WEATHER BUREAU. 5 



to which all subordinate offices in the State report, and to which all 

 voluntary weather and crop observers report. These central observa- 

 tories are equipped with printers, printing plants, trained meteorolo- 

 gists and crop writers, clerks, and messengers. 



The State central offices are under the systematic direction of the 

 central office at Washington. The central office at Washington is 

 equipped with cartographers, printers, pressmen, lithographers, and 

 elaborate addressing and mailing appliances for the printing and 

 mailing of large quantities of national weekly, monthly, quarterly, 

 or annual reports and bulletins. The telegraph circuits of the 

 Weather Bureau are ingeniously devised for the rapid collection, 

 twice daily, of meteorological reports; they are also used to collect 

 the weekl}^ National crop bulletin. The Bureau has 815 paid temper- 

 ature and rainfall reporters who are now daily telegraphing their data 

 from the growing fields to certain cotton, corn, and wheat centers. It 

 has 250 storm-warning displaymen distributed among the ports along 

 the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts and in the lake region. It has 

 an observer serving each morning on the floor of each important 

 board of trade, commercial association, or cotton or maritime exchange 

 in the countr}^ wlio displays weather and crop information, and each 

 day charts the weather reports on a large map. It has 3,000 voluntary 

 observers — nearly one for each county in the United States — equipped 

 with standard thermometers, instrument shelters, and rain gauges, 

 who have for years intelligently served the Government by taking 

 dailj'^ weather observations and rendering weekly crop reports to 

 State central offices. There are 14,000 jjersons reporting weekly to 

 the climate and crop centers as to the effect of weather upon the crops 

 in their respective localities. These voluntary crop correspondents 

 could quicklj' be increased in number to several hundred thousand if 

 occasion required. In four weeks there are printed and distributed 

 168 different State crop bulletins, four National crop bulletins, and 

 42 monthly eight-page State climate and crop bulletins. The weekly 

 State crop bulletins are written by the directors of the different State 

 sections, and the weekly National crop bulletin by Mr. James Berry, 

 chief of the climate and crop division of the Weather Bureau, a man 

 who lias had many years experience as a writer on crop conditions in 

 the United States. 



FORECASTS BY RURAL FREE DELIVERY. 



Particular attention has been given to the distribution of forecasts 

 by means of the rural free delivery. There are now in operation 365 

 centers supplying an aggregate of nearly 42,000 families in the farming 

 disti'icts with the latest weather predictions. This work has become 

 decidedly popular, and we have had the hearty cooperation of the 

 Post-Office Department in making it a success. 



Estimate has been made for additional appropriation with which 

 to extend the distribution of forecasts and warnings by this method. 

 The rural free delivery places the frost and cold-wave warnings in 

 the hands of those who can make the most valuable use of them. It 

 is expected that the Bureau will reach several hundred thousand 

 farmhouses with the daily forecast before the expiration of the coming 

 year. 



MOUNTAIN SNOW BULLETINS. 



The local snow bulletins that are issued by the State centers in the 

 Rocky Mountain region are meeting a very important need. These 



