FARM MANAGEMENT IN THE OZARKS. 
11 
also equally favorable, the average precipitation in inches recorded 
at these five stations for the five vital spring and summer months 
being as follows: April, 7.41; May, 3.68; June, 4.74; July, 4.41; and 
August, 5.75. 
The monthly precipitation records at Springfield for 40 years, 
1877-1916, inclusive (records for the year 1881 not available), show 
that 17 of the 40 were years which may be called drought years; 
that is, years in which a rainfall of less than 2 inches fell in one or 
more of the five months, April to August, inclusive, and that 11 
times in the 40 years two consecutive months, of the five-month 
period, April to August, passed with a total rainfall of less than 5 
inches. (See fig. 8.) 
Fig. 8.— An artificial pond in the Ozark uplands. Getting water for live stock is frequently a serious 
problem in sections of the Ozarks, and artificial ponds or reservoirs are often resorted to for furnishing 
a supply. In periods of severe drought these frequently go dry. It then becomes necessary to drive 
the stock long distances to a spring creek or to sink a deep well. 
Dividing this period into four 10-year periods, the frequency of 
occurrence of these years of drought in each period follows: 
Frequency of occurrence of years of drought. 
Item. 
1877-1886 
1887-1896 
1897-1906 
1907-1916 
1877-1916 
Number of years in which less than 2 inches of rain 
fell in one or more of the months April to August, 
2 
2 
5 
2 
3 
3 
7 
4 
17 
Number of years in which less than 5 inches of rain 
fell in 2 consecutive months during the months 
11 
It is seen that during the four periods of 10 years each for which 
weather records are available the years in which there was a marked 
deficiency of rainfall were much fewer in each of the three preceding 
10-year periods than in the last 10-year period. We may therefore 
infer that in any period of 10 years at least two and probably more 
years may be expected in which drought conditions will obtain more 
or less, and crop production suffer accordingly. 
