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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



battery is but two poniids and a half. When it is considered that, 

 owing to the weight of the air above, the bulk of the air is compara- 

 tively near the surface of the earth, it will be seen how very valuable 

 are observations made at the heights reached by these kites. 



It may well be asked: Of what practical value are the Weather 

 Bureau reports and prophecies? As a matter of dollars and cents, 

 does the expenditure of the money necessary to support the Weather 

 Bureau pay? Upon investigation it will be found that it is an 

 immensely profitable investment. 



Reports are received weekly from eight thousand special corre- 

 spondents concerning the efl:ects of the weather on the crops, and 



these reports serve to set 

 a value on the products 

 which is in just propor- 

 tion to the supply, and to 

 enable plans and contracts 

 for the future to be made 

 with reasonable certainty. 

 The records, running 

 back as they do for many 

 years, enable invalids, 

 manufacturers, and agri- 

 culturists to find with cer- 

 tainty the locality that is 

 best suited to their needs. 

 The investigations of the 

 Weather Bureau have 

 been directed toward de- 

 termining the parts of 

 the Unites States where 

 the most constantly hu- 

 mid atmosphere may be 

 found in order that cotton manufacturers may know where their 

 spinning can be most successfully done. Forewarnings of frost 

 enable the truck farmers to protect their produce with a mantle of 

 smoke from a smoldering fire. 



The terrible cyclones of the West are frequently foreshadowed 

 by the Weather Bureau long enough in advance to enable people 

 to place themselves and their property in the most protected condi- 

 tions ; and, during the floods of the Mississippi and Missouri Valleys, 

 incalculable savings of life and property result from their warnings. 

 Before the days of the bureau the AVest Indian hurricanes came un- 

 announced, and sometimes two thousand lives w^ere lost in a single 

 storm. Under the warnings of the Weather Bureau, three such 



A Weather-Bukeau Kite. 



