482 BUFFALO LA^^D. 



gone. They seem to run along in streaks or ovenfuUs with the 

 M'inds of ordinary (but rather high) temperature. They do not 

 begin, I believe, till in July, as a general rule, and are over by 

 September 1, or perhaps by August 15. Their origin I take 

 to be, of course, in heated regions south or southwest of us ; 

 but their peculiar occurrence, so capricious and often so brief, 

 I can not explain to myself satisfactorily. 



"I may remark that this season, since about the 15th of 

 July, in these distant plains, has given us rain enough to make 

 beautifully verdant the spots in the prairie burnt off during 

 the " heated " term in July. From Kit Carson eastward, the 

 rains have been, I think, exceptionally abundant. All 

 through the summer we have had dew occasionally, and it has 

 been remarked that buffalo meat has been more difficult of 

 preservation than heretofore — facts indicative of humidity in 

 the atmosphere, even where but little rain-fall was witnessed. 

 Turnips sown in August would have made a crop in this 

 viciinity — four hundred and twenty-two miles west of the state 

 line of Missouri," 



CLIMATIC CHANGES ON THE PLAINS. 



"Facts such as these," continues the same writer, "seem to 

 sustain the popular persuasion that a climatic change is taking 

 place, promoted by the spread of settlements westwardly, 

 breaking up portions of the prairie soil, covering the earth 

 with plants that shade the ground more than the short grasses ; 

 thus checking or modifying the reflection of heat from the 

 earth's surface, etc. The fact is also noted that even where 

 the prairie soil is not disturbed, the short buffalo grass disap- 



