404 ANNUAL KEPORT. 



of the water which formerly ran off the hard, well trodden sod, as 

 from a roof, is now held absorbed by the earth until it is removed 

 by evaporation and filtration into the rock strata below. The 

 Professor also calls attention to the fact that the streams are be- 

 coming larger and that springs are now flowing where once water 

 could not be obtained. 



The question as to how much the cultivation of the soil changes 

 the climatic conditions of any part of the globe is a large one, too 

 large to be settled by one or two facts. Were that not the case we 

 should need go no further than Nebraska and Minnesota to elabor- 

 ate a law. For it has been stated that the average rainfall at Min- 

 neapolis for the past eighteen years was 28.67 inches; while that at 

 Fort Saelling for the eighteen years between 1837 and 1854 inclu 

 sive, was 25.30, Great caution must be exercised in generalizing 

 from statistics of any sort, and it will take more than two states 

 or a few decades to establish a law governing all. 



Briefly there have been enumerated some of the physiographic 

 features of our state which affect the energies of its people and 

 their industries, and most of all, agriculture, in its several 

 branches. 



The three conditions of success in farming are: climate, soil, and 

 cultivation. It has been the aim of this paper to consider only the 

 first two and some of the conditions and attendant phenomena which 

 cluster around them. 



These questions of environment must be faced by the farmer^ 

 and his relations to them clearly understood. 



The following question was asked by an auditor: 



Do not collateral observations show that tree culture promotes 



humidity and increases rainfall and also decreases the liability to 



sudden changes of temperature? 



Answer: 



The experience of European countries and of the Atlantic Coast 

 States and Canada has called special attention within the last ten 

 or twelve years to the climatic influences of forests. Investigation 

 has thrown much light upon the subject during that time. Still 

 enough is not yet proved to silence all questioning. As clear a 

 thinker as Aughey, in his Physical Geography and Geology of Ne- 

 braska, already referred to, says: ''The statistics of forestry in the 

 east, in Europe, in Asia, show that forests modify temperature, the 

 violence of winds and equalize rainfall but do not increase it,' 



