2 DOMESTIC WATER SUPPLIES FOR THE FARM 



Rainfall in the United States. -- The agricultural lands of the 

 I'nited States are, as a whole, blessed with a fairly liberal supply 

 or precipitation. In the eastern half of the country the rainfall is 

 plentiful, the yearly average varying from 20 to nearly 70 inches 

 (see Fig. i). Rain to a depth of more than 60 inches a year falls 

 on the Mississippi delta below New Orleans, and along the Gulf 

 Coast from near Mobile, Alabama, to Tallahassee, Florida. A 

 nearly equal amount falls in the higher mountains of western 



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. 



FIG. I. Map showing mean annual rainfall of the United States. 



North Carolina, and eastern Tennessee, along the coast of 

 North Carolina and in the Adirondack and White Mountains. 

 In the Gulf and South Atlantic States the rainfall is between 50 

 and 60 inches a year; in the New England, Central Atlantic and 

 Ohio River States, between 40 and 50 inches; in the upper Missis- 

 sippi and Great Lake states, between 30 and 40 inches; and in 

 northwestern Iowa and most of Minnesota, between 20 and 30 

 inches. 



In the western part of the United States the distribution of the 

 rainfall is much more irregular than in the eastern part West- 



