Show HIGH CULTIVATION DOES NOT ADD TO TOI I USUAL RAINFALL Popular Belief Is Set Aside By Series Experiments Made by Experts R n By Dy J. J CECIl CEGIL ALTER There is in some somo quarters a 1 popular belief that tho the large largo increase in the area lrea under cultivation during durins comparatively comparatively recent years has resulted in a I permanent increase In tho the amount of or the rainfall in that section of ot the count country Thin is 13 not tho the case however however however how how- ever as an Is shown in an n article by Prof Proto J. J Warren Smith agricultural meteorologist meteorologist meteor meteor- United States weather bureau in the tho National Monthly Weather Re lIe- ne-I ne view The available records were tabulated covering the year fifty po pe pe period nod from 1368 1868 to 1917 1317 in North Dakota Dakota Da Da- Da- Da kota kot South Dakota western Minnesota Minnesota Minne Minne- sota central and eastern castern Montana northeastern Wyoming Nebraska cen con contral central central an and western Kansas ca eastern tern Colorado Colorado Colorado Col Col- orado southeastern W Wyoming Wyoming- the western portions of Oklahoma and Texas and central and eastern New ew cw Mexico totaling nb about abou t 1 0 stations What Diagrams Diagram S o Diagrams were prepared from these showing graphically tho the annual precipitation precipitation precipitation pre pre- and the averages for successive suc sue and progressive year five pe periods periods pe- pe nods for different sections of or this ar area a. a as a whole Tables were also presented presented presented pre pre- showing the year ton aV averages for tor similar subdivisions The Th graph for tor tho the region Is a whole indicated two well-defined well crests in rainfall about twenty five years apart with the low parts parta of or the tho curves at the tho beginning middle and end of ot tho the year fifty period Tho The av- av era A for all aU the stations for tho the first twenty years of ot the period was as 19 Inches and for the last half inches In Inn cane lIe Grain Crop Crept During the tho period there thero has been beena a decided Increase in the tho area under cultivation In the great plains states as Is indicated by a table submitted with tho the paper sho showing ing this Increase between 1867 1861 and 1917 1017 for certain grain crops In Kansas Nebraska tho the Dakotas and arid Montana the acreage in corn un under under under un- un der cultivation increased from about acres in 1882 1852 to in 1917 oats from to and wheat from about to 17 acres It therefore appears that the crop area has been extended Into these drier regions not because of a a permanent permanent permanent perma perma- nent increase in the rainfall but because because because be be- cause of oC crop adaptation and better farming practices b by which moisture that formerly ran off oft or was as lost b by evaporation is now conserved by lIr dry farming methods |