6 
as that which European observations have received at the hands of 
the lamented Linsser. 
The very extensive problem suggested by the title of this report 
involves, first, a general study of meteorology in its relations to 
vegetable and animal life; second, the determination of the effect of 
climate upon the growth and distribution of staple crops; third, the 
determination of the climatic conditions and the localities best suited 
to the growth of special varieties of plants and seeds; fourth, the 
statistics of the extent of the areas best adapted to each of the more 
important crops; fifth, the separate and the combined effects of tem- 
perature, rainfall, and sunshine, both in their normal and abnormal 
proportions, upon the annual yields of the staple crops. But such 
study necessitates great labor and much time, and as the first step 
in any such investigation consists in the critical examination of the 
work already done by others, in order to prevent unnecessary dupli- 
cation and avoid the troubles that others have experienced, therefore 
the reader must consider this first report as only a brief introduction 
to our knowledge of the relations between climates and crops. 
Three ways are generally recognized as affording our only methods 
of advancing our knowledge of our subject, viz, physiological, experi- 
mental, and statistical. I shall therefore endeavor to present the 
question of climates and crops from these three points of view. 
1. The physiological studies of many botanical physiologists, under 
the leadership of Prof. Julius von Sachs, of the Botanical Institute 
at Wiirzburg, Germany, have given us an insight into the method 
of growth of plants and the conditions upon which successful agri- 
culture must depend. Their conclusions, based upon microscopic 
examination, delicate measurements, and detailed study of all the 
minutize in the life of a plant, have given occasion to the development 
of what may be called a theory of vegetable life, which, however, is 
still far from having reached a perfect stage of development. Under 
this head I have collected observations relative to the germination 
of seeds, the flow of the sap, the action of sunlight on the leaves, the 
absorption of moisture by the roots, the transpiration from the leaves, 
the ripening of the seeds, the nutritious value of the crop, and the 
acclimatization of plants. 
2. The experimental method of determining the relations of crops 
and climates is that practiced at agricultural experiment stations 
and also in the botanical or biological laboratories that are so plen- _ 
tiful in the United States and in Europe. In these institutions 
special seeds are sown with special care, either in the open air in small 
plats of ground or in culture pots in rooms where the temperature, 
moisture, and other conditions are under control. The numerous ab- 
stracts that I have presented in this report tend to show the effect of 
varying conditions upon the resulting crops, and I must agree heartily 
