THE ANNUAL MEETING. 155 



greater or grander work than the turning of the barren wastes of our school 

 yards into shady groves and blooming gardens. 



II. Dale Adams inquired if the secretary had made any advances in the 

 matter of securing the cooperation of the superintendent of public instruction 

 in the matter of school gardens:* 



The secretary said he had placed the matter before the department, but had 

 succeeded in securing very little enthusiasm in connection therewith ; and the 

 head of the department thought very little, if anything, could be done by the 

 State superintendent to secure better work in this direction. 



Mr. S. L. Fuller, former treasurer of the society, took the floor for fifteen 

 minutes, explaining the financial condition of the society, and urging that the 

 people of Washtenaw come forward and add to the list of life members of the 

 society. Six life members were added, to wit: Geo. W. Lawton, Lawton ; S. 

 W. Dorr, Manchester; Everett H. Scott, Ann Arbor; David Woodward, Clin- 

 ton ; L. D. Walking, Manchester; Mrs. Mary E. Foster, Ann Arbor. 



The next paper was by Prof. Alexander Winchell, of the Michigan univer- 

 sity, upon 



THE CLIMATE OF MICHIGAN. 



It is fifteen years since I first endeavored to impress upon the attention of 

 the people of Michigan the beneficial peculiarities of their climate. There is 

 but one physical characteristic of our peninsula which is exceptional, and con- 

 fers upon us any superior advantages — that is climate. Apart from climate, 

 our soil is no more fertile than that of Ohio and Wisconsin ; our primitive 

 forests are no more abundant, our timber no more valuable; our water-powers 

 no more numerous; our grasses no more nutritious. But our climate is 

 exceptional; and it is exceptional to the great advantage of the agricultural 

 and horticultural capabilities of the State. 



My attention was first particularly directed to the influence of the great 

 lakes, and especially of Lake Michigan, in the autumn of 1865, while making 

 an economical and geological survey of the "Grand Traverse llegiou ; " and 

 the convictions first impressed by the vegetation of that region were confirmed 

 by some precise meteorological comparisons published in my report* which 

 appeared early in 18G6. In August, 1866, I read a paper on "The Fruit- 

 bearing Belt of Michigan," before the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, at its Buffalo meeting. f At the Troy meeting of the same 

 association, in 1870, I presented a more detailed, paper, on "The Isothermals 

 of the Lake Region," based on a much wider range of data than I had 

 employed before.} In this paper, I embodied the results of all the meteor- 

 ological observations ever published from within the limits of Michigan, as 

 well as many observations then unpublished. As the object in view required 

 comparisons, I collected similar data respecting more than fifty localities lying 

 outside of the State. The Michigan observations aggregated two hundred and 

 eighty-four years, and those of the other localities, four huudred and ninety- 

 three years. A great amount of labor and. research was expended in the com- 

 pilation of the 132 tables on which the condensed published results were based. 



* The Grand Traverse Region. A Report on the Geological and Industrial Resources of the Conn- 

 ties of A n trim, Grand Traverse, Benzie, and Leelanaw, in the Lower Peninsula ot Michigan, 8yo., 

 82 pp., with Map, and Appendix of 10 pp. on Palaeontolgy. lbGO. 



t Proceedings American Association, 18(50, pp. 81-iJl. 



X Proceedings American Association, 1870, pp. 10(5-117. 



