SOME PECULIARITIES IN THE RAINFALL OF TEXAS. 65 
in places where the Fort Davis rain-curve may be said to 
fairly represent the annual distribution of rain, as regards 
percentages. It was repeatedly asked why these experiments 
for producing rain were not made in the vicinity of Wash¬ 
ington or at some point near the great centers of civilization, 
where facilities for experimental work were far greater than 
in Texas. Two reasons were assigned in the public press: 
the first, a most pertinent one, that the moral effect of suc¬ 
cess would be far greater if rain was produced in the regions 
to be directly and greatly benefited thereby. The second 
reason was most plausible but specious, it being to the effect 
that success would be inconclusive in the east, where rain 
conditions were favorable, but that in the west, under the 
well known unfavorable conditions, successful tests could be 
considered conclusive. It is not known that these reasons 
emanated from the official experimenters whose detailed 
reports have been long waited for, but so far in vain, by the 
public. 
The diagrams herewith indicate clearly that the chances 
for rain in the Trans-Pecos region are by far greater in Au¬ 
gust than in any other month, being followed next by Sep¬ 
tember; but it may pertinently be suggested that quantity 
of rainfall and the frequency of its occurrence do not always 
go hand in hand. This cannot be said, however, of the 
Trans-Pecos region, for from the charts published by the 
Signal Corps showing the probability of rainy days for Au¬ 
gust, as deduced from the observations of many years, it is 
ascertained that the percentages are as follows: Fort Elliott, 
26; El Paso, 28; Fort Davis, 33 ; thus establishing the fact 
that, year in and year out, rain falls about every third day 
during the month of August. This would indicate that the 
officials in charge of the experiments, if harmless as doves, 
except to the public Treasury, evidently showed the wisdom 
of serpents in seeking the remote and scantily populated 
regions of western Texas as an appropriate ground for rain¬ 
making experiments during the months of August and Sep¬ 
tember. 
