250 



ably about 35,000,000 acres. The States in which au increase of acre- 

 age is reported are as follows : Xew Jersey, 2 per cent. ; Pennsylvania, 

 2; South Carolina, 2; Georgia,!; Alabama, 3; Mississippi,!; Louisi- 

 ana, 8; Texas, 8; Arkansas, 4; West Virginia, 2 ; Kentucky, 2; Ohio, 

 2; Michigan, 10; Indiana,!; Illinois, 2; Iowa,!; Missouri, 4; Kansas, 

 28; Nebraska, 20 ; California, 1. A diminution appears in Maine of 4 per 

 cent.; Vermont, 2; Massachusetts, 4 ; Ehode Island, 5 ; Connecticut, G; 

 New York, ! ; North Carolina, 2 ; Tennessee, ! ; Wisconsin, 4 ; Minne- 

 sota, 3. The area in the remaining States is reported the same as last 

 year. 



Condition. — The meteorological peculiarities of the season have re- 

 ceived much comment in the returns. The rain-fall is sometimes ten- 

 fold greater at one station in a State, during a given month, than at 

 another in the same State. A medium amount of rain, falling moder- 

 ately in small quantities, at frequent intervals, has a more favorable 

 effect upon the growing crops than a much larger quantitj' at long and 

 irregular seasons in violent storms. In the Ohio Valley, as in Ohio and 

 Indiana, complaints of long and almost unbroken droughts are received 

 from many counties in different parts of those States, affecting wells 

 and streams, and greatly retarding vegetable growth ; while in 

 many other counties seasonable and frequent rains are rei)orted, 

 and in some cases abundant sui^plies of moisture. In some 

 ■cases wet districts are in close proximity to dry areas ; and both 

 wet and dry localities are sometimes found in the same county. In 

 different sections of the country, in which seasons of drought have 

 occurred, sudden and violent storms liave deluged low-lying lands, 

 carried away bridges, and damaged crops. These peculiarities are 

 noticeable during each recurring summer, but the variations in amount 

 of rain-fall, and in the frequency and force of storms, seem greater 

 than usual the present summer. These facts of meteorology, little 

 understood by the wisest, demanding investigation and patient study, 

 have a bearing upon vegetable growtli which will some day become 

 obvious, to the increase of farm production and the profit of the farmer. 

 The minimum and maximum rain-fall of the great corn-growing States 

 for the month of June, so far as reported by the meteorological observ- 

 ers of the Smithsonian Institution, are as follows : 



Minimum. Maximum. 

 Inches. Inches. 



Kentucky 3. 38 4. 82 



Ohio 1.96 7.25 



Michigan 2.42 4. 3,'> 



Indiana 1. 40 6. 67 



Illinois 3.10 9.95 



Iowa 1.53 7.90 



Missouri 1. 45 3. 35 



Kansas 1.75 4.00 



But for the unpropitious meteorological conditions referred to above, 

 the season would have been quite favorable, having an unusual measure 

 of sunshine, and a degree of heat well suited to the growth of corn. 

 The returns from 263 counties place condition above 100 ; 313 counties 

 report 100 ; and 413 below average, Illinois is represented by 65 coun- 

 ties, of which 22 stand above average and 23 below ; of 64 counties in 

 Missouri, condition of corn is above average in 16, and below in 25; 

 of 36 in Kansas, 8 only send figures less than 100. In Iowa, where cool, 

 cloudy weather generally prevailed in spring, followed hj changeable 

 weather, and in some sections heavy rains, only 2 reports of condition 

 -are above 100; and in Ohio, where the drought has been severe, but 



