A XX UAL MEETING OHIO STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



59 



1 HE CLIMATE AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN AGRICULTURAL INVESTIGATIONS. 



Dean Bailey also says "A study of the local climate ought to be a part 

 of these preliminary surveys. We are neglecting the climate factor. Cli- 

 mate is distinctly local. With the soil it determines the farming conditions. 

 The best agriculture is a careful adjustment to the climate of the district." 

 We in Ohio are fast coming to believe that many of the abnormal results 

 which have been secured from our cooperative experiments have been due to 

 abnormal weather conditions. "No one knows better than the farmer the 



of Ohio 

 showinc 

 Decreases 



in 



ffljral Population 



in the decade 



19QD-191Q 



based on 



Scale ' -- one percent 



FIG. 20. 



striking effect of abnormal weather a wet year, a dry year or some other un- 

 usual kind of a year. It begins to look to us as though entirely too little at- 

 tention has been paid to weather conditions in the past in arriving at con- 

 clusion based on the results of field experiments or of field observations. 

 Certainly, in the making of detailed field studies we should attempt to confine 

 ourselves if possible to areas in which the weather has been normal; or if this 

 is not possible, to consider very carefully the extent of abnormality of the weather 

 and its influence on the final results. 



