sept. 9.1918 Variations in Moisture Content of a Loess Soil 
463 
in the soil. In the months of January and February together the pre¬ 
cipitation amounted to 1.38 inches, compared with a mean of 1.32 
inches, while the first three weeks of March were both wetter and colder 
than normal. The last of March was warm and dry, and by April 4 
the frost was out of the ground in most fields, a little being found only 
in grass fields. None was met with in any of the later samplings. April 
did not depart much from the normal in temperature, rainfall, or wind 
movement. 
May was very unfavorable for crops, the rainfall of 0.69 inch, occurring 
in five light showers (Table VII), being only one-sixth of the normal, 
while the latter half of the month was marked by very high temperatures, 
which on some days were accompanied by high winds. The most un¬ 
favorable day was the 26th, when the temperature rose to 98° F.; from 
Fig. 4.— Diagram showing daily precipitation at Lincoln during the season of 191a. 
are indicated by asterisks. 
The dates of sampling 
ii a. m. to 9 p. m. the wind velocity averaged 31 miles per hour, and the 
temperature 94 0 , a phenomenon locally described as a 14 hot wind.” 
The early part of June was dry but cool and cloudy. A heavy rain 
(2.71 inches) on the 12th and 13th of the month was followed by three 
weeks of practically rainless weather. This period of low atmospheric 
humidity, almost cloudless skies, and normal temperatures approached 
a drouth. July and August did not depart widely from the normal, but 
dry periods appeared in both months. 
For the purposes of a soil-moisture study the season was exceptionally 
favored by the two dry periods, April 30 to May 30 and June 14 to July 
11, and the two heavy rains of June 13 and August 15 and 16. The 
weather conditions preceding the various samplings are summarized in 
Table VIII. (See also fig. 4.) 
FIELDS SAMPLED 
All the fields sampled in this season were close together and also to 
the Experiment Station buildings, the most distant, M, being less than a 
quarter of a mile from the University Farm rain gage. 
