58 DRY LAND FARMING 



In the Columbia river basin the rain comes chiefly 

 in the first five months of the year, and the three closing 

 months of the same. During the intervening months the 

 precipitation is very low or entirely absent, which is so 

 far favorable to the harvesting of the crop. 



In the states of the Great Basin, the larger portion 

 of the precipitation falls in November, December, Janu- 

 ary, February, March and April. These areas therefore 

 are mainly adapted to the growing of winter cereals, and 

 fruits. The months of July, August and September are 

 practically rainless. 



In the Colorado and the Rio Grande river basins 

 nearly all the precipitation comes in the months of July, 

 August and September. The precipitation is very light 

 during the first half of the year. The seasonal rainfall in 

 the dry areas of the several states included as arid and 

 semi-arid is in outline as follows : In North Dakota, 

 Nebraska, Kansas and also the greater portion of Mon- 

 tana, the larger portion of the rain falls in April, May, 

 June, July and August. The heaviest precipitation by 

 far occurs in June and July. In Oklahoma and Texas, 

 the precipitation comes chiefly in the spring and summer 

 months, being greatest in midsummer. In New Mexico 

 the bulk of the rain falls in July, August and September. 

 In Colorado and Wyoming, the bulk of the precipitation 

 comes in the spring and summer months, much the larger 

 amount falling in the spring months. In Idaho, Utah, 

 Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington, the precipi- 

 tation occurs chiefly in the late autumn and winter 

 months, and to some extent in the spring months. In 

 Arizona the rainfall is very light in the winter months, 

 almost entirely absent in the spring months, quite heavy 

 in July and August and light during the rest of the year. 

 In the dry areas of Canada, much the largest precipitation 

 comes in April, May, June and July. 



