1166 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXX, No. 12 
about 1° through July and August, 
rising again in September and remaining 
above average for the remainder of the 
year. September had more than the 
average amount of sunshine and only 
about two-thirds of the normal precipi¬ 
tation (which occurred on the 1st and 
24th), and clear, hot weather continued 
through the middle of October. The 
crop matured perfectly and a little 
earlier than usual, picking having been 
begun September 14 and completed 
October 2. The crop was somewhat 
smaller in quantity than in other years, 
possibly about 85 per cent of normal, 
but was unusually uniform in that 
practically all varieties bore about the 
same amounts. The vines made excep¬ 
tionally vigorous growth and the unusu- 
permitted materially more photosyn¬ 
thetic activity than the 146 days of a 
like period in 1921 when the effect of 
frost in that year is considered, but it 
must also be remembered that the 
vines were bearing a considerably larger 
load of fruit in 1922 than they had in 
1921, which would operate to reduce 
the carbohydrate content of the fruit. 
The first killing frost of the autumn 
occurred October 21, about two weeks 
earlier than usual. October had a little 
more than one-third, November only 
one-fourth, the usual rainfall, and the 
mean temperatures were 3° to 4° 
higher than the average. December 
was very slightly above normal in 
rainfall and temperature with only 2.8 
inches of snow. 
Jar Fes. Mar Apr May Joke. Jovy Auo. Sept Oct Nov. Pec. 
Fig. 10.—Maximum, minimum, and mean monthly temperatures at Vineland, N. J., in 1922, with 60- 
year average for comparison 
ally heavy foliage was well retained 
until after the close of picking. 
In point of sunshine received during 
the growing season—March to Sep¬ 
tember, inclusive—the year was the 
least favorable of the entire period. It 
had 114 clear days, with 50 recorded as 
“partly cloudy.” Applying the arbi¬ 
trary method of valuation of partly 
cloudy days previously used, the whole 
period had the equivalent of 139 clear 
days, or 64.95 per cent, a smaller total 
than for any other year of the period. 
It is also worthy of note that that 
shortage of sunshine occurred in June 
and August, June having 11 clear and 
10 partly cloudy days and August 12 
clear and 10 partly cloudy days. The 
total of 139 days of sunshine probably 
Climatic Record for 1923 
The winter of 1923 showed no un¬ 
usual features aside from a prolonged 
cold period in the last half of February 
and a cold wave at the beginning of 
April. The resumption of growth was 
later than usual and was retarded con¬ 
siderably by cool weather in the first 
three weeks of May, which was very 
dry. June was the hottest month of 
the year, with high maximum tempera¬ 
tures, but the mean temperature was 
almost constant for June, July, and 
August, considerably exceeding the 
50-year average in June, dropping a 
little below it in July, and rising in 
August to remain slightly above normal 
through November (fig. 12). 
