te ale rey 
140 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 3 
five feet long. Tulips, lilies and herbaceous plants, many of which 
come in bloom long before we can have blossoms from annuals 
from seed, might be planted here. Monthly roses would also look 
well in this bed, asitisin full view from the kitchen and dining 
room windows, and it would certainly bea thing of beauty anda 
joy for ever. 
Another bed of any desired form might be placed on the opposite 
side of the walk from the driveway tothe kitchen. It would be very 
desirable to plant hybrid perpetual roses on the lawn and, perhaps; 
avery few flowering shrubs, singly or in groups, not too far from 
the walk and without formal arrangement, 
THE WINTER OF 1897-8. - 
WM, CHENEY. 
The following meteorological record for February, 1898, and re- 
sults for the winter are furnished by William Cheney, voluntary 
observer, United States Department of Agriculture, weather bureau: 
This wasa warm February, being four degrees warmer than the 
average of February for 33 years, and we have had only six as warm 
Februarys during that period. It had just about the same mean 
temperature as February of last year, and, with the exception of 
1892, 1896 and 1897, was the warmest February since 1882, which was 
nearly six degrees warmer. The first two days were the coldest, the 
minimum being reached February 2. This was followed by very 
much milder weather, from February 6th to 13th inclusive, during 
all of which days the maximum rose from two to twelve degrees 
above freezing point. No snow fell in sufficient amount for sleigh- 
ing until February 19th, when four inches were deposited, badly 
drifted, which, in addition to the snow of February 14th, gave us the 
first good sleighing of the winter. This was worn out ina few days 
so that the last of the month found us without sleighing, 
A statement has been made that the winters of ’77-78 and ’78-79 did 
not produce a single day of sleighing in Mankato. This is not true 
in Minneapolis, for we had a few days of sleighing in the first week of 
December, 1877, and two days the last of January, 1878, and February 
19th, 1879, we had the first sleighing that winter. 
The winter just closed was five degrees warmer than the average 
for 32 years, and we have had only four warmer winters during that 
period. 
Daily observations gave the following results: 
Mean temperature of the mention... 2.20 scenes casas saa Do oooS 19.0 
Maximum temperature of the month (8th)...............0e0e0e- 44.0 
Minimum temperature of the month (2nd)...............e0000- —15.0 
Range of the month { icssse eters beaeen ea T5050. eee 59.0 
Highest daily mean (10th) erase saat ais nin to 30.0.5. ote sn atabele en 34.0 
Lowest daily mean (2nd)oc noe gair se ao eis clo'e saws «0 '0.00etes) oes eee —6.0 
Greatest daily range (18th and Jan )re es. oa we se en cee -. 20.0 
east) daily range (11th), sy.ee eas tase ce = sen Sas = Sie ons ee 7.0 
Dean: DwmMiIGity 2... oc). ook meee re isle cs @ele = 3°90 ake — 0,64 
Mean height of barometer, corrected for temperature and 
BISVAtION. 010i. ccs telavee eee eit Giri Galeiel one wo. cs by eee ee 30.155 
otal water deposit, inches ee. Pam swtmlecie > aes oc atale deena 1.79 
Greatest precipitation in any 24 consecutive hours (10th)...... 0.80 
Number of days on which .01 or more precipitation fell....... 
Tetal snowtall of the month; 1nCHES) sere cos sales cisjc = se eles vse 9:9 
