J^ NOTE and COMMENT |^< 



United States Climates. — In a country as extensive 

 as our own, there is room for a variety of climates. Meteor- 

 ologists have investigated and mapped each with considerable 

 accuracy. The largest is the Eastern Climatic Province which 

 extends from the Atlantic ocean to the edge of the Great 

 Plains and whose western margin corresponds roughlv to the 

 20-inch annual rainfall line. Over this region the climate is 

 remarkable uniform. Its seasons are strongly contrasted, the 

 summers being hot and the winters cold. The rainfall is 

 abundant and usually well distributed. On the south this re- 

 gion merges into the Gulf Province with higher temperatures, 

 both winter and summer, and with greater annual rainfall. 

 The changes in tlie weather here are fewer, less abrupt, and 

 less distinct, owing to the fact that the region is rather beyond 

 the belt of cyclonic storms. The Plains Province lies between 

 the P'astern Province and the Rocky Mountains. It is a re- 

 gion of lessened and \ariable rainfall in which cuitixated crops 

 are uncertain without artificial watering, though dry farming 

 is extensively practiced. Most of the rainfall occurs during 

 the growing season. In temperature the region is much like 

 the i'*astern Province. Tlie Plateau Province is tlie region 

 west of the Plains Province. Ft lias a still smaller rainfall 

 and much of the region is arid. especiall\" in the lowlands. 

 Most of the North American de.'^erts are in this province. In 

 the nortiiern part the greatest precipitation is in late winter 

 and early spring; in the southern part the maximum rainfall 

 occurs in late summer and in winter. The western coastal 



