914 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD, 



seasonally. It is usually light and of short duration in Tidewater and Middle 

 Virginia. From the Blue Kidge westward, however, it is not uncommon for 

 the ground to be blanketed for a period of 6 weeks or 2 months. This is of great 

 economic value to the grain and grass crops of the region, protecting them not 

 only against the intense cold of January and February, but ameliorating the 

 effect of the thaws of occasional warm days. . . . 



" The climate of Virginia is ideally adapted to successful agriculture, since 

 the prevailing conditions in the different geographic divisions are such as are 

 best suited to the soils of those regions. . . . 



"The rainfall has the most advantageous monthly distrilmtion with reference 

 to farming operations and the growth of crops, being somewhat heavier from 

 April to July, which makes disastrous droughts unknown. The growing season 

 of each section is always long enough to mature the standard crops of that 

 section." 



[Meteorological observations, 1906], H. L. Price (Virginia Sta. Rpt. 1906, 

 pp. 30-38). — A monthly summary of observations on temperature, precipitation, 

 wind movement, and cloudiness is given with a comparison of monthly tempera- 

 tures and ])re( ipitation for 14 years. 



Meteorological summaries for the years 1903, 1904, and 1905 (Koitin-hil 

 f^ta. Rpts. 1003, pp. 312-311; 190 J,, pp. 19r,-19S; 190-5, pp. 2 J7-„^-J„^).— Tabular 

 summaries are given of observations "at the station on pressure, temperature, 

 precipitation, cloudiness, wind movement, and casual phenomena. 



Meteorological observations (Nature [London], 75 (1907), No. 19.>t9, pp. 

 JiJiS-Ji-jO, fig. 1). — This is a review of a number of articles which have recently 

 appeared in meteorological journals on the following subjects : Sunshine and 

 snowfall in 1906 in the British Isles, rainfall of Scotland in May, 190(j, the at- 

 mosphere in the Tropics, meteorological observations on the suumiit of the Tsuku- 

 basan, Japan, meteorology of India, meteorological observations in Cape Colony, 

 forty years of southern New Mexico climate (E. S. R., 18, p. Gil), and meteoro- 

 logical observations in Germany by the Deutzche Seewarte, Hamburg, 1905. 



Meteorological observations at Montpellier (Ann. Ecole Nat. Agr. Mont- 

 peJlier. n. scr., 6 (1907), No. -'/, a pp.). — A diagrammatic record is given of obser- 

 vations at the observatory of the National School of Agriculture on tempera- 

 ture of the air and of the soil, pressure, humidity, rainfall, cloudiness, evapora- 

 tion, and direction and force of the wind during June to November, 190(5. 



Distribution of rainfall during the year 1906, H. A. Hunt (Agr. Gaz. 

 N. S. Wales. IS {1907), No. 2. pp. 17'i-177). — The rainfall conditions of New 

 South Wales during each month of the year are briefly described. The year 

 as a whole was characterized by deficient rainfalls, 20 to 30 per cent below 

 normal, for the coastal and mountain districts, and excessive rainfalls, 50 to 

 nearly 100 per cent above normal, for other districts. 



Experiments on hail shooting at Castelfranco, Venice, during the years 

 1902 to 1906 (Attl R. Aecad. Linrei, Rend. CI. Sei. Fis., Mat. e Nat., 5. ser., 

 15 (1906), II, No. 2, pp. 680-682; aM. in del et Tcrre. 27 (1907), No. 22, pp. 

 591, 592; Science, n. ser., 25 (1907), No. 637, p. 7/3//).— This is the report of a 

 commission appointed by the Italian minister of agriculture to make experi- 

 ments to determine the efficiency of the method of using explosives to dissipate 

 hailstorms. Absolutely negative results were obtained during the five-year period 

 of experiment, and the commission concludes that there is no hope of preventing 

 damage by hail by means of so-called hail shooting, and that protection must be 

 sought abtng wholly different lines. 



After the freeze, P. J. Wester (Fla. Agr., 3Jf (1907), No. 4, p. i).— The 

 character and results of the Florida freeze of December 20, 1900, are briefly 

 described and meaus of protection against such freezes are suggested. 



