, leaves dropped from some of the 
trees, and xerophytic plants like Pachysandra terminalis wilted to 
the ground. The damage to conifers was very great. 
The drought of 1939-was the most severe since 1923. A spring 
excess of rainfall of approximately 5.0 inches was eliminated on 
May 21, after which the deficiency continued to pile up, reaching 
one inch on June 2 and 1.84 inches on the 12th. Slight rains 
during the second ten days of June reduced the deficiency mate- 
rially, but they were so distributed as to be of ‘little avail for 
vegetation. By June 29 the shortage had again increased to 2.00 
inches. The rain of June 30 (1.80 inches) was not sufficient to 
wipe out the deficiency, which again increased to about 3.0 inches 
by the end of July, and to 5.18 inches by the 18th of August. 
A rain of 3.00 inches on the 19th of August cut the deficiency 
nearly in half, but by the close of the month it rose again to 3.00 
inches. The rains of September (1.21 inches vs. 3.39 inches nor- 
mal) were of little consequence, and by. September 30 the dry 
period left a total deficiency of about 5.00 inches.» This was 
reduced by October rains to an accumulated deficiency of 3.41 
inches ; but the October precipitation, like that of the:other months, 
and so was of little adantage to 
’ 
was distributed ‘Sin driblets,’ 
plant life. 
The precipitation for November (1.47 inches vs. 2.96 inches 
normal) left an accumulated deficiency of 4.90 inches from Jan- 
uary 1. In December the precipitation of 1.22 inches was 2.40 
inches below normal, making an accumulated deficiency for the 
year of 7.30 inches. 
Combined with the deficiency of rainfall, abnormally high tem- 
peratures prevailed throughout the summer with an accumulated 
excess of 521.0° as of October 31. These high temperatures, of 
course, tended to increase the loss of water by transpiration from 
the leaves and other exposed surfaces of the plants. This was 
counteracted in part by the excessive humidity which prevailed 
during the summer, but the net result was a condition of severe 
drought for the plants, necessitating almost continuous irrigation 
