1454 HOlV!I%LY %WL!l%%R REVIEW. SEPTEMBER, 1913
per cent. f n &me IaC'aIitiG h i i i i i ~~ iis almost a com- plete failure, although the d&att@. is not so great in the western counties as in most of the middle and eastern portions. Cotton did not a f f e r fnuch until about the middle of August. It is now, September 17, damaged probably 10 to 15 er cent by drought. Tobacco plants @re small in man ields and the leaves are badly burned. Peanuts will pro TI ably not make more than a fourth of a crop, as the drought came at a cx'itical time for them. Late cuttings of hay will ath6unt to little, and pastures are dried up almost everywhere except in favored spots. Plowing for fall crops has, of course, been delayed and farm work seriously aff'ected thereby. The water supply is giving out in many localities, and in a few laces it is reported scarcer than ever known before. &t over most of the State there has been only inconvenience, not actual sufferihg, on account of lack of water, as many springs and dreams have been available where wells gave out. lkhny hogs and cattle are being sold at great dishdvhnta oh account of dried-up pas-
I t is not believed that the drought of 1913 is unsur- passed in its damaging eeects upon crops, but it is among the worst in the last 30 years. June was very favorable for cultivation and the first half of July received rains which prevented serious damage to corn until about the 1st of August, by which time ti good portion of the corn had fairly matured. Cotton was fine until the middle of August. Late crops 03 all liinds were very seriously damaged.
tures and schrcity of fk $
DROUGHT AND HEATED PERZOD OF 1918 IW ILIZXOIS.
By H. M. WILLB, Acting Section Director, Springfield, Ill.
A careful study of the climatological records of Illi- nois reveals the following facts in connection with the heat wave and drought of the summer of 1913: The sum: mer mean temperature is the highest on record in S ring-
State, with the single exception of the year 1901, which was but a fractich of a degree above this setson's record. The maximum tempekaturb during the period was the highest on record for Springfield, except the year 1901, and the State maximum was the highest, except 1901 and the year 1911, when the record was equaled. Both Springfield and State records for nnmber of days With 90" or over are without ptecedent, except that 1901 ex- ceeded this year's record fur 160" or over, in S ringfield.
of 1913, the daily temperatufes rehairring high aurin long periods and in many instances aithmt much relie at night. The Sprin eld total precipitation f6r Judk?, Jlily, and
three other years showing smaller amounts, while the
State total is the lowest since 1894, and there were but three athei. years with lower records than 1918. The large deficiency of this season's fall as compared with the average durfng the last 36 years is noteworthy. Speaial featukm of the drought and heat wave are brought out in mbrd or less detail in the following de- scription :
Mciency ih Min€ aU and abliormally h' h tempera-
and south portions of the State and ih several cases date back to the middle 08 dp~2. The May totals were 2 to
4 inahes belo* nOmhd dveA tihe 6011th two-thirds of the State, while the falls were equally excessive over the
field and the State mean is the highest on record P or the
That was ofie of the prominent featares of the R eat wave
i
August, 191 P , is the least on record since 19(18, bpith but
tures began etyly in May in many sections o P the central
north one-thiid. High maxima occurfed, braking re& ords for May in some counties. The drou ht was be-
tation materially. It continued dry and warm th<ough the first two de- cades of June, with crops suffering from the drought. @ts be n heading very short, due to the stunted con- ditio,n p;" rom the drought; corn did not germinate, and pastures were short, but the situation was somewhat re- lieved in sections by beneficial rains from the 21st to 25th of the month. The monthly total was the lowest on record for June in the extreme south. Maximum tem-
peratures were high from the 15th to 21st breaking June records in many counties of the central and south por- tions. The last few days were very hot, the temperature reaching or exceeding 100". The temperature at Spring- field continued above normal thrqugh the entire month, except from the 7th to 12th. Eight fat@ prostrations were reported in the Stat6 excluding Chlcago), and no
reported to us. A eat number of horses died, and miners were reporterto have quit work on account of the heat. The same drou hty conditions continued through the greater part of 5u1y becoming most serious over the west-central and east-central portions. Although gen- erous rains fell over limited portions of the northwest and the extreme southwest, the major part of the State received little rain, and least July records were broken
