BROOM-CORN EXPERIMENTS AT WOODWARD, OKLAHOMA. 15 



of 1.96 inches occurred on the first day of May. There were 13 

 light showers, well distributed throughout the remainder of the 

 month, but none of these was sufficient to furnish stored moisture for 

 future use. June was extremely dry, with only one rain of 0.61 

 inch, which fell on . the 1.5th of the month. The next rainfall of 

 value did not come until July 6. During the remainder of July 

 there was* only one rain. The rainfall for August was below normal 

 and over half of it fell in the last five days of the month, which 

 was too late to benefit the crop, which had been sown the middle 

 of May. 



The season of 1915 was extremely wet. The rainfall for each of 

 the first 10 months of the year was above normal. During the 

 growing season there was no time that the crop lacked moisture. 

 This resulted in unusually high yields in all varieties. 



The year 1916 was variable and unfavorable. The total precipi- 

 tation, which was about normal, was quite unevenly distributed. 

 The rainfall in April was normal, but for May it was only about 

 half of the normal. The precipitation for June amounted to 11.64 

 inches, which is about 8 inches above the normal for that month. 

 More than 5 inches of this fell on the 4th and 5th, but the re- 

 mainder was fairly evenly distributed throughout the rest of the 

 month. July was bone dry ; August was short by nearly two-thirds 

 and September by almost one-third of the normal supply. Crops so 

 seeded that the critical growing stage of the plants did not occur 

 in a droughty period made fair to good yields, but otherwise both 

 yield and quality of brush were affected. 



The season of 1917 was not favorable to the production of broom 

 corn of good quality. The rainfall for May, June, July, and Sep- 

 tember was considerably below the normal of those months, while 

 the rainfall for August was 7 inches, which was nearly half of the 

 total precipitation for the entire year, or 3.5 inches above the normal 

 for that month. 



The crop season of 1918 was the poorest in the 5-year period 

 under consideration. The rainfall in April and May was about 

 normal and fairly well distributed, which furnished moisture suffi- 

 cient to start the crop in good condition; but June was dry, and 

 July was drier still. The rainfall for August amounted to only 

 seven-tenths of an inch, and this fell on four different days, which 

 made it of little value to the crop. The temperature for the three 

 months, June, July, and August, was high, as was also the evapo- 

 ration. These conditions, together with the law rainfall, made 

 growth practically impossible at times, which resulted in the lowest 

 yields in five years. 



