WEATHER BUREAU. 115 



The Climate of the Great Plains as a Factor in Their Utilization. Read by 

 J. B. Kincer at the annual meeting of the American Geographers, Ann 

 Arbor, Mich., December, 1922, and published in the annals of that associa- 

 tion. 



AGRICULTURAL METEOROLOGY. 



The regular weekly summaries of weather conditions and their 

 effect on the advance of vegetation and farm operations were pub- 

 lished, as during the preceding year, through the medium of the 

 department bulletin entitled " Weather, Crops, and Markets." Dur- 

 ing the crop-growing season the weekly corn and wheat region bul- 

 letin was continued at Chicago, and a similar bulletin issued at New 

 Orleans covered conditions in the Cotton Belt. The various section 

 centers also issued weekly State summaries as usual, in most cases 

 throughout the year. 



At the more than 200 principal stations of the Weather Bureau 

 the uniform policy is to secure station offices and quarters in Gov- 

 ernment-owned buildings free of rent wherever practicable. How- 

 ever, owing to conditions that fail to furnish satisfactory exposure 

 for instruments, or otherwise provide suitable quarters for the bu- 

 reau, it is necessary to rent offices in many cases. The following tab- 

 ulation indicates conditions as of July 1 : 



STATIONS AND ACCOUNTS DIVISION. 



Status of Weather Bureau offices at stations outside of Washington. 



Free quarters and accommodations : 



Observatory buildings (owned and controlled by the Weather 



Bureau) 46 



State university buildings 5 



Federal buildings 78 



Total free of rental 129 



Rented buildings, etc., owned by individuals or corporations : 



Office buildings 90 



Buildings with kite-flying fields, aerological 6 



Total number rented buildings partly or wholly occupied 96 



Total '225 



The foregoing does not include Weather Bureau buildings at Nar- 

 ragansett Pier, K. I., and Mount Weather, Va., which continue un- 

 occupied in charge of caretakers. 



Special meteorological station at Valdez, Alaska, was discontin- 

 ued March 31, 1923, and removed to Cordova, Alaska, where free 

 office quarters were obtained. Telegraph-line repair station at Twin, 

 Wash., was discontinued June 30, 1923. 



LEASED QUARTERS. 



Existing leases for office quarters and accommodations at 24 field 

 stations of the bureau expired by limitation June 30, 1923. These 

 involved a total annual rental, as heretofore paid, of $19,371.36, In 

 taking up the matter with lessors in each case it was found that at 

 13 of the stations new leases could be had at the same price as hereto- 



1 Three stations have quarters in two buildings, viz. Cape Henry, Va., two Weather 

 Bureau ; Cincinnati, Ohio, and Oklahoma. Okla.. Weather Bureau and Federal. 



