STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 287 



Ninth — The economical value of the north wind is discernible in its 

 power to preserve the various materials useful and necessary in our civili- 

 zation. The dry air and its intense drying influence must necessarily per- 

 form an important office in preserving from rapid decay fences, Darns, 



houses, railroad ties: and I am confident that the same influence must 

 protect iron in every form from destructive rusts. Facts sufficient to estab- 

 lish this proposition are doubtless within our reach. 



Tenth — The desiccating power of the north wind, which enables US to 

 give all wood a thorough seasoning, will lead of necessity to the establish- 

 ment of extensive manufactories of wood throughout the valleys. At pres- 

 ent this is as much a prophecy as a proposition. 



Eleventh — The wind now under discussion facilitates practical telegraphy, 

 by giving, what is rarely attained elsewhere, a perfect insulation. Upon 

 this subject all practical operators are agreed. 



Twelfth — It is within the power of ingenuity and industry to control and 

 utilize these winds. 



We have already discovered that vegetation can be measurably protected 

 by trees, houses, fences, and water. When this valley becomes fully set- 

 tled, and the great farms are broken up into small homesteads: when there 

 shall be fifty thousand houses, orchards, and forests where there are now 

 ten; and when a judicious system of irrigation shall be adopted throughout 

 this great central valley, then the vicious qualities of the north wind will 

 cease altogether. Indeed we only fear that the future development of the 

 valley may deprive us of even the advantages derived from this wind. The 

 results of the Suez Canal are suggestive in this direction. Formerly rain 

 was unknown on that part of the Red Sea, but since the building of the 

 Suez Canal showers have fallen regularly about once a fortnight. The 

 result has been to start vegetation, even on the Asiatic side, in the most 

 wonderful manner, and if things, go on as they have begun the sands of the 

 isthmus will be covered with forests in another half century. 



From all I can learn the north winds have lost much of their violence 

 during the past twenty-five years. If so, we may assume that the develop- 

 ment of the country has already begun to change the character of these 

 winds. 



PALESTINE CLIMATE VERY SIMILAR TO THAT OE 



CALIFORNIA. 



SIROCCOS WHICH PRODUCE MORE ILLS THAN ALL THE NORTH WINDS OF 



CALIFORNIA— THE RAINY SEASON AND THE DRY 



SEASON IN THE HOLY LAND. 



Aii interesting report of the climate of Palestine, by Mr. Selah Merrill, 

 United States Consul at Jerusalem. The following extract will be found 

 very interesting reading for Californians: 



SEASONS IN PALESTINE. 



There are in Palestine two seasons, a rainy season and a dry one. The 

 shortest rainy season in twenty-two years has been one hundred and 



