TENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART I 33 



greatei" is its value — the ideal condition being the forecasting of the type 

 of season to expect together with detailed forecasting from day to day. 

 A knowledge of the type of the coming season will, among other things, 

 tell the farmer what crops to plant, while the daily forecasts advise hira 

 in regard to cultivating and harvesting, and when safely to ship. These 

 ideal conditions, however, do not exist at the present time, and can not 

 be had without a great deal more knowledge than we now possess of the 

 interrelations of meteorological phenomena. Forecasting, that practical 

 part of meteorology so valuable to the public, is an art that can improve 

 only as our knowledge of the underlying science is increased, and there- 

 fore it seems proper for the government to undertake to add to that 

 knowledge. 



Anything so extensive as general meteorological investigations can 

 not be undertaken with much hope of success by an individual, nor is it 

 practical for private institutions to do so, though much of value is 

 constantly appearing from these sources. Many of the needed investiga- 

 tions of storms, for instance, require simultaneous observations, made at 

 different places, and some of them demand for their solution years of 

 continuous work. From these and other similar considerations it is 

 imperative that the Weather Bureau push investigations of this nature 

 as vigorously as possible, and in every way that seems hopeful of success. 

 But from the difficulty and complexity of the problems involved the im- 

 provement of the forecasting may be only imperceptibly gradual, just as 

 have been the improvements in every other art and science, but it is 

 certain that this is the only way by which improvements can be made, 

 and it is equall-y certain that so long as this kind of work is continued 

 the predictions in (he future will continue to improve over those of the 

 past. 



The possible investigations are very numerous, but in general may be 

 classed under some one of the following heads: 



(a) Studies of the atmosphere at the surface of the earth and at 

 various altitudes; determinations of its temperature, moisture content, 

 pressure, state of electrification, direction and magnitude of its move- 

 ments, its cloudiness, dust content, absorption of light, of heat, and of 

 electric waves, and its various other properties. 



(b) Solar investigations; involving a careful measurement of the 

 insolation, or amount of solar energy reaching the earth in a unit of 

 time, the size and distribution of sun spots, faculae, and prominences; and 

 an especial effort to detect all changes in the registered amounts of solar 

 energy, and a careful effort to refer these changes to their real causes, 

 whether of terrestrial or of solar origin. 



(c) Terrestrial magnetism — a study of the regular and of the irregular 

 changes in the magnitude and direction of the earth's magnetic force, in 

 connection with other terrestrial phenomena and with solar activities of 

 all kinds. 



(d) Laboratory investigations — the reproduction under controllable 

 conditions of various meteorological phenomena, and experiments that 

 may aid in explaining the origin and law's of weather conditions; also 

 the construction and standardizing of certain apparatus. 



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