in many localities (Peoria dating back to 1856), and the absolute minimum for any month was recorded at La Harpe and Monmouth. Most rains were of the thunder- shower type and covered limited areas. Lack of rain in the north third was not felt much until the latter art of the month on account of the abundant rains of h a y and June, but the south two-thirds suffered greatly. Reporters stated that wells were going dry and springs and streams that had never been known to go dry were without water; and dust in country roads was apparently bottomless. Water hauling by railroads and stock rais-
eps and 0th- was a frequent occurrence; ground be- chme parched and crops suffered greatly from the se- vere drought; vegetation turned yellow and much of it withered; and corn began firing badly during the latter part of the mnth. The temperature reached the high mark of the season, 108" near the middle or end of the month. One observer recorded the highest on record for the station. There were a large number of heat ratrations in the State, and one observer reported horses $ing in his vicinity at the rate of one a day during harvest. I n the August reports the observers continued to men- tion the eRects of the hot dry weather on vegetation, but the drought was partially relieved in many counties during the first half of the month, while in other sections tlie situation was not relieved until the middle of Sep- tehber, and in a few localities observers report the con- tinuance of the drought at the present writing (Septem-
bw 97). The seateest deficiencies in the August rainfall occurred in the south and west-central portions, while the hll was exaessive over the extreme northwest. The least August records were broken in many localities. The north fourth of the State mas fairly well watered while no county in central or southeim Illinois had suffi-
cient rains up to the end of August. The maximum ternpetatme w&s fiear or above 100" throu hmt the ater part .of thS fiuhth and at Sprihgfield t PB 81% we-
r ut two days below normal. Previous high Wpwitute records were equaled or exceeded at 22 stations.
coniing serious at the close of the month, a I ecting vege-
doubt a much greater num 6, r occurred that were not
SEPTEMBEB, 1913. MONTHLY VVEATEIER REVIEW. 1455
Brigfly Clutnmin up the above, the drought of 1913, which b an in d a y over central and southern Illinois, mbtinue- 7 to grow worse until the third decade of June, when it was somewhat relieved by generous rains in some sections but continuing in other sections until the fore part of August, when beneficial rains fell in many locali- ties, while in still others it continued almost unabated until the middle of September. During the latter art of
the drought in almost every section of the State. The following statement, which shows in percentage the extent to which the drought and heat wave damaged the staple crops of the State, has been assembled from estimates received from cooperative observers on Septem- ber 24: Corn damaged, 44 per cent; wheat damaged, 4
per cent; oats damaged, 61 per cent; hay damaged, 39
per cent; apples damaged, 32 per cent; pears damaged, 96 per cent; peaches damaged, 21 per cent; potatoes dam- aged, 65 per cent; sweet potatoes damaged, 58
Tomatoes damaged, 58 per cent; beans damage$%?$E cent.
September good rains appear to have completely fl roken
DROUGHT AND HEAT WAVE OF 1915 IW INDIANA.
By Vma~ H. CHUBCH, Section Director.
The drought and heat wave which prevailed over many States in the Middle West, and was noteworth for its length and severity, extended into Indiana hom the southwest and covered from one-third to two-fifths of the State. The estreme southwestern counties and a nar- row stri along the west side of the State as f a r north as Terre &Ute suffered the most severely, because of a de- ficiency of moisture as early n s the month of April, whereas the remainder of the drought area received more than the normal amount of precipitation in April, thereby shortening the dry season in those sections by a month or
more, and affording ample moisture at a time when it was most essential for the germination of spring crops. Some of the stations farther east and north received an excess of rain in July and August, which practically terminated or at least greatly relieved the droughty conditions in those districts. The rainfall during the months of April to Au ist, in- clusive, consisted mainly of local showers. Tgse oc- curred in many cases over coni aratively small areas, causing the line of demarcation !&ween dry and moist areas to be sharply drawn. Prof. E. E. Ramsey, cooper- ative observer at kloomington, says :
The rains have been local in an abnormal degree. Distances of 200 feet are sutacient to separate areas of good showers from areas receiving no rain. The eRst side of Monroe Coanty has had rain sufficient for all purposes during the entire summer. In this narrow belt, which extends into Brown County, the' crops are above average.
