692 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
nities and has undoubtedly somewhat retarded immigration during the past few 
years. It is time for the general recognition of the fact that except in the ex- 
ceedingly limited area where irrigation is possible, the western third of Kansas 
is beyond the limit of successful agriculture. Yet this portion of Kansas, upon 
the basis of one individual to each ten acres has the capacity to continuously 
sustain an aggregate of nearly 2,000,000 head of cattle. The last biennial report 
of the State Board of Agriculture represents the total number of cattle in the 
entire State as less than one and a half millions, which is considerably below the 
number which might be supported by the western third of the State alone. 
The chief elements in a climate are temperature, rainfall, cloudiness, wind 
and humidity. The principal source of the information here presented upon 
these topics is the writer's personal observations for sixteen years at Lawrence^ 
which, from its location, fairly represents the eastern third of Kansas. 
The mean annual temperature is about 53.5°, which does not differ essen- 
tially from that of States to the east of Kansas in the same latitude. But from 
the annual mean temperatures alone no definite conception of a climate can be 
formed. The monthly means and the extremes of temperature determine the 
effect of the climate on human beings. The prominent advantage possessed by 
Kansas over many agricultural States consists largely in the length of the grow- 
ing season, during which the monthly mean temperatures are sufficiently high to 
bring to full maturity a great diversity of crops, while the minimum temperatures 
are so high above the freezing point as to prevent all danger of damage from 
untimely frosts. The av^erage date of the last severe frost of spring for the past 
sixteen years has been April 4th, while the average date of the first severe frost 
of Autumn has been October 19th, thus giving a period of over six months (198 
days,) without frost enough to injure corn or wheat, or any other staple crop. 
During this period of sixteen years the latest severe spring frost was April 25, 
(in 1873,) ^^'^ the earliest date of severe autumn frost was September 17, (in 
1868). In the present year, (1883,) the latest severe spring frost occurred on 
March 29, and the earliest severe autumn frost was delayed until November i, 
thus giving a period of more than seven months, (207 days,) of freedom from 
injurious frosts. Thus ample time has been afforded during each of the sixteen 
years for the thorough ripening and ** hardening" of the corn crop. To this 
long period of immunity from frost Kansas owes her triumphant position at the 
present time, as the only one of the great grain-producing States which has raised 
first-class corn in 1883. This same peculiarity of Kansas climate has enabled 
our farmers to speedily retrieve their losses from the invasions of the Rocky 
Mountain locust — so-called "grasshoppers," — now, happily a thing of the past. 
In the spring and early summer of 1875, a large portion of eastern Kansas 
had been shorn as clean as a threshing floor, by the myriads upon myriads of 
young locusts. These devouring hosts took their departure the first and second 
weeks in June. Our courageous farmers, although many of them had already 
replanted their corn for the third and fourth time, made one more final and suc- 
cessful effort. Corn planted from the 15th of June to as late a date as the 15th 
