WEATHER SERVICE DEPARTMENT. 179 



The service was established February 3, 1887, and at the close of the 

 time for which the appropriations were made, the director believes that 

 every pledge then made has been fulfilled. 



Very respectfully, your obedient servant, N. B. CONGER, 



Sergeant Signal Corps, Director. 



MICHIGAN WEATHER SERVICE, 

 IN CO-OPERATION WITH THE U. S. SIGNAL SERVICE, 

 OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR, 



Lansing, Mich., January 15, 1889. 



Hon. Franklin Wells, President State Board of Agriculture, Constantine, 

 Mich. : 



Sir — In compliance with the resolution of the State Board of Agriculture, 

 adopted December 11, 1888, I have the honor to transmit to the Board the 

 series of rainfall charts of Michigan. 



These charts are as follows: Rainfall charts January to December, 1888, 

 and the normal rainfall charts for each month of the year, and the annual 

 rainfall for the State. 



In the preparation of these charts about 4,000 monthly reports have been 

 examined, proved and used. 



The normal rainfall has been compiled from the observations of thirteen 

 years, and extend from 1876 to 1888. 



The records previous to the establishment of this service in 1887, were 

 obtained from the files of the State Board of Health, and the director desires 

 to state that the service is under great obligations to Dr. Henry B. Baker, 

 Secretary of the State Board of Health, for the loan of the records for the 

 years 1876-1886. It would have been impossible for the director to compile 

 the normal charts if these records had not been accessible. The records 

 which Dr. Baker has had taken have been worth 11 years' careful observa- 

 tions to this service. 



I believe that there are at present no charts of the kind in existence in 

 Michigan, and I believe that they will be of considerable value to the agri- 

 cultural and experimental interests of the State. 



The service has been in operation now not quite two years, and in that 

 time the director has compiled the daily normal temperatures for each sec- 

 tion of the State and has had them published in the monthly reports of the 

 service, and now the average monthly and yearly precipitation has been 

 completed and charted so that it may be readily referred to, and with the 

 monthly records of the precipitation, the condition of the staple cereals of 

 the State may be more conveniently and surely estimated. 



The data for these charts have been entirely compiled in the central 

 office, and the charts were designed and drawn by the director. As each 

 chart has been carefully scaled and shaded, it is not considered necessary to 

 publish the figures from which the charts were prepared, other than are 

 shown on each chart. 



Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



N. B. CONGER, 

 Sergeant Signal Corj>s, Director. 



