Sunshine

in meteorology, light falling from the sun upon the earth's surface, without hindrance of haze, mist, fog, cloud, or dust storm. As a matter of fact the sun is shining always. Some germs grow in darkness, but, speaking in a general way, light is one of the essentials of plant and animal growth. For the farmer, gardener, and stock raiser, no artificial light equals natural sunlight. Some crops are favored by a share of cloudy weather, but, like air, warmth, and water, clear sunshine is one of the great promoters of life--one of the essentials of prosperity.

As half of the hours the world over belong to the night, a cloudless region may have not to exceed 365 times 12, or 4,380 hours of sunshine yearly. Sunshine is in one respect the opposite of rainfall. As a rule, the less rainfall, the less cloudy weather. Perpetual sunshine, without rain, is characteristic of an arid or desert region. North America, which is the greatest food-producing region in the world, is particularly fortunate in the matter of sunshine. An area in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Mexico has an average of 3,250 hours of sunshine yearly. Surrounding this sunshine center is a zone having 3,000 hours of clear sunlight. A third encircling zone reaches the Pacific Coast, embracing in its sweep the fruit-producing valleys of California, the uplands of Kansas, the tobacco fields of Kentucky, and the cotton fields of Texas. Northern California, southern Louisiana, West Virginia, and the famous corn belt of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa enjoy 2,500 hours of annual sunshine. A belt crossing the continent from Massachusetts, via Minnesota, to southern Oregon, has 2,250 hours. Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Washington, and "sunny" Alberta, have 1,750 hours or about fifty-five per cent as much sunshine as Arizona. May and June are the sunniest months in the southern part of the United States. July is the sunniest month farther north.