228 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



cogency of this reasoning, we have only to turn to our statistics. In 

 the rain table for Sacramento we find that the mean monthly rain for 

 September, October, and November sums up>, in the aggregate, to seven 

 hundred and forty thousandths of an inch — an amount few person have 

 any definite idea of, and the extent of which would astonish any agri- 

 culturist who should attempt to distribute the same artificially. For 

 every one-hundredth part of an inch, a ton of water falls per acre. 



The rainy season commences somewhat earlier in the northern por- 

 tion of the State, and a much larger proportion of the winter's sup- 

 ply falls by January. The rains, too, are here much more copious. In 

 the south the reverse obtains — the rains of November seldom reaching 

 the latitude of Los Angeles. It will be seen that the regular rainy sea- 

 son, excluding the scattering first and last rains, commences, according 

 to the tables, in November and ends in April. Rain has fallen in every 

 month in the year, but no account is made of a mere sprinkle, nor of 

 fog or mist. Referring now to the tables annexed, which are calculated 

 to demonstrate at a glance intensities, amounts and results, with an 

 infinite saving of time, and. what is far more desirable, with a" numerical 

 precision and truth, I beg leave to bring these remarks to a close, not 

 without expressing my obligations to Professor Henry Gibbons. ML. D , 

 and the other gentlemen named in the tables, of whose contributions to 

 meteorology I have so freely availed myself. 



