44 THE CLIMATE OF IRELAND. 



would justify a more detailed classification of localities according to average 

 monthly rainfall than any now existing ; and a meteorological scheme of 

 classifying localities, still more likely to be helpful to agriculture, might be 

 devised upon a basis in which the bearing of other elements would be 

 ■recognised, conjointly with rainfall. 



With such a degree of variability in the weather as is experienced in 



Ireland, a system of prognostication, similar to that 



Weather adopted and applied in America, would be invaluable ; 



Prognostication. but what has already come before the reader will show 

 how different are the conditions of the problem in the 

 two countries. In America, with its immense continental area, storms may 

 arise, run their course, and cease, within the region reached by the splendid 

 system of telegraphic communication organised by the States Agricultural 

 Department. In Ireland, on the other hand, the disturbing forces originate 

 in, and approach these islands mostly from the west. Hence one is pre- 

 pared to hear so high an authority as Mr. R. H. Scott, late Secretary of the 

 Meteorological Office in London, confess that weather prognostication in 

 these countries is attended with prodigious difficulties. Regarded in their 

 simplest elements, Mr. Scott says (" Weather Charts and Storm Warnings," 

 p. 6i), concerning the approach and characteristics of cyclonic storms : — 



" The phenomena belonging- to the front of the system are — Cirrus clouds 

 or ' mare's tails ' in the sky, south-easterly winds, great rise of the thermo- 

 meter, and excessive dampness. The sky becomes gradually overcast, fol- 

 lowed by mist and rain. The barometer falls persistently, while ' scud ' begins 

 to drift from the southward. The barometer continues to fall, the wind veering 

 from S. to S.W., rain falling. As soon as the wind passes the S.W., and 

 draws to W. or N.W., the barometer begins to rise with a sudden jump, and 

 the temperature falls, with very heavy showers of rain, possibly turning to 

 hail, connected with and following which, the air becomes drier and the sky 

 clears." 



Notwithstanding recognised difficulties in forming reliable forecasts in 

 Ireland, there is no doubt that patient, steady, and systematic use of the 

 barometer and thermometer, with close observation of such phenomena as 

 the forms and movements of clouds, would reward those whose care it is to 

 combat or forestall the unfavourable weather conditions which assail us. 

 If these observations were supplemented by some others collected, say, at 

 a few stations along the western seaboard, used conjointly with information 

 received from many quarters at the Meteorological Office in London, put in 

 suitable form for transmission at a subsidiary office in Dublin, and de- 

 spatched by wire to country parts, there is little doubt that material help 

 could by such means be given to farmers in the harvest season. The help 

 would be especially valuable in barley growing districts. This crop, an 

 important asset in the country, is particularly liable to injury by bad har- 

 vesting ; and even ten or twelve hours of warning would admit of the reaped 

 crop being secured against danger. 



Elaborate as are the arrangements, and suitable the circumstances, for 

 the prognostication of weather changes in the wide area of the United 

 States, this appHcation of Meteorology is not the only practical one to 

 justify — in so far as agricultural matters are concerned — the large expendi- 

 ture of public money upon the science in that country. There are besides 

 notes upon agricultural operations and crop prospects, recorded weekly, 



