Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 14 · column 1 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
Mr. Wingfield, a weather watcher for more than 20 years, said his records from 1981 through the present day show 1984 to be the wettest summer—rainfall percentages for June, July and August combined —with 15.77 inches and the summer months of 1982 running a close second with 15.46 inches recorded though he “would not be surprised to see this summer rate as the wettest” with already 14.02 inches tallied.
Those forced to mow the lawn weekly are complaining.
“Why, this has been the best year in memory for pasture," said Carl Stafford, Culpeper County’s Extension Agent for agriculture, adding that “beef cattle have had plenty to eat and young cattle will be heavy. The grass is doing great.”
He said that overall most farmers would “take a year like this one over last year, anytime.”
But, hay farmers may not be so pleased with the abundant rainfall, and with the heavy downpours which have been common over the past three months. Hay has rotted in the fields from the seemingly endless rainy days.
“Actually, it’s been a bad year” for hay farmers Mr. Stafford said. “Oh, it has grown like crazy, but much has been damaged and lost due to wet conditions.”
He explained that often the hay is rained upon before it can be bailed or the hay overmatures before it can be harvested, due to wet ground conditions.
Mr. Stafford said this summer really “lacked good hay curing weather.”
Though it is too early for anyone to predict a market for hay, Mr. Stafford said that good quality hay
94.6%