From HARPER'S WEEKLY on July 20, 1864.
DROUGHT.
THE sky is brass, the lordly sun
Looks down with a fiery eye, The shallow rivers scarcely run,
The streamlet's bed is dry.
The meadow's crust is stiff and hard, The trees have a sombre hue,
The threadbare coat of the rusty sward Needs patching with verdure anew.
Still bearing down, still staring down, The remorseless rays are cast,
And scorching hamlet and seething town Both swoon in their fiery blast.
The dust lies thick in the village road, The cattle crowd to the muddy pool,
The swarming flies high revel hold—Drowsily buzzes the village school.
Oh heavily droops the bearded grain, The summer flowers wilt and die,
And stretch their tiny stems in vain To the clouds for tears of sympathy
None come ; but the sound men ache to hear
Is the hurtling rush of the arrowy rain
Hurling its cohorts from far and near On roof-tree and window-pane.
A thousand tongues for its coming pray,
A thousand hearts for its advent long: Oh come and chase our gloom away--
Descend, and fill the land with song !
I was very surprised to see corn fields tasseling. It's not July. I guess the lack of rain is the cause. These pictures were taken yesterday evening. The second picture was a field by Flora. It hardly looks like corn. The fields are desperate for rain. Last night the rain went North of us. Today it went south of us. This is not fun...
I found this earlier: http://www.uky.edu/Ag/AnimalSciences/dairy/extension/nut00138.pdf
Drought Stress at Pollination
Dry conditions will have the greatest impact on corn that was tasseling and pollinating during the drought. Pollination requires the release of pollen from the tassels and capture of that pollen by the silks. The pollen then travels down each silk to fertilize the ovule. Dry weather will reduce pollination in a couple of ways. First, dry weather will delay silking and could result in pollen dropping before silks are exposed. Second, dry weather will cause the silks to dry out quicker and reduce the ability of the silks to capture and move pollen to the ovules. Nothing can be done to regain unfertilized ovules after pollination. Adequate moisture following poor pollination will help the fertilized ovules develop kernels, but yield losses are certain with poorly pollinated corn. Yield losses from a drought during pollination can be as high as 100% but more often the yield losses are much less.
The price of corn is going to skyrocket in this area!
This isn't pretty either:
http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/
Take care and pray for rain!
~Sam
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