FOREST PLANTING. 115 



Open on the north to the arctic circle, and on the south to the Rio 

 Grande, with no mountain ranges or extensive forests to check atmos- 

 pheric movements, the great plains must necessarily be swept by winds 

 as freely as the ocean. In spring and summer the winds from the 

 southward are most prevalent. In winter the winds are more fre- 

 quent from the northward. In the autumn they are apt to be more 

 variable, and at the same time of more gentle character. Wind from 

 the west is seldom observed. The winds are often strong, but they 

 cannot be classed with destructive gales. They come with a steady 

 pressure, which may cause a frail building to tremble, but will not 

 overturn it. Tornadoes and hurricanes seem to be unknown. There 

 is no record or tradition of such manifestations. Local thunder- 

 storms and heavy rains, over comparatively limited districts, are 

 experienced as detached phenomena, but are apt to be incidents of a 

 storm covering a large area, and moving eastward. Days of com- 

 parative calm and of gentle breezes often occur, when, perhaps, for a 

 week the windmill is unable to work the pump at the water station, 

 but total rest of the atmosphere, except for brief periods, is rare. The 

 climate is propitious to health and to comfort ; for although changes 

 of temperature are at times sudden and considerable, yet injurious 

 results seldom follow them. 



As we pass westward from the ninety-seventh meridian, the atmos- 

 phere is observed to be more arid. Within two hundred miles of the 

 mountains, the deposition of dew is at times so light as to be of little 

 or no service to the vegetation. The annual rainfall is also less as 

 we go westward, decreasing nearly in the ratio of distance until the 

 divide is reached at and southwest from Cedar Point, in which vicinity 

 there is supposed to be more rain than eastward in the plains or 

 westward nearer the foot-hills. The natural effect of decreasing pre- 

 cipitation and increasing aridity is in some degree shown in the 

 vegetation. The grama and buffalo grasses continue, together with 

 the sunflower, sofanum, euphorbia, and other plants, which are vigor- 

 ous, nearly if not quite as far east as the ninety-seventh meridian ; 

 but we find that the blue-joint grass of Central and Eastern Kansas 

 is less abundant, and that cleome, ipomea, cactus, artemisia, etc., enter 



