60 DRY LAND FARMING 



The temperature in the arid and semi-arid regions 

 is seldom very extreme. Except in southwestern 

 Manitoba, Southern Saskatchewan and the western 

 Dakotas, and on very high elevations, the winter weather 

 is not severe. Even in much of the Great Plains country 

 live stock, especially horses and cattle, can graze much of 

 the winter. West from the Rocky Mountains, frost 

 enters the ground only for a short distance and not for 

 a prolonged period, and in southern areas the ground 

 does not freeze. Only in the south and southwest is the 

 summer heat subtropical, and even in these areas the 

 nights are cool, as they are everywhere in the dry area. 



Other peculiarities of climate include the following: 

 (1) an atmosphere that is dry, rarified, pure, and very 

 wholesome, as shown in the healthfulness of live stock 

 and the comparative freedom from pulmonary disease in 

 the human family; (2) sunshine during more than 60 per 

 cent, of the time between sunrise and sunset ; (3) little or 

 no liability to sunstroke ; (4) almost entire exemption 

 from prolonged periods of dreary, drizzling rain. 



The frequency and the constancy with which wind 

 currents blow, especially in the level stretches of the 

 Great Plains area, is one of the unpleasant features of 

 farm life in those areas, but even in these the stiff wind 

 currents are largely confined to the winter and spring. 

 They are but little present in other portions of the dry 

 area. The summers are usually pleasant in the greater 

 portion of the dry area and the autumns are simply de- 

 lightful. 



Other peculiarities of the winds include: (1) blizzard 

 conditions, though infrequent in the eastern part of the 

 Great Plains country; (2) winds warm enough in the 

 same area to injure the crops more or less, though less 

 so now than formerly, since so much of the ground is 

 being clothed with growing plants ; (3) the almost com- 

 plete absence of cyclones and tornadoes. 



