REPORT OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 
43 
the summer, the region so characterized must be unproductive, 
unless watered by artificial systems of irrigation. This is par¬ 
tially true of sections of New Mexico and California. 
The annual precipitation of rain in Wisconsin is 34 inches 
in the northern part, 30 inehes in the middle half, and 35 to 40 
inches in the southern; while New York lias 40 inches, New 
England 36 to 42, Illinois 40 to 48, the Southern States 50 to 
63, and the Great Plain of the Interior, west of Minnesota, 
Nebraska and Kansas, but 15 inches. The annual fall is fair, 
therefore, but a little below' the average of some of the most 
productive portions of the United States. But if now we look 
to the distribution for the seasons of the germination and 
growth of vegetation, the scale is turned in our favor. 
Thus the amount of rain which falls during the three months 
of spring is as follows: Throughout the southern part of the 
State, as far north as Portage, 8 inches; in the remainder of 
the State, 6 inches. This is likewise the amount which falls in 
Michigan and Southern Canada, and in Northern New York, 
Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. In the central portion of the Mis¬ 
sissippi Valley it equals 12 to 15 inches. 
The summer precipitation, except over a narrow strip per¬ 
haps 20 miles in width along the eastern and northern bounda¬ 
ries, where it is but 10, amounts to 12 inches. The fall in 
Michigan, Canada, Northern New York, the greater part of 
Ohio, and the western half of Pennsylvania and Virginia, is but 
10 inches. In this season the comparison is favorable, and 
further details, showing how evenly the precipitation is dis¬ 
tributed over the three months of the season, would still fur¬ 
ther enhance the superiority of this climate. 
The autumn distribution is also favorable, the amount for the 
greater portion of the State (all except a strip embracing Buf¬ 
falo, Dunn, Pepin, Pierce, St. Croix, Polk, Douglas, La Pointe 
and Ashland counties) being but 7 inches. In the north-west¬ 
ern counties named, it is but 6 ; in the northern, 8 inches. In 
Illinois it equals 8 to 10 inches; in Michigan and Northern 
Indiana and Ohio, it is 8; in the remainder of Indiana and 
Ohio, 9 to 10; in North-western New York, 9; in New Eng- 
