PROCEEDINGS OF THE WINTER MEETING. 9 



ao much warmer. The fourth shows the average yearly rainfall as deter- 

 mined by thirteen years' observation. 



A careful study of these charts reveals much that is valuable to the hor- 

 ticulturist, and should lead him to investigate the distribution of the rain- 

 fall and the temperature lines for the entire year, both of which have been 

 coustructed and published by the weather service for the information of 

 the people of the state. 



Again, many of those who are interested in growing fruit, both large 

 and small, are experimenting with new varieties, to see if they are profit- 

 able. In many cases these experimental plants or trees die before they 

 come to maturity, on account of the climatic conditions which are not 

 favorable to their sturdy growth. This is where the weather service 

 should be of great value to you, and it is this information which you 

 should freely use. 



It is supposed that the nurseryman who grows the tree knows, to a cer- 

 tain extent, the climate conditions most favorable to the best development 

 of the tree he sells you — that is, how much moisture is needed, and how 

 low a temperature it will stand; whether it will stand sudden changes of 

 temperature, if it is what is called a hardy tree or whether it is of a sensi- 

 tive temperament. With this knowledge and the information which the 

 weather service furnishes, you can readily judge whether the tree will be 

 likely to be a success or not, and it should not be necessary for you to 

 experiment for several years and then lose your tree from winter-killing, 

 when you can have this information before you start in with the 

 experiment. 



The data which has been compiled in the weather service office reaches 

 nearly every county in the state, and a larger portion of it is such that 

 fairly reliable normals can be given relative to the average amount of rain- 

 fall, the humidity, and the average or normal temperature and the extremes 

 that may be enacted in the different localities. 



In the past four years that this service has been working, it has been 

 found that the temperature lines each month follow very closely the same 

 general outlines as the normals would indicate; that is, although the tem- 

 perature may be higher or lower than the normal, yet the general contour 

 of the lines is the same. 



Investigation relative to the " frost lines " of the state is now being 

 carried on and in the preliminary study it is found that they are as dis- 

 tinctly marked in this state as are the temperate lines or the distribution 

 of rainfall. The central portion of the state is much more liable to late 

 frosts in the spring, and early frosts in the fall, than are the counties on 

 the east or west borders of the state. 



These lines are well marked, and with further time to justify the data 

 now in hand, it is thought that there will be no doubt of the fact that 

 this may be laid down, and frost predictions made with considerable relia- 

 bility for sections of the state, and not a general prediction for the entire 

 state as is now made. 



The use that this information can be put to, is not a difficult problem 

 to solve, when it is recalled that the serious study of the climatic condi- 

 tions over the United States, and of bringing it nearer home in our own 

 state, is of recent date, as the national service has been working only some 

 twenty years, and the serious study of the climate of our own state, so as 

 to cover it as a whole, but four years, and that the investigation of the 

 effect of rainfall and temperature on trees and cereals is practically in its 

 2 



