186 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



hurricanes. They are very few in number, but when one 

 docs sweep in from the open ocean it does much damage 

 along our coast. 



New England, as you see, is so situated that we get all 

 of those storms. More than eighty per cent of all the 

 storms that occur anywhere in the United States pass off 

 the coast near New England. During last year one hundred 

 and eight storms passed near enough to New England to 

 affect our weather, some of them lasting only a few hours 

 and others for several days. So you can see why we never 

 have such a thing as settled weather, and why when we go 

 out in the morning we almost need to take two suits of 

 clothes along, or at least our fur cap and ulster and our 

 linen duster and straw hat. We often think of what the 

 old lady said on returning from her first visit to New 

 England. She was asked what she thought of the New 

 England climate. " Climate," said she, "they have nothing 

 but climate there, and have weather only two or three days 

 in the month." 



Now, the work of warning the merchant and marine 

 interests of these storms has been well carried out ; but it 

 was not long after the establishment of this service before 

 it was found that other interests could be served, and soon 

 all classes began to watch the daily forecasts and warnings. 

 The farmer does not care so much for the large storms as 

 he does for the rapid changes of weather from day to 

 day. Most of the large stations and section centres are 

 necessarily in the large cities, and there has been great 

 difficulty in reaching the isolated farm or village in season 

 to have the warnings of any benefit ; but this matter was 

 receiving some attention under the War Department, and in 

 the transfer of the Weather Bureau to the Agricultural 

 Department, which took place last summer, the express 

 purpose of Congress was to especially develop and extend 

 the work in the interest of agriculture. 



Without delaying you with an account of the work 

 which the Bureau has done in general since the transfer, I 

 will tell you briefly the work which we are especially trying 

 to extend in New England. The New England Meteorolog- 

 ical Society has for several years been doing the State weather 



