WEATHER BUREAU. 271 



it passed nearly over the former city. The folloAving editorial re- 

 garding the warnings appeared in the Savannah (Ga.) News of 

 August 30: 



A word of appreciation and thanlis is due to the Weather Bureau for its 

 warnings of the coming of the storm. There was more than 12 hours' 

 notice — all that might be expected. The warning bulletins wore in positive 

 language. There was no guesswork. It sometimes occurs th:it the Weather 

 Bureau makes a mistake, but it always errs on the safe side. It gives property 

 Interests the benefit of the doubt. 



NOVEMBER, 1911, FREEZES IN THE AVEST GULF STA.TES. 



The warnings issued in advance of the two severe freezes in the 

 west Gulf States in November, 1911, enabled sugar, orange, and 

 truck growers who were prepared to act on advices from the Weather 

 Bureau to protect crops to the value of several millions of dollars, 

 which would have otherwise been lost. Sugar planters protected 

 their cane by windrowing. By smudging their orchards, orange 

 growers not only protected the trees from damage, but saved the 

 ripe fruit on the trees. Truck growers covered, smudged, or flooded 

 their crops. The following editorial regarding the warnings and the 

 benefits derived therefrom appeared in the New Orleans Times- 

 Democrat of December 3, 1911 : 



It is impossible as yet to determine definitely and accurately the damage and 

 loss to the T.ouisiana cane crop caused by the two recent freezes. It is unques- 

 tionably heavy, but how heavy we will not know until a careful examination 

 has shown the condition of the cane. It is believed that it will be ix)ssible to 

 determine this point in the next few days, and that we will then know within 

 a few thousand dollars how much Louisiana has lost by the two unexpected 

 and early freezes of last month. 



Louisiana, and New Orleans in particular, has counted with great confidence 

 on its sugar crop. The acreage was larger than usual; the cane, although a 

 little backward, was in good condition and promised an exceptionally large 

 tonnage to the acre; and finally, sugar is commanding a better price than for 

 years past. A profit on the crop of between $7,000,000 and $10,000,000 over last 

 year was looked for; and the circulation of that money promised activity in 

 every line of business. 



Suddenly and unexpectedly there descended on the sugar belt the freeze of 

 November 13. It was one of the earliest freezes ever known in this section, 

 and caught the planters unprepared, when they had only just begun their 

 grinding. Fortunately the freeze continued only a few hours, so that the loss 

 was not as heavy as it would otherwise have been. Two weeks afterwards, on 

 November 27. came another freeze, moi'e far-reaching, more severe, and far 

 more damaging. It is the uncertainty as to the amount of the damage that 

 renders it impossible to figure out the exact loss. 



If we look back to the old records, before the Government established the 

 Signal Service or Weather Bureau, we will find that the damage from prema- 

 ture freezes of this kind brought overwhelming ruin to the cane crop, and 

 that in many years the crop was injured three-fourths and more. The planters 

 l>ad nothing to guide them as to the weather, no notice of the coming of a 

 freeze until it was on them. To-<lay, because we know more of the weather, 

 the loss is not likely to be over 15 per cent. 



It is difficult to appreciate how much these weather forecasts mean to the 

 cane growers, for perhaps no crop is in greater danger from sudden changes 

 than sugar cane. Both of the recent freezes were sudden. The wind which 

 carried the cold wave of November ^i^ to the sugar l)elt was blowing 40 to 50 

 miles an hour. It was impossible, tlierefore, to predict the freeze more than 

 40 hours in advance; but these 40 hours given the sugar planters to prepare 

 wore invaluable and saved Louisiana from millions of dollars of loss. The 

 second freeze was invdicted, or ni flier annonnce^l, two days in advance of its 

 arrival and gave the iilantcrs ample time to get ready for tlieir enemy. These 

 warnings saved the greater part of the crop, and were valuable not only for 



