334 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



ing them pliable, and an equilibrium is established through all the raisins in the box. At 

 the end of the proper curing time, the raisins pass into the hands of the packers. These 

 pack from the layers on the manilla paper into galvanized iron trays, fitting comfortably 

 into the boxes, which go to market. 



Bad North Winds — Much Worse in Southern Europe Than in Cal- 

 ifornia. 



Written for the " Appeal," by Sergeant James A. Barwick, United States Signal Service 



Observer at Sacramento. 



The northerly winds of California, being due to the position that the 

 cyclones and anti-cyclones bear to each other (of which the explanation 

 following will more fully show) , a low barometer in Southern California 

 and Arizona (which is termed a cyclonic area), with a light barometer in 

 Washington Territory, Oregon, and Northern California (termed an anti- 

 cyclonic area), causes the wind to blow from the north. The greater the 

 difference between the high and low barometer, the more violent the wind's 

 velocity will be. We know that our north winds are cold and dry in 

 winter, but not such northers as blow over southern Texas. Those north- 

 ers, we know, are simply terrible. To show the people of the Sacramento 

 Valley that the much talked of and widely advertised climate of south- 

 ern Spain, France, and northern Italy, are frequently subjected to winds 

 called the " mistral " that are equally as severe as the well known north- 

 ers of Texas, I extract from the Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. 7, ninth 

 edition, pages 6 and 7, the following notes, which will show your readers 

 that those excessively praised winter resorts suffer from more severe north- 

 ern and colder weather than does our own favored valley. The following 

 are the extracts spoken of: 



Robert Russell, in his Climate of America, gives an instance of the temperature falling 

 in southern Texas with a norther from 81° to 18° in forty-one hours, blowing at the same 

 time with great violence. * * * It is to the cyclone (low barometer) and anti-cyclone 

 (high barometer) we must look for an explanation of these violent changes. * * * Low 

 pressures in the Mediterranean, along with high pressures to the northward, are the con- 

 ditions of the worst winter weather in the south of Europe. A cyclone in the Gulf of 

 Lyons or of Genoa, and an anti-cyclone over Germany and Russia, leave the "mistral" 

 (cold and dry northerly winds) as their unfailing attendant, blowing with terrible force 

 and dryness on the Mediterranean coasts of Spain, France, and North Italy, being alike 

 in its origin and its climatic qualities the exact counterpart of the norther of the Gulf of 

 Mexico. It follows that from the courses taken by the cyclones of the Mediterranean, 

 and the anti-cyclones which attend on them, that also Algeria, Malta, and Greece are 

 liable to violent alterations of temperature during the cold months. 



[" Marysville Appeal," March 20, 1888.] 



Orange Culture. — Professor Klee, State Inspector of Fruit Pests, 

 Defines His Views. — Some Valuable Observations on Frost and 

 the Effect of Elevation. 



Berkeley, March 15, 1888. 



Editor "Appeal:" Your issue, with an editorial criticising my letter to 

 the " Pacific Fruit Grower," came during my absence. I am glad to learn 

 that the damage done at Marysville is as slight as you say, and I hope 

 before very long to be able to learn this with my own eyes. 



Allow me to call your attention to the fact that I spoke of Marysville as 

 having been but little affected as compared with counties farther on the 

 plain. As regards the second freeze's affecting you as little in proportion, 

 I have no personal knowledge, and at the time of writing the letter to the 

 : ' Pacific Fruit Grower" I had had no opportunity to learn of the extent of 



