236 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



" Weather changes thai arc not periodic are due to inequalities in the density of 

 the atmosphere. The indications of rain are: East or southeast wind, decreased 

 diurnal range of temperature, slower evaporation, sinking of smoke or vapor. The 

 indications nt' frost or cool weather are: West wind, increased diurnal range of tem- 

 perature, rapid evaporation, clear sky. Grains hardy to frost are grown from Octo- 

 ber to June, and grains sensitive to frost from .March to November . Melons grow 

 from .March to November, potatoes from February to June, and from August to 

 December; tomatoes from March to December; corn from March to .June and from 

 .July to November. Alfalfa grows some all the year, but makes the most growth 

 from February to .July and from September to November. Deciduous fruit trees 

 grow from February to .July, and evergreen fruit trees from March to .July, and from 

 September to December. Owing to the warm, dry climate insect pests and fungus 

 diseases of plants are rare in the region." 



A world-wide barometric seesaw, W. J. S. Lockyer (Nature [London], 70 

 (1904), No. 1808, pp. 177, 178, figs. 2). — In this article an attempt is made to define 

 the boundaries of two nearly antipodal parts of the earth in which barometric pres- 

 sure varies in an inverse way. "So far as can at present be determined, one line 

 ci unmencing to the west of Alaska, separating this region from Siberia, passes easterly 

 along about the 60th parallel of latitude, and runs in a southeasterly direction between 

 southwest Greenland and northeast Canada. It then crosses the North Atlantic, 

 passing to the north of the Azores, and skirts the southwestern portion of Portugal. 

 It then strikes down towards the equator, cutting northwest Africa, so far as can be 

 judged from the scant pressure values available, through the middle of the Sahara. 

 It leaves Africa near the Gold Coast, and passes into the South Atlantic, where it can 

 not be traced further owing to lack of observations in this southern ocean. 



"The other boundary or neutral line passes to the northeast of Greenland and 

 north of Iceland, crosses the southern portion of Norway and Sweden, and traverses 

 southern European Russia. It then takes a course somewhat more easterly, skirting 

 the northern part of the Caspian Sea and Turkestan, passes between Tibet and Mon- 

 golia, and through China. It then leaves the continent a little to the south of the 

 Yellow Sea, and passes into the North Pacific Ocean. Here its path can not be 

 traced, but it evidently passes well to the east of the Philippine Islands and Solomon 

 Islands, takes a new southwesterly course, skirting the eastern side of Australia and 

 passing between Tasmania and New Zealand. Its track is then again lost in the 

 southern Pacific Ocean. 



"Although too much weight must not at present be given to the positions of these 

 neutral lines throughout their whole length, it is interesting to note that they are 

 fairly symmetrical to one another, although no attempt has been made to make them 

 so. Both lines apparently cross the equator at about antipodal points, and both 

 appear to have a similar trend in northern and southern latitudes. 



"The result of this survey seems to indicate clearly that there exists a general law 

 relating to the pressure changes which occur simultaneously in these two extensive 

 regions of the globe separated and defined more or less by a neutral line, this latter 

 forming a fulcrum about which seesaws of pressure from one region to another take 

 place. 



Monthly Weather Review (Mo. Weather Rev., 32 (1904), Nos. 4, pp. 159-206, figs. 

 4, charts 20; 5, -pp. 207-254, figs. 5, charts 15; 6, pp. 255-301, figs. 6, charts 13).— In addi- 

 tion to the usual reports on forecasts, warnings, weather and crop conditions, meteor- 

 ological tables and charts for the months of April, May, and June, 1904, recent papers 

 bearing on meteorology, etc., these numbers contain the following articles and notes: 



No. 4. — Special contributions on Application of Salts of Radium to the Study of 

 Atmospheric Electricity (illus. ), by T. Moureaux; Studies on the Circulation of the 

 Atmospheres of the Sun and of the Earth — V. — Results of the Nephoscope Observa- 

 tions in the West Indies during the years 1899-1903 (illus.), by F. H. Bigelow; The 



