56 agriculture; of maine. 



tion in time to profit thereby. What this means to the farmer 

 and shipper is well illustrated by the fact that we gathered from 

 those personally interested statements relative to the sweep of 

 one cold wave, which showed that over $3,400,000 worth of 

 property that would have been destroyed by the low tempera- 

 tures was saved. To be sure sometimes the surging of the great 

 air eddies which constitute our rainstorms and cold waves — one 

 the low-pressure and the other the high-pressure eddy — deflects 

 the course of the storm or minimizes the degree of cold, and the 

 warnings may partially or wholly fail of verification ; but in these 

 important atmospheric disturbances the warnings are justified 

 in such a large proportion of cases that those whose property is 

 at stake do not longer question the utility of the government 

 service. That no other country brings its citizens into such 

 close touch with its weather conditions is shown by the fact 

 that when severe storms are not imminent there is, in addition 

 to the printing of the forecasts in the daily press, a daily dis- 

 tribution of 80,000 telegrams, maps and bulletins, that place the 

 information in the hands of millions whose personal interests 

 are materially affected by the weather. 



There are over 2,000 daily papers in the United States, and 

 each one of these prints in a conspicuous place the daily weather 

 predictions. Did it ever occur to you that there is no other 

 information that receives publication and attention by readers 

 each day of the year in every paper in the country? There are 

 15,000 weekly and semi-weekly publications, the greater number 

 of which publish the weekly weather crop bulletins of the Bureau 

 for their respective states. Each state forms a section of the 

 national service, and from a central office issues monthly reports 

 on the minute climatology of the state. These climatological data 

 are gathered from standard thermometers and rain gauges that 

 are placed in each county. The information finds extensive 

 publication in the weekly and monthly periodicals. 



Few people realize what a complete system the Weather 

 Bureau forms for the accurate and rapid collection and dissemi- 

 nation of crop information. It has 1,200 paid and skilfully 

 trained officials, outside of Washington, who are quite evenly 

 distributed over the continent and its island possessions, and 

 who are available to report on any matters concerning weather 

 crops, climate, or statistics. It has 200 officials and employes at 



