CORRESPONDENCE. 433 



square. The funnel rests in a pail. I have a weight which exactly 

 balances the gage, and every ounce of the water is equal to G.012 of 

 an inch. 



The advantages of this gage are that in the winter season, when 

 we have frozen rain or snow, the amount of rain is ascertained at once, 

 without the labor of melting and without the loss sustained thereby. 

 After it is weighed, a little hot water poured into the gage at once 

 melts the ice or snow. The size of the gage also makes it less liable 

 to error. I do not know how the depth of snow can be measured in a 

 violent storm by any gage. I have a wood of deciduous trees near my 

 house, and after every snow storm I have the snow carefully measured 

 in several places. It rarely varies more than one-half an inch. I 

 take the mean -of the different measurements. I consider a foot of dry 

 snow equal to an inch of rain. If the snow is moist I make an al- 

 lowance. 



The aurora is of much more frequent occurrence here than in lower 

 latitudes. 



SNOW GAGE. 



BY W. E. GUEST, OF OGDENSBURG, NEW YORK. 



I beg leave to remark that, during an experience of six years, no 

 better way has occurred to me to get at the true amount of precipita- 

 tion in the winter season, in this latitude, than the one pursued by 

 myself. As a proof of this, let me give you a description of the weather 

 yesterday: 7 a. m., wind NE.; 2 snow; mild. 11 a. m., wind SE.; 3 

 hail and rain. Noon, heavy rain. 5 p. m., wind S.; 4 squally, with 

 rain. 6 p. m., wind W., a gale; cold, freezing. This a. m., all 

 froze up. 



Had I followed the instructions, viz : to insert the zinc vessel in the 

 snow, sliding under it a tin plate, and then reversing it, very little, 

 if any, could have been obtained. The rain fallen was all ice; the 

 snow was scattered in various piles. But with my tin tube, just the 

 diameter of the rain gage, and two feet in depth, so that what snow 

 gets in isnot blown out, and, when the storm is over, bring the vessel 

 into the house, melting gradually and measuring. The tin vessel 

 obtained by myself has a two-inch flange on the bottom to keep it from 

 blowing over, and sometimes it requires props to protect it. Our snow 

 storms are more or less accompanied by wind ; and, from the middle 

 of November to the first of April, our rains, which are infrequent, 

 invariably freeze in the falling. The tube you speak of is too small to 

 receive the snow; it would get clogged; and I cannot see the object of 

 placing it below frost; it would be arrested hy frost in its passage; and 

 the only way to obviate the difficulty known to me is the one above 

 proposed. 



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