482 GEOLOGY OF NORTHWESTERN TEXAS. 



TABLE NO. VIII. 



Fort Ooncho, Texas. 



Year. Rainfall. Year. Rainfall. Year. Rainfall. 



1868 28.12 1876 11.66 1883 20.01 



1869 20.35 1877 16.58 1884 35.24 



1870 37.26 1878 16.29 1885 21.06 



1871 16.37 1879 13.20 1886 10.55 



1872 17.05 1880 33.79 1887 15.08 



1873 17.20 1881 13.76 1888 22.08 



1874 24.80 1882 26.80 1889 *9.97 



1875..... 14.70 



* Through May. 



The time of year at which there is the greatest amount of precipitation has 

 an important bearing on the question of agriculture. 



If there are rainy seasons in which the rains come and the balance of the 

 year is dry, if this rainy season is at the time of year when the crops can be 

 planted and matured, a much smaller amount of rainfall will be sufficient. 



In parts of California sixty per cent of the rainfall comes in the winter 

 months, while in Texas nineteen per cent comes in spring and thirty-six per 

 comes in summer, as will be seen by reference to Table No. II. 



In California the rainfall does not benefit agriculture to any great extent, 

 while in Texas excellent crops are raised upon proper cultivation. 



CULTIVATION. 



It is not my purpose to write at length upon the subject of the cultivation 

 of crops, but simply to call attention to things that if heeded will assist in 

 making farming in the northwest what every one desires it to be — a success. 



One of the most important things is the subject of tillage and the time 

 when the land should be broken up for the following crop. Universal ex- 

 perience has been that the farmer who breaks his land in the fall is the most 

 successful in raising a crop every year. The reason for that is that he does 

 not have to wait in the spring, if there happens to be a drought just about 

 the time that he wants to plant his crop, for a rain to soften the ground so 

 that he can plow it, but he is ready to plant it when the time comes, rain or 

 no rain, and thus secures an early crop before the dry, hot months come. 

 Another reason in favor of fall plowing is that it returns to the earth vege- 

 table material which is so important to good plant growth, and a material in 

 which some of our soils are very much in need. 



I know of no reason against fall plowing except the lack of time by the 

 farmer to do that kind of work. 



The most important question in relation to tillage is that of depth. 



In some countries a question of subsoiling very often arises that need not 



