78 ANNUAL KEPOET 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Pearce. I would like to ask you when you say "Cold is'- 

 King," do you mean to say that we can not raise apples? 



Mr. Dartt. No, sir; cold in his own limits — king in his owtt 

 kingdom. 



Prof. Maginnis. Mr. President, in regard to Mr. Dartt' s 

 paper I wish to say that it seems to me this is an important 

 question. I have been an official in the United States Signal 

 Service and have paid some attention to this matter of climatic 

 influence, especially in the Northwest. I indorse what he says 

 in regard to local influences of timber belts and forests. To il- 

 lustrate, I refer to the influence which the forests of Minnesota 

 have on its climate. Having reports of the temperature every 

 morning, day after day, from all points throughout the North- 

 west, as I have had, you could see and it would surprise you to 

 see what differences in temperature these forests make for the 

 State of Minnesota. During the winter they are most marked. 

 The isotherm, or line of equal heat, of five degrees above zero, 

 in the winter in Minnesota, does not run east and west, as it 

 should, under equal conditions. It commences about twenty- 

 five miles northeast of Duluth, on the shores of Lake Sui^erior, 

 follows down the lake shore to Duluth; from there, instead of 

 going west, it strikes directly south, and passes a little to the 

 southeast — possibly twenty miles east — of St. Paul and on to 

 the southern line of the State, and thence through northwestern, 

 Iowa. 



Why is it that the climate in the northwestern part of the 

 State is so cold, while in the northeastern part it is so much 

 warmer"? Simply because there are millions of trees covering 

 the ground in the timbered sections of the State which cause 

 the currents of cold air that come from the north to be diverted 

 in their course in the winter months. I have known the tem- 

 perature at one time last winter, when it was five degrees above 

 zero in St. Paul, at the same time to register twenty-five degrees 

 below zero, one hundred and twenty miles to the west ot here. 

 I have noticed these conditions were permanent, to a great ex- 

 tent. These cold waves come down from the northwest and 

 strike the big woods and pass on to the south, toward the Gulf 

 of Mexico, instead of coming in this direction. This is not 

 speculative, but is a fact. 



Thisjis one prominent reason why the great forests of this State 



