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line of Indiana and Illinois, and in portions of the area east of the great 

 lakes and north of Pennsylvania. The interior areas, from the Alle- 

 ghanies to the- Rocky Mountains, were unusually wet, in clay soils and 

 on] hottoni-lands to an extent injurious to most crops. Damages by 

 floods were numerous and heavy. In August this region endured a 

 continuation of these experiences, with local differences in degree and 

 frequency. Storms and floods were common in the belts hitherto 

 comparatively exempt. Rains became so general that the "desert" 

 plains of Colorado became green with rank grasses, and railroad pas- 

 sengers were detained by floods and " wash-outs." Even the dry basin 

 of the Salt Lake was blessed with numerous showers, and the alkali 

 plains of the Humboldt Yalley were moistened with gentle rains. 



While damage was done by storm and flood in a large area, throughout 

 both June and July, the sandy loams and naturally drained soils in the 

 same great area gave astonishing growth in corn, grass, and other val- 

 uable crops, which more than compensated for damages by overflow in 

 districts where such soils predominate. The general result is a vigor 

 and rankness of growth almostlunexampled, which will require a long 

 and warm ripening season properly to mature, and in the event of an 

 early frost will give to feeders an immense quantity of damaged corn, 

 and unusual immaturity of all^late agricultural products. In the case 

 of 'the small grains, the injury from^heating and sprouting has been so 

 wide-spread, the dry districts being generally those in which grain- 

 growing is not prominent, that it will be necessary to observe extreme 

 care in saving sound and well-developed samples for seed. 



In the districts where rains were not abundant, the opposite extreme 

 was complained of to some extent in July. Drought was reported in 

 portions of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota; to some extent in 

 localities on the Atlantic slope nqrth of 40'^ ; and in Georgia, Alabama, 

 and Florida almost every return reported injurious effects of extremely 

 dry and hot weather. Drought was very general in Texas; and in 

 Louisiana and Mississippi some districts suffered from drought, while 

 others had seasonable rains and a few excessive moisture. 



The unusual moisture in western districts, where insects have here- 

 tofore caused serious and almost overwhelming losses, has 'proved a 

 powerful check to these pests of the field. Grasshoppers were destruc- 

 tive in a few counties on the borders of Kansas and Missouri ; early in 

 the season in three or four counties in the southwest corner of Nebraska, 

 and later in a few interior counties where scattered forces had gathered 

 for their work of ruin ; and in a few counties of Southei'u Minnesota. The 

 army worm has been heard from in Ohio, and chinches are reported in 

 the drier districts of the West, but the feebleness of their attacks- 

 will insure a large reduction of their usual amount of foraging. The 

 Colorado beetle has had a wide range, causing losses comparatively 

 trifling except in his more eastern fields of operation, where his attacks 

 met with a feeble resistance. 



CORN. 



The corn-crop of the present season covers an immense area, and its 

 growth is very heavy. Could it be thoroughly ripened its aggregate 

 would exceed any previous crop, and the yield per acre would be one 

 of the best, notwithstanding the losses by overflow of bottoms and sat- 

 uration of flat heavy soils, such losses proving less than the usual 

 damages by drought and insects, while the rains have greatly benefited 

 the crop on drier and higher soils. Nearly everywhere corn is late in 



