SIGNAL SERVICE. 



BY K. F. KEDZIE, METEOROLOGIST OF TPIE SOCIETY. 



A division of the Signal Service Bureau was established a few years ago by the 

 general government for the ostensible object of benefiting commerce and agri- 

 culture. The object of this bureau seemed to be a most laudable one, when we 

 reflected that if the sailor could have a few hours' warning of a terrible storm 

 of wind, he could make all snug above and below and bid defiance to any tem- 

 pest ; and that the farmer and fruit grower, seeing the signal of danger, could 

 save at least a portion of his crops from destruction and loss. Then it seemed 

 as if the millennium had come for farmers and pomologists. We shall suffer no 

 more from loss of fruit by frost, for forewarned is forearmed. No more loss by 

 rain, for we shall be warned in season, and our crops shall be housed in safety ; 

 and from the State Agricultural College, and from other agricultural colleges 

 all over the land, petitions were sent to Congress, praying that the Signal Ser- 

 vice be established. 



As the Signal Service has been in active operation for several years, let us 

 see how well it is doing the work it started out to do. The value of this office 

 to commerce is very great. By the display of bulletin reports, of reports at 

 the river stations giving the rise and fall of rivers, of large weather maps, and 

 last but not least, by the display of day or night signals at designated stations, 

 on occasions of supposed especial danger, many a ship has been warned of the 

 threatened storm, and lay snugly in harbor, when to have ventured out on sea 

 or lake would have been followed by damage to the vessel, or even the loss of 

 the vessel itself. All honor, then, to the government for reaching out its pro- 

 tecting hand to those " who go down to the sea in ships, who do business in 

 great waters." 



But the Signal Service was not designed for the protection of commerce 

 only, but also for the benefit of agriculture. To be sure, we receive daily prog- 

 nostics concerning the weather, but the weather has done its worst and gone 

 before these reports are received. We have also five signal stations in this 

 State, viz : Detroit, Grand Haven, Marquette, Escanaba, and Alpena. But as 

 far as the benefit to agriculture is concerned, these observers might as well be 

 on the top of Mt. Washington. The Signal Service seems to have turned a 

 deaf ear to the interests of the farmer and fruit grower, and while sparing no 

 pains to protect our shipping, has overlooked our corn-fields and orchards. 

 That the interests of the farmer and pomologist are as important as those of 

 the sailor, will be readily conceded. When we remember that the capital in- 



