104 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ants, struggled on, bettering and extending the service little by 

 little and in many ways. What does the historian who studies the 

 press and weather bulletins of the present day find with respect to 

 this work? Every paper carries the message of present and pros- 

 pective weather, and for those who need fuller details special bul- 

 letins convey everything known and ascertainable. The shippers 

 of perishable foods and products are told of the hot and cold waves 

 their shipments will encounter en route to any destination. To the 

 great centers of population this foreknowledge permits the saving of 

 many thousands of dollars annually in losses either of products or 

 by damage claims, or both. Severe cold waves, heavy snows, and 

 general storms overspread extended regions of the country time and 

 again each year. The newspapers carry well in advance timely de- 

 tails of these occurrences, and livestock is sheltered, provisions made 

 for maintaining traffic, snows removed without embarrassing block- 

 ades, and every precaution taken to minimize the ill effects which 

 would overtake every community visited unawares by these atmos- 

 pheric phenomena. Orchards are protected from frosts, and fruits 

 and agricultural crops are saved and matured under the prompt and 

 helpful advices of the meteorologist. In the flooded areas of the 

 great waterways advices are given many hours, often days, and some- 

 times weeks in advance of the crest stages, generally to the fraction 

 of a foot, which the flood will attain. Such floods, in changing in- 

 tensities, are annual features of the river channels, and the service is 

 performed when the need arises, year after year. Only the mer- 

 chants, the engineers in control of river operations, and the agricul- 

 turists whose acres are subject to possible inundation are able to 

 speak from personal experience of the accuracy and value of the 

 flood warnings of the bureau. These serve to minimize the losses 

 and destruction which, without forewarnings, would become a ca- 

 lamity. Meteorology and radio communication have literally trans- 

 formed the navigation of the sea from a great peril to a state of rela- 

 tive safety, especially in coastal waters and on the high seas in reach 

 of the daily broadcast of weather reports from coastal stations. 

 Cargo and even passenger ships now shape their movements on 

 weather reports. During the hurricane season of the southern seas 

 we may safely say a captain would not leave port without the latesr 

 weather advices, if conditions were menacing, any more than he 

 would leave without his compass or some other essential of naviga- 

 tion. On the Great Lakes vessels are often compelled to make shelter 

 or tie up at dock during stormy conditions. It has been stated that 

 any delay of this character entails an economic loss of from $50 to 

 $100 per hour per vessel. Ignorance of the status and progress of 

 such storms on the part of the navigators leads to an embarrassing 

 dilema. To leave shelter too soon is to incur hazard of storm dam- 

 age. To delay unnecessarily is to suffer excess of per hour loss. The 

 local official of the Weather Bureau steps in at this point and with 

 his command of the weather situation he is able to broadcast advices 

 to shipping which literally save many hours of ships' time with 

 practically no losses in safety and security. Here, again, only those 

 actually profiting by this useful service of the bureau are aware of 

 its great economic benefits. 



With the advent of the practical navigation of the air a whole 

 new service is now demanded, a service of flying-weather forecasts 



