ter of it with reference to the crops. A good many correspondents did not 

 make returns of it, and hence their counties are not represented in the table. 



The first column shows the number of counties where the weather waiiifavora- 

 hle to crops ; the second, where it was dri/, not injuring them, but holding them 

 back; the third, where it was ver)/ dry, producing an injury to them, especially 

 to grass and oats during the month of June ; the fourth, where it Avas wet, so 

 much so as to be unfavorable to wheat and the cultivation of corn. The fifth 

 column shows the average amount of rain that has fallen during the month, ex- 

 pressed in inches and hundredths of an inch; thus, 1.50 means an inch and a 

 half. The sixth shows the times when the rain fell, whether in the beginning, 

 middle, or end of the month. The word "distributed" shows that the rain has 

 fallen at different times during the whole month. The seventh column indicates 

 the number of observations from which the mean of the amount of rain was de- 

 rived. These statements of the amount of rain are derived chiefly from the 

 reports of the observers of the Smithsonian Institution. Hereafter it is expected 

 to prepare a separate table of the matters connected with the weather; but, as 

 all these reports are not in, it is thought best to connect them, at this time, with 

 this table. 



The table of the weather presents much that is highly interesting. In most 

 of the States the month of June has been very dry, but in Kansas, Kentucky, 

 and Missoun, there has been enough rain. In Ohio and Pennsylvania plenty 

 has fallen, but during the las^t half only of the month. The report from Michi- 

 gan is very extraordinary, showing a depth of rain of 19.07 inches, ten of which 

 fell on one day. 



The returns from the farmers corroborate those relative to the fall of rain, by 

 the Smithsonian observers. They are, in other respects, exceedingly interest- 

 ing. Thus we see in Kansas (which lies on the line separating the showery 

 summer climate of the States from the dry one of California and New Mexico) 

 the entire returns present an abundance of rain. So, too, but not quite to the 

 same extent, are the reports from Missouri, of which, however, there are few on 

 account of the war. But Iowa is the reverse of Missouri, reporting fifty-one 

 counties very dry ; Wisconsin has fourteen very dry, eleven dry against twelve 

 favorahle, and the entire returns from Minnesota exhibit every county as very 

 dry. Why this remarkable difference between Kansas and Minnesota 1 Again : 

 all the States lying east of the great lakes have had much more rain than those 

 south of them during the first tliree weeks of June. Whence have these rains 

 come? Were they produced by the cold west winds condensing the evapora- 

 tion from the lakes? And why do Kansas and Missouri receive so liberally 

 from the evaporations of the equator, whilst the States north of them have so 

 little, and Minnesota none ? The answer to these questions, to be understood, 

 must be preceded by an explanation of that wonderful atmospherical machinery 

 which the Creator has designed for the diffusion of heat and the distribution of 

 moisture. The reports for the Sraitlisonian Institution must be closely scruti- 

 nized as to the temperatures, the direction of the winds and clouds, and the 

 altitude of each place of observation. An article on these matters will be pre- 

 pared for the ensuing monthly report- 



