48 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the Aprils of the same years was but 3.27 inches. April, 

 1854, was, therefore, a remarkable month in this respect. If, 

 now, we take the month of May, it appears that the amount of 

 rain at Amherst, in 1854, was 3.19 inches. The highest amount 

 for May at the same place, and during the same series of years, 

 was in 1850, (8.72 inches,) while the average was 3.91 inches. 

 Thus the rain for May was less than the average. The differ- 

 ence in June was still more marked. The amount for June, 

 1854, was but 1.75 inches. There were but two years in the 

 eighteen in which June was so dry; they were 1841 and 

 1849, when 1.65 inches and 1.53 inches of rain fell. The 

 greatest amount in June was in 1843, (5.18 inches,) while the 

 average was only 3.22 inches. The rain for June, 1854, was, 

 therefore, much below the average. The rains for April, May 

 and June, are more important than those of any other months. 

 It is also, as we have seen, a matter of the greatest consequence, 

 to all who cultivate the earth, that these rains should be distrib- 

 uted with some degree of equality. 



The change from a great excess of rain to an equally great 

 suffering from the want of it also illustrates the fact familiar 

 to the observation of every farmer, that one extreme generally 

 follows another. In a long series of years or of months, we 

 know that we are to have about so much rain in a given num- 

 ber of months ; hence we may infer that, if an unusual quantity 

 falls in one month, far less than the average is to be expected 

 the next. In 1850, for instance, when there were 8.72 inches 

 in May, we had in June only 2.88 inches; and in 1844, when 

 only 0.57 inch fell in April, in May following there was the 

 unusual amount of 5.59 inches. Instances might be multi- 

 plied indefinitely to illustrate this general law. 



In July, 1854, 3.52 inches fell at Amherst, the mean average 

 for eighteen years being 4.05 inches. During the same month 

 3.70 inches fell at Boston, and 2.16 inches at Waltliani. But 

 in August the amount was less than has been known in any 

 one month for many years. At Waltham it was but 0.57 inch ; 

 at Cambridge but 0.35 inch, at Boston but 0.38 inch. These 

 statistics will appear more distinctly by the aid of the follow- 

 ing tables. 



The amount of rain which fell at Amherst since 1837, as 