Many of the local showers were extremely heavy, which materially lessened the deficiency in rainfall but failed to benefit crops in proportion to the measured quantity which fell, because of escessive run-off and diminished absorption due to the unusual density and hardness of the soil. From April to August, inclusive, the deficiency in re-
more than 10 inches. t h e portions of the State where the deficiency was less than 3 inches suffered little more during the driest periods than in the average summer season. In the driest districts, however, the drought was said to have been the severest since 1881, which was prior to the establishment of a cooperative meteorological serv-
cipitation over the drou ht area ranged from 3 to slig R tly
ice, Hence no records for that year are available for com- parison. The destructiveness of the drought was greatly aug- mented by the prevalence of unseasonably hot weather from about the middle of June to the latter part of Su- gust. The niean temperature for the State was above normal for each of the months under discussion, and the temperatures at individual stations universally exceeded the seasonal average during June, July, and August. The hottest period of the summer prevailed from June 15 to July 5, inclusive. During this time maximum tem- peratures of 90" or above were recorded on practically every day at nearly all stations, and temperatures of 100"
or above were reached a t most stations in the drought district on one or more days. Probably the hottest previous summer on record was was that of 1901. However, the conditions were very different in that year. April and May, 1901, were de- ficient in temperature, whereas in 1913 there was a slight escess ; June experienced practically the same tempera- ture in the two years; July, 1901, was extremely hot. while August of that year was cooler than August, 1913.
Therefore the hot summer of 1901 can be attributed chiefly to the abnormally hot weather in July of that year. The hot weather of that summer was more uni- formly distributed over the State. I n that year there were 13 stations with an avera of 7 more davs with a
tions wese a11 in the north half of the State, except two. The two in the sent-hern half had an excess of only one clay each. On the other hand, there were 21 stations hav- ing an average of 14 more days with like temperatures in 1913 than in 1901, these stations all being situated in the southern half and estreme western part of the north- ern half of the State. Therefore it may be stated that the portion of the State under discussion esperienced. a hotter sunliner, as a whole, in the current year than in any other year for which records are available. Hot winds also played an important part in iycreas- ing the intensity of the drought, especially during the hot spell in June, and damage to fruit from this cause mas also observed in August. Reports have also been received of the loss of some fruit and forest trees from the same cause. In the vicinity of Mount Vernon, where
600,000 pounds of pecans mere grown last year, the re- port is current that the crop is an entire failure this year. Reports from various sources indicate that the damage to the wheat crop by drought was almost negligible, but all other crops suffered severely. Oats in most cases were too short and too light to be cut with a binder. Hay was extremely short and light. Early potatoes were a complete failure, and late potatoes give promise of only a very light crop. The tobacco crop is very light, and gardens were mostly failures. The tomato cro
will not emeed 50 per cent of a normal yield. Corn suf fered severely, but will be a better crop than any of the others except wheat, especially on bottom lands. The water supply was greatly affected. Many wells and small streams became dry, and farmers were com- pelled to haul water considerable distances from rivers or other sources. A canning factory at Underwood and a power plant at Charlestown were kept in opera- tion by hauling water from Jeffqrsonville in tank cars. The Baltimore L Ohio Southwestern Railroad Co. was compelled to run a water train from Jeffersonville for several weelrs. Live stock suffered much from the scarcity of water, as it was necessary to haul water to them or drive them long distances. This extreme con- dition was confmed to small localities however.
temperature of 90°, or above, T t an in 1913. *hose sta